The return of Patrick Williams undoubtedly will help.
That’s not even a question for the Bulls.
But it’s not like Williams was a game-changer before a left foot injury sidelined him, either. They went 4-6 with Williams sidelined — status quo for a team that has played .400 basketball all season long. The defense was shaky with Williams and shaky without him. And it’s not like the Bulls missed Williams’ scoring, especially since he was averaging under 10 points per game.
Where his absence was most felt was positionally.
The 6-8 Williams is built more like a tight end than a lanky wide receiver, so he saw defensive assignments not only against the opposition’s bigger wings, but also against some fives at times.
“I think the thing we’re struggling with right now is defense obviously, but with four guards we’re a little small right now,” guard Zach LaVine said of life without Williams. “Some games Zo [Lonzo Ball] will come in and play the four or I’ll play the four and it’s like, ‘OK, we’ve got to get a stop or outscore them.’ One of the two.”
That changes Friday against the Hornets, as Williams made it through a week of practices and scrimmages with no setbacks. He will be on a minutes restriction of 20-24 minutes, but the hope is that he will have plenty of time to recover with the Bulls playing only three games over the next eight days.
The interesting part will be what coach Billy Donovan decides to do with rookie Matas Buzelis?
The 11th overall pick from the 2024 draft has used Williams’ absence to announce his presence and has done so with some flash.
It’s not only the dunks that Buzelis has been showcasing since the Summer League but also his all-around improvement and development.
In the last four games, Buzelis has watched his minutes go to 20.3 per game, his scoring average jump to 11 — yes, better than Williams’ — and his blocks go to 1.3 per game. Throw in shooting 48.4% from the field and 50% from three-point range with an average of four shots from beyond the arc, and there’s something brewing with Buzelis. Something good.
The sample size for December is small, but Buzelis is the sixth-best scoring rookie in the month so far, trailing Jared McCain, Stephon Castle, Cam Spencer, Yves Missi and Carlton Carrington. He’s eighth in rookie rebounding, and an impressive second in blocked shots to only Washington’s Alexandre Sarr.
That’s why it will be important for Donovan to keep the momentum moving forward for the 20-year-old.
Williams represents the now, but Buzelis is tomorrow, and for a 10-15 team looking to move its more talented veteran assets by the Feb. 6 trade deadline, tomorrow should be the focus.
While Buzelis proved to be one of the “it” rookies in Las Vegas back in July, there were questions about how his game would translate when it wasn’t against a bunch of Summer Leaguers. And honestly in October, well, it didn’t look like a smooth transition.
Donovan, who comes from the school of rookie minutes are earned and not “handed out like candy,” was playing Buzelis just under six minutes per game out of the gate in October. It jumped up to 12.9 minutes per game in November, but that was also later in that month because of Williams’ injury.
In that time, however, even Donovan admitted that Buzelis is learning on the fly, making mistakes along the way, but learning from those mistakes rather than dwelling on them, which is one of Donovan’s favorite traits shown by Buzelis.
So yes, Williams is back.
But Buzelis has never left. That has staying power.
