Peter Patton, director of player development, won't be back

[WesPeace]

On its face, this seems like scapegoating, although remains to be seen because if they upgrade, that would be fine. From my eye, there was development/improvement in Dalen, Phillips, Matas, even Giddey over the season with all showing improved shooting (which IIRC was Patton's strength).

Objectively (because I have no axe to grind here) -

1) Giddey has improved his shooting each of his 4 years in the league. This season followed that pattern. In the norm for him.
2) Terry's shooting got modestly better, which is about as expected for a 3rd year player. In the norm.
3) Phillips's shooting got a lot better, for which one can credit Patton or say, well that's kinda what happens with a 2nd year player who is 21 years old. Possible win for Patton.
4) Matas was a rookie, so we don't have any year-over-year comp for him.
5) Ayo's shooting was slightly down, but such things happen. In the norm.
6) Pat fell apart. By far the worst shooting of his career.
7) Coby had the best year of his career. That could be because he is still young, or could be a win for Patton.

Thus, I see two possible wins for Patton (Phillips & Coby), and one clear loss with Pat Williams.

Pat came back fat because he was recovering from the leg issue. I seriously doubt Patton had anything to do with the rehab.

I really dont know how these young kids get fat while rehabbing.. I rehabbed my knee twice after torn ACL, never got fat! Its just mentality and discipline..

No pro athlete should get fat while trying to rehab injury and being on comeback road. Thats just not professional life.

[CROBulls]

Objectively (because I have no axe to grind here) -

1) Giddey has improved his shooting each of his 4 years in the league. This season followed that pattern. In the norm for him.
2) Terry's shooting got modestly better, which is about as expected for a 3rd year player. In the norm.
3) Phillips's shooting got a lot better, for which one can credit Patton or say, well that's kinda what happens with a 2nd year player who is 21 years old. Possible win for Patton.
4) Matas was a rookie, so we don't have any year-over-year comp for him.
5) Ayo's shooting was slightly down, but such things happen. In the norm.
6) Pat fell apart. By far the worst shooting of his career.
7) Coby had the best year of his career. That could be because he is still young, or could be a win for Patton.

Thus, I see two possible wins for Patton (Phillips & Coby), and one clear loss with Pat Williams.

Pat came back fat because he was recovering from the leg issue. I seriously doubt Patton had anything to do with the rehab.

I really dont know how these young kids get fat while rehabbing.. I rehabbed my knee twice after torn ACL, never got fat! Its just mentality and discipline..

No pro athlete should get fat while trying to rehab injury and being on comeback road. Thats just not professional life.

Because guys have guaranteed contracts. They have it easy. They get paid millions upon doing bare minimum, and sometimes not even that.

[dougthonus]

I really dont know how these young kids get fat while rehabbing.. I rehabbed my knee twice after torn ACL, never got fat! Its just mentality and discipline..

No pro athlete should get fat while trying to rehab injury and being on comeback road. Thats just not professional life.

I think fat is relative. Not like Patrick Williams has got a 25% BF or anything. It's hard to maintain a 4-8% BF while not being able to exercise much.

[kulaz3000]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

[Red8911]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

Pats problem is not being fat or poor work ethic. It’s simply his basketball IQ, he just doesn’t have it.

No reason to over analyze why he’s been disappointing.Even if he reaches the perfect weight/ muscle he still won’t be the player we thought he would.

[sco]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

Pats problem is not being fat or poor work ethic. It’s simply his basketball IQ, he just doesn’t have it.

No reason to over analyze why he’s been disappointing.Even if he reaches the perfect weight/ muscle he still won’t be the player we thought he would.

Agree. If there is one glaring failure of Patton, it's Pat's devolving level of play.
I still am begging him to go to Johnny-dribbles-a-lot this summer. I feel like that sort of training could get him to be more deliberate with the ball in his hands...which is a big problem.

[GoBlue72391]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

Pats problem is not being fat or poor work ethic. It’s simply his basketball IQ, he just doesn’t have it.

