The Chicago Bulls select forward Patrick Williams #4 overall.

[fleet]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

[cjbulls]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

Great, we can finally confirm the Bulls should have traded down. Or up since teams 1-3 surely would have wanted Williams at 4 then.

[cjbulls]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

Knowing we were in lockstep with the Cavs and Pistons FO makes me shudder.

[Bullflip]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

Knowing we were in lockstep with the Cavs and Pistons FO makes me shudder.

I believe the Spurs were trying to trade up as well for Williams

[MrFortune3]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

Knowing we were in lockstep with the Cavs and Pistons FO makes me shudder.

Why? Weaver did pretty good in the draft this year. His FA signings may be odd but his drafting was solid.
Cavs have done pretty well in the draft with Altman. Never really picking high enough to land the franchise stud but Sexton and Garland are solid players. Of course I say that and Sexton put up over 20 ppg last year and Garland was a rookie that put up over 12 ppg.

More importantly, given AK's track record, we should be happy he got the player he wanted.

The real question is, had Williams not been there, who was he going to take?

[MrFortune3]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

The "reach" label never fit. It had been reported for some time that Williams was quietly moving up draft boards.

Size, athleticism, defensive ability to switch onto multiple positions and a lot of potential.

What is there not to like? People rans too far with the draft is weak narrative and had no NCAA tourney nor work out reports to help them decide on a player.

[cjbulls]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

Knowing we were in lockstep with the Cavs and Pistons FO makes me shudder.

Why? Weaver did pretty good in the draft this year. His FA signings may be odd but his drafting was solid.
Cavs have done pretty well in the draft with Altman. Never really picking high enough to land the franchise stud but Sexton and Garland are solid players. Of course I say that and Sexton put up over 20 ppg last year and Garland was a rookie that put up over 12 ppg.

More importantly, given AK's track record, we should be happy he got the player he wanted.

The real question is, had Williams not been there, who was he going to take?

This comment wasn’t meant to be taken very seriously. I have already said I would have wanted Hayes/Bey over Williams. Also wanted Okoro over PW if forced at 4. Just funny to see people bragging about those teams to justify the Bulls pick.

[cjbulls]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

The "reach" label never fit. It had been reported for some time that Williams was quietly moving up draft boards.

Size, athleticism, defensive ability to switch onto multiple positions and a lot of potential.

What is there not to like? People rans too far with the draft is weak narrative and had no NCAA tourney nor work out reports to help them decide on a player.

It has been frequently covered here what there is not to like. Among other things:

Position may be limited by body type
Switchability may be limited by athleticism
Not a playmaker
Not a dominant college player, or anything close to it.
No elite traits, other than size/strength combo for a 3

If you wanted size and athleticism, you should have gone Okongwu, Toppin or Wiseman
If you wanted athleticism and defensive ability to switch you should have gone Okoro
If you wanted a lot of potential, you should have gone after the top 3 picks (especially since the narrative now is that he's the 4th best player).

PW was closer to the guy with no red flags than he was the guy with any elite traits. I prefer not to draft by process of elimination. Here's hoping he looks more like the guy in the pickup games than the guy at FSU. As a legitimate 3, he has a chance to break through and be a star.

[PhilLeotardo]

The draft this year was indeed weak, very weak. No one ran too far with it. For gods sake lol, some drafts are just weak, and we’ve known that 2020 was going to be poor for almost 2 years. There simply weren’t any clearly elite-level prospects. The fact that Edwards is really the only one speaks volumes as to just how weak it is. He was the consensus #1 this year, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see him drop out of the top 5 in 2021

Also, a few sleepers randomly breaking out down the road doesn’t constitute a good draft

Also, what does it matter who AKEVS would have picked....if Williams was gone? Gone where? They had the 4th pick & seemingly wanted nothing to do with anyone else

[PlayerUp]

The draft this year was indeed weak, very weak. No one ran too far with it. For gods sake lol, some drafts are just weak, and we’ve known that 2020 was going to be poor for almost 2 years.

Then you have drafts like 2014 where it's considered one of the strongest in many years and it ends up being a major dissapointment with Wiggins, Parker, Exum and more.

This draft will end up being deep with talent but you're right, may only have 2-4 all stars in the end.

With that said, the 2021 draft seems to have alot of great prospects but unclear if there are generational type prospects which could have been had in the 2018 and 2019 drafts.

[MrFortune3]

Given the roster repetition in the front court with Atlanta, hard to say for sure picks # 4,5,6, and 7 would have all been Williams. Hard to say if Reddish and Hunter would have been a deterrent, but they did double up at the 4-5 with Okongwu and Collins, so they seem like a BPA asset gathering team. Williams is a swing player anyway. And a cheaper option than Gallinari. With pick #s 4,5, and 7 all likely all Williams spots, at this point the reach label does not fit if everyone was drafting him.

Read on Twitter

The "reach" label never fit. It had been reported for some time that Williams was quietly moving up draft boards.

Size, athleticism, defensive ability to switch onto multiple positions and a lot of potential.

What is there not to like? People rans too far with the draft is weak narrative and had no NCAA tourney nor work out reports to help them decide on a player.

It has been frequently covered here what there is not to like. Among other things:

Position may be limited by body type
Switchability may be limited by athleticism
Not a playmaker
Not a dominant college player, or anything close to it.
No elite traits, other than size/strength combo for a 3

If you wanted size and athleticism, you should have gone Okongwu, Toppin or Wiseman
If you wanted athleticism and defensive ability to switch you should have gone Okoro
If you wanted a lot of potential, you should have gone after the top 3 picks (especially since the narrative now is that he's the 4th best player).

