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Chicago Bulls Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
5. Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams
Second-year combo forward Williams is is listed here due to the talents of the other probable starters and as a reflection of where he is as a player compared to where some think he could be in a few years.
Throughout his rookie campaign, the former Florida State Seminole showed flashes of the athleticism, defensive versatility, shooting, and playmaking that made him the fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
That said, the results reflected how far Williams has to travel before reaching that “solid NBA player” destination. Metrics like LEBRON (minus-3.5), RAPTOR (minus-3.7), and Estimated Plus-Minus (minus-3.7) illustrated a dreadful portrait of his inaugural campaign as a pro. The Bulls’ net rating jumping from minus-6.4 to plus-6.6 with Williams off the floor added some grim colors to that picture.
Much of Williams’ struggles came on the offensive end, but his defense wasn’t terrible considering the steep learning curve rookies have when acclimating to NBA defense and that he often had to stick the opponent’s best perimeter wing.
Following an encouraging Summer League (inserts obligatory “it’s just Summer League” caveat here), it would’ve been fun to see how much having a full training camp would’ve helped Williams. Unfortunately, a severe ankle sprain will keep us from gauging his progress for about 4-6 weeks.
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<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/01/chicago-bulls-ranking-5-starters/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> CHI's new PG </a>
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https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/19/0022000455/110/5664795d-17d2-48ef-74e5-ef23938d33c9_1280x720.mp4
<p>As a perimeter player, Ball’s effect on team defense is often at the whims of who he’s on the court with. In New Orleans, sharing the floor with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram — though Williamson’s defense improved last year — likely contributed to the Pelicans’ defensive rating improving by 1.5 points per 100 with him off the floor.</p>
<p>That situation won’t improve in Chicago with LaVine, DeRozan, and Nikola Vučević expected to join Ball in the starting lineup, but it will depend on how the Bulls use Ball (don’t be surprised if he gets paired with Alex Caruso in some lineups).</p>
<p>Offensively, Ball’s positives and negatives are easier to pin down. He’s vastly improved as a shooter since <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/01/chicago-bulls-ranking-5-starters/2/"https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/11/8/20940672/lonzo-ball-jump-shot-new-orleans-pelicans-shooting-motion-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fine-tuning his mechanics</a> a couple of seasons back, though he still struggles from the midrange (38th percentile) and at the rim (34th percentile). The latter impacts his scarce attempts from the charity stripe (.091 FTr), neither has affected his offensive magnetism (82nd percentile in scoring gravity, per BBall Index, 92nd percentile in Box Creation).</p>
<p>Of course, we all know what Ball is best at on the offensive end:</p>
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-435462-3" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/01/chicago-bulls-ranking-5-starters/2/"https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/19/0022000455/233/7d0dfde9-6ad5-11d2-fff9-78dc84a18472_1280x720.mp4?_=3%22 /><a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/01/chicago-bulls-ranking-5-starters/2/"https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/19/0022000455/233/7d0dfde9-6ad5-11d2-fff9-78dc84a18472_1280x720.mp4">https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/19/0022000455/233/7d0dfde9-6ad5-11d2-fff9-78dc84a18472_1280x720.mp4
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