After the Chicago Bulls were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament this past year, they set their sights on improvement. They could have torn down the roster, but instead, Arturas Karnisovas said he had no interest in a rebuild. And with the moves they’ve made this summer, Chicago improved the depth on their roster and improved their ceiling.
That being said, since Chicago’s core likely isn’t a true title contender (nor does it have the potential to be), they also need to invest in their youth in order to secure a better future for the organization. They don’t have a ton of youngsters on the roster, but there are some decent prospects.
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, Patrick Williams is the “most promising prospect” on Chicago’s roster.
“Bulls fans might be growing impatient for Williams’ leap year, but the 21-year-old still looms as the obvious choice here,” Buckley wrote. “He hasn’t disappointed so far—he owns a career 47.7/41.4/77.9 shooting slash—he just hasn’t taken off the way his tools and talent suggest he could. There’s still time for that big jump to happen, though.”
While his numbers didn’t jump off the page, Williams played well this past year, and his three-point percentage was as impressive as ever.
The soon-to-be 22-year-old appeared in all 82 games, starting 65 of them and playing a career-high 28.3 minutes per contest. Williams averaged 10.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 46.4% from the field and 41.5% from behind the three-point line.
How big of a jump could Williams take next season?