No reason to over analyze why he’s been disappointing.Even if he reaches the perfect weight/ muscle he still won’t be the player we thought he would.

I don't get why people try to act like it's only one thing. It's all those and more:

- he's not fat relative to normal people, but he weighs too much to play at an optimal level and it negatively effects his athleticism

- he has a poor basketball IQ/lacks instincts

- he's too passive and lacks a killer mentality

- and most importantly, which people are forgetting for some reason, his basketball skills are severely lacking

[Indomitable]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

Pats problem is not being fat or poor work ethic. It’s simply his basketball IQ, he just doesn’t have it.

No reason to over analyze why he’s been disappointing.Even if he reaches the perfect weight/ muscle he still won’t be the player we thought he would.

I don't get why people try to act like it's only one thing. It's all those and more:

- he's not fat relative to normal people, but he weighs too much to play at an optimal level and it negatively effects his athleticism

- he has a poor basketball IQ/lacks instincts

- he's too passive and lacks a killer mentality

- and most importantly, which people are forgetting for some reason, his basketball skills are severely lacking

Exactly

What is irritating are that posters who intentionally misunderstand the criticism of Pat.

Pat is fat for him. He is not fat for Zion. He is not fat for Luka.

Zion would be fine at Pat size. Pat has less skill and lack the explosiveness of Zion.
Luka would be fine at Pat size.

Pat is too slow and does not understand how to use his size. Pat needs to find some quickness and that normally improves with a drop in weight.

No one has called Pat obese and it is disingenuous to pretend that people have.

Pat is bad in space on defense and needs to regain some quickness.

[sco]

Pats problem is not being fat or poor work ethic. It’s simply his basketball IQ, he just doesn’t have it.

No reason to over analyze why he’s been disappointing.Even if he reaches the perfect weight/ muscle he still won’t be the player we thought he would.

I don't get why people try to act like it's only one thing. It's all those and more:

- he's not fat relative to normal people, but he weighs too much to play at an optimal level and it negatively effects his athleticism

- he has a poor basketball IQ/lacks instincts

- he's too passive and lacks a killer mentality

- and most importantly, which people are forgetting for some reason, his basketball skills are severely lacking

Exactly

What is irritating are that posters who intentionally misunderstand the criticism of Pat.

Pat is fat for him. He is not fat for Zion. He is not fat for Luka.

Zion would be fine at Pat size. Pat has less skill and lack the explosiveness of Zion.
Luka would be fine at Pat size.

Pat is too slow and does not understand how to use his size. Pat needs to find some quickness and that normally improves with a drop in weight.

No one has called Pat obese and it is disingenuous to pretend that people have.

Pat is bad in space on defense and needs to regain some quickness.

Can we stop with Pat is fat for anyone crap (see below). Is he too muscular and that is making him slow? I can buy into that. Dude came into the season heavy after not being able to do much of any aerobic exercise because of his foot, but kudos to him to working himself back into shape.

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[Indomitable]

I don't get why people try to act like it's only one thing. It's all those and more:

- he's not fat relative to normal people, but he weighs too much to play at an optimal level and it negatively effects his athleticism

- he has a poor basketball IQ/lacks instincts

- he's too passive and lacks a killer mentality

- and most importantly, which people are forgetting for some reason, his basketball skills are severely lacking

Exactly

What is irritating are that posters who intentionally misunderstand the criticism of Pat.

Pat is fat for him. He is not fat for Zion. He is not fat for Luka.

Zion would be fine at Pat size. Pat has less skill and lack the explosiveness of Zion.
Luka would be fine at Pat size.

Pat is too slow and does not understand how to use his size. Pat needs to find some quickness and that normally improves with a drop in weight.

No one has called Pat obese and it is disingenuous to pretend that people have.

Pat is bad in space on defense and needs to regain some quickness.

Can we stop with Pat is fat for anyone crap (see below). Is he too muscular and that is making him slow? I can buy into that. Dude came into the season heavy after not being able to do much of any aerobic exercise because of his foot, but kudos to him to working himself back into shape.

