Bulls' Billy Donovan still focused on solving Patrick Williams puzzle
ATLANTA — Billy Donovan isn’t in the business of giving up on a player.
He didn’t do that in his legendary days at Florida and he’s carried that same attitude to the NBA. Maybe that’s one of the reasons the Bulls coach is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
So while Patrick Williams’ career has been more enigma than proven commodity, especially for a player that was drafted No. 4 overall, the way Donovan looks at it is it’s his job to understand what Williams is, accept it, but don’t settle on it.
Not an easy tightrope to walk and made even more difficult by Williams’ inconsistencies.
“The statement I can make is you see somebody get to a certain level and not the level you think they can get to, and how do you help them get there?” Donovan said of Williams on Sunday. “There also has to be a part of me balance-wise that I’ve got to accept Patrick for what he does and how he contributes as a player. There have been moments where he’s been really, really effective and then there’s some moments where he really hasn’t. So then you look at it as, ‘OK, can he work and get better finishing?’ He hasn’t been great finishing around the basket, that’s been a challenge for him. He’s really improved his three-point shooting, you feel good about that. I think he gives us a lot on the defensive end of the floor physically, but the scoring dynamic of who he’s evolved into maybe from his rookie year to now as a scorer, there really hasn’t been a whole lot of change. Not saying he can’t score, but there’s been ups and downs in the scoring piece.
“So what I’ve tried to focus on is, ‘OK, what can he bring to the table every single night, that he knows he can bring to the table that’s going to help our team?’ That’s the defending, taking the open shots, and I do think he’s made a more conscientious effort to try and get to the backboard. Can he get better? Absolutely, we all can get better, me included. But I also feel like when he’s out there he’s trying to play the right way for our team and I’m OK with that.”
Not that Donovan had much of a choice. It wasn’t the coach that handed Williams a five-year, $90-million contract extension in the 2024 offseason, despite the inconsistencies displayed year in and year out leading up to that.
What Donovan does feel is on him, however, is doing all he can to make sure Williams brings his strengths to the floor when he’s called upon.
That was easy to do when Williams began the year well, averaging just under 10 points per game and making key defensive stops, but his game has slid since mid-November, which means so have his minutes.
Williams did get the early nod off the bench against the Hawks, but two nights earlier in Cleveland he was the 11th man.
“Everybody looks at the same thing, right, where he’s picked? Can this guy someday at some point be this NBA All-Star, this guy?” Donovan said. “Some guys in this league, as young as they are coming in, everybody has their own path. I’ve tried to, not stop pushing him, but trying to get him to contribute on those things on a regular basis. For me to expect that he’s going to go from here to here, I think that would probably frustrate him and myself doing that. I’ve got to figure out how he can help our team.”
Staying big
Donovan continued using the two-big look against Atlanta, pairing Nikola Vucevic, Zach Collins and Jalen Smith together in different combinations. It looks like it’s moved from experiment to regular rotation for the Bulls as of now.