3 winners and 2 losers from Chicago Bulls 2023 preseason

Loser: Patrick Williams

Throughout Patrick Williams‘ relatively short career, the biggest criticism that’s consistently been dished out his way is due to his lack of assertiveness and offensive aggression out there on the court. These comments don’t seem to have been lost on Williams, as he came out firing in the preseason. After attempting 8.3 shots per game last season, Pat increased his involvement significantly by chucking up 10.4 shots per game in the preseason.

Unfortunately, the results weren’t anything to get too excited over. Williams’ efficiency plummeted with his increased workload, shooting 38.5% from the field and 34.8% from beyond the arc, well below his career averages. Despite taking the second-most shots of any Bulls player, Williams only averaged the fifth-most points per game. Granted, the preseason is the perfect time to experiment, but it’s still discouraging to see Williams clearly not ready to take a lead role on offense.

These two players are the most important pieces of the Bulls’ young core.

Winner: Coby White

Speaking of players taking lead roles by force, who better to contrast Williams’ with than his own teammate Coby White? Struggling to gel with the starting lineup in his first few years in the league, Coby has displayed tremendous growth over the last year and has earned the trust of the coaching staff and front office to be the Bulls’ starting point guard moving forward.

Coby averaged the third-most points of any Bulls player this preseason, tallying averages of 13.2 points, 4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in just 24.2 minutes per game. It’s been very encouraging to see White embrace being the primary distributor for the team on offense and has only helped make his co-stars Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Vucevic all the more dangerous.