Bulls' Patrick Williams confident latest injury isn't serious

There’s a reason why Bulls forward Patrick Williams isn’t overly concerned about his sore left foot. He clearly remembers the pain he experienced last year before he underwent season-ending surgery.

The discomfort he’s dealing with now?

“Not even close,” he said Friday. “I couldn’t even really push off of it [last year]. Every step, every run, was tough before the surgery. . . . I remember what it felt like. It’s not even close to that.”

Williams sounded as though he wanted to suit up against the Hawks on Friday night. Instead, he missed his second consecutive game with what’s being described as inflammation in the foot.

“I’m not really concerned,” he said. “Obviously, with this type of stuff, [I’m] just leaning on the doctors, obviously our training staff, the team I worked with back home over the summer. Nobody seems to be worried. It’s kind of a thing that happens post-surgery. First year after surgery is always the toughest. [We’ll] try and work through different things.

“I think it’s an accumulation of minutes overall. It wasn’t a specific play or anything like that.”

Until the inflammation and discomfort subside, no one can say when Williams — drafted fourth overall in 2020 — will return.

“I just don’t know how long that will take,” coach Billy Donovan said. “They didn’t think it would be too long, but like I mentioned [Wednesday], he’s definitely going to be out these [back-to-back] games [over the weekend]. The biggest thing is he still has some soreness there, some discomfort there, so I think the doctor really wants to see that calm down and then get him on the court, back up.”

Torrey Craig started in Williams’ spot Wednesday because of the Bucks’ size in the frontcourt. On Friday, it was Ayo Dosunmu getting the nod against the Hawks’ smaller lineup. Expect “forward by committee” to continue until Williams returns, and possibly after. A restriction of his minutes is realistic, since the issue with his foot has been linked to a heavy workload.

“Once it settles down and he gets back, does this reoccur? Does it not reoccur? Is he totally fine?” Donovan said. “I don’t know. Nobody knows. It wasn’t a situation where we’ve got to shut this guy down for a couple of months or we’ve got to do something to the foot. None of that has been mentioned.”

Buzelis finding his voice

Donovan said rookie forward Matas Buzelis’ biggest improvement over the last few weeks is he’s no longer shy about speaking up when he doesn’t understand.

“I think sometimes he needs to understand, as a young player, it’s OK to ask questions,” Donovan said. “It’s OK not to get it the first time. What’s not OK is to be unsure, go out there and then not execute.”

With Williams still sidelined, Buzelis is expected to see an uptick in playing time.