Read on Twitter

Pat is slow and heavy.

He is not in his best shape. He is fat for what he is required.

Kudos for doing the minimum. Child please.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Objectively (because I have no axe to grind here) -

1) Giddey has improved his shooting each of his 4 years in the league. This season followed that pattern. In the norm for him.
2) Terry's shooting got modestly better, which is about as expected for a 3rd year player. In the norm.
3) Phillips's shooting got a lot better, for which one can credit Patton or say, well that's kinda what happens with a 2nd year player who is 21 years old. Possible win for Patton.
4) Matas was a rookie, so we don't have any year-over-year comp for him.
5) Ayo's shooting was slightly down, but such things happen. In the norm.
6) Pat fell apart. By far the worst shooting of his career.
7) Coby had the best year of his career. That could be because he is still young, or could be a win for Patton.

Thus, I see two possible wins for Patton (Phillips & Coby), and one clear loss with Pat Williams.

Pat came back fat because he was recovering from the leg issue. I seriously doubt Patton had anything to do with the rehab.

I really dont know how these young kids get fat while rehabbing.. I rehabbed my knee twice after torn ACL, never got fat! Its just mentality and discipline..

No pro athlete should get fat while trying to rehab injury and being on comeback road. Thats just not professional life.

I tore my acl and did get fat. Eventually got fit again, but I hold some grace towards that. I can work out every day, eat right and it's no problem..it's still 100x easier and more enjoyable than rehabbing which was a miserable experience.

[nitetrain8603]

Regardless if it's because Pat is fat, too muscular, etc, I don't care. Pat sucks. He's sucked while "skinny" and while "fat".

Pat needs to go. He's a fringe NBA player that we keep forcing as an organization.

[Mk0]

People saying Pat is fat is kind of amusing. The kid is just a thick looking but in locker room shots he always looks very lean - he just looks bigger because he is muscular whereas most of the players are even more leaner than he is. But I’d hardly call him fat at any point in his career, though you could argue that he could trim down and become leaner.

As the guy who has been saying Pat got too heavy since the start of the season I have always tried to clarify it. The guy put on too much mass. He isn't fat, he just bulked up too much to play PF and it threw off his game.

We saw it before with Lauri. Now if Pat would just get lean again he could totally make the ASG.. right?

[Jcool0]

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[ChiTownHero1992]

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You could almost say the Bulls had so very few options, he was promoted by Dufault


I'll see myself out now...

[nomorezorro]

i think our development coach should be teaching our players to dustrength, not dufault

[dougthonus]

i think our development coach should be teaching our players to dustrength, not dufault

But who will teach them to DuShooting?

[sco]

i think our development coach should be teaching our players to dustrength, not dufault

But who will teach them to DuShooting?

Loving me some dad humor!

[sco]

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Has a single word been spoken about either of these guys in the past? Do I understand that both guys are Billy's nephews?

[SalmonsSuperfan]

hilarious name aside, I can't trust anybody who has been 'promoted from within' in this organization.

Dufault comes to Chicago with five seasons of NBA experience under his belt. Dufault, who was a four-year starter at Colorado University (2008-12), spent the last four seasons with the Detroit Pistons as an Assistant and Player Development Coach for two campaigns and an Assistant Video Coordinator for two years as well. Preceding his stint with Detroit, Dufault began his professional coaching career as a Coaching Associate with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. Dufault also wields six professional seasons as a player, suiting up in pro leagues in Czech Republic, North Macedonia, France, Finland, Hungary and Japan.

seems like a fine resume. although, he was evidently with detroit from 2019-2023, during that time they posted an astonishing, punishing .24 winning % or an average record of 20-62.

The Bulls have a strong group of player development coaches including Abbott, Jordan Ash, Logan Power, and Nico Hobbs. Patton added to the group, bringing Peter Crawford with him from Dallas, and then hiring Austin Dufault away from Detroit.

thank goodness we could "hire away" one of the guys who played a role in 'developing' one of the worst teams of all time who was hired by a guy the team just fired. AK should consider firing himself.