PW was closer to the guy with no red flags than he was the guy with any elite traits. I prefer not to draft by process of elimination. Here's hoping he looks more like the guy in the pickup games than the guy at FSU. As a legitimate 3, he has a chance to break through and be a star.

Those are the same issues as every player in this draft. It's not an actual legit concern, it's just "This player didn't have the name of the guy I wanted."

[MrFortune3]

Knowing we were in lockstep with the Cavs and Pistons FO makes me shudder.

Why? Weaver did pretty good in the draft this year. His FA signings may be odd but his drafting was solid.
Cavs have done pretty well in the draft with Altman. Never really picking high enough to land the franchise stud but Sexton and Garland are solid players. Of course I say that and Sexton put up over 20 ppg last year and Garland was a rookie that put up over 12 ppg.

More importantly, given AK's track record, we should be happy he got the player he wanted.

The real question is, had Williams not been there, who was he going to take?

This comment wasn’t meant to be taken very seriously. I have already said I would have wanted Hayes/Bey over Williams. Also wanted Okoro over PW if forced at 4. Just funny to see people bragging about those teams to justify the Bulls pick.

Detroit just hired a brand new FO, Cleveland is in the 3rd season of a rebuild, what exactly is so bad about using those FO's to justify the Bulls pick?

You want us to be OKC who is trying to tank and sell off everything for picks? You want us to be like the Pelicans who had a superstar player traded away and landed the #1 OA pick to get there?
There is nothing wrong with pointing out that had we not selected Williams, he was likely going right after us.

[JohnnyTapwater]

I feel more comfortable every time I hear other teams would've drafted Pill if given the chance.

AK has my trust so I'm riding with the choice.

[ZOMG]

The draft this year was indeed weak, very weak. No one ran too far with it. For gods sake lol, some drafts are just weak, and we’ve known that 2020 was going to be poor for almost 2 years.There simply weren’t any clearly elite-level prospects. The fact that Edwards is really the only one speaks volumes as to just how weak it is. He was the consensus #1 this year, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see him drop out of the top 5 in 2021

Also, a few sleepers randomly breaking out down the road doesn’t constitute a good draft

Also, what does it matter who AKEVS would have picked....if Williams was gone? Gone where? They had the 4th pick & seemingly wanted nothing to do with anyone else

I love how everyone knows a draft sucks 2 years in advance and that the bunch of teenagers selected in it will never become stars... but Coby White can play a whole crappy NBA season with the ball in his hands and he's still a total unknown.

Will he be an All Star? WHO KNOWS! HE MIGHT! TOO EARLY TO SAY!! WE HAVE TO GIVE HIM THE "CAR KEYS" TO FIND OUT!

[cjbulls]

Why? Weaver did pretty good in the draft this year. His FA signings may be odd but his drafting was solid.
Cavs have done pretty well in the draft with Altman. Never really picking high enough to land the franchise stud but Sexton and Garland are solid players. Of course I say that and Sexton put up over 20 ppg last year and Garland was a rookie that put up over 12 ppg.

More importantly, given AK's track record, we should be happy he got the player he wanted.

The real question is, had Williams not been there, who was he going to take?

This comment wasn’t meant to be taken very seriously. I have already said I would have wanted Hayes/Bey over Williams. Also wanted Okoro over PW if forced at 4. Just funny to see people bragging about those teams to justify the Bulls pick.

Detroit just hired a brand new FO, Cleveland is in the 3rd season of a rebuild, what exactly is so bad about using those FO's to justify the Bulls pick?

You want us to be OKC who is trying to tank and sell off everything for picks? You want us to be like the Pelicans who had a superstar player traded away and landed the #1 OA pick to get there?
There is nothing wrong with pointing out that had we not selected Williams, he was likely going right after us.

Wait, so you're trying to sell me on Detroit and Cleveland being good front offices, and OKC is bad?

Cleveland has the second worst roster in the league (Detroit is worst) and that's after 3 years of rebuilding. We think things are bad here, but it's downright depressing there. Garland flat out sucked. He ranked 506/520 in rpm and 517/520 in win shares. Sexton gets a bid of a bad rap because of the terrible situation, but he is not a star or anything close to it. Other than that, they have well, no one, unless you want to count the $60 million they're committing to Love and Drummond. That roster is a wasteland.

Next is Detroit (under a new FO), who easily won the title for worst offseason. They made one head scratching move after another. Letting their one good player go, Wood, for not much money (3/41), before acquiring like 9 other centers including signing Mason Plumlee at 3/25 and Dedmon with 2/14 left that they just stretched out (do the math on that and see how stupid it is). They also had the second biggest overpay of the summer with Jerami Grant at 3/20.

You can sell me on a lot about why it's good those two wanted PW, but don't pretend we should envy the management of either situation.

[cjbulls]

The "reach" label never fit. It had been reported for some time that Williams was quietly moving up draft boards.

Size, athleticism, defensive ability to switch onto multiple positions and a lot of potential.

What is there not to like? People rans too far with the draft is weak narrative and had no NCAA tourney nor work out reports to help them decide on a player.

It has been frequently covered here what there is not to like. Among other things:

Position may be limited by body type
Switchability may be limited by athleticism
Not a playmaker
Not a dominant college player, or anything close to it.
No elite traits, other than size/strength combo for a 3

If you wanted size and athleticism, you should have gone Okongwu, Toppin or Wiseman
If you wanted athleticism and defensive ability to switch you should have gone Okoro
If you wanted a lot of potential, you should have gone after the top 3 picks (especially since the narrative now is that he's the 4th best player).

PW was closer to the guy with no red flags than he was the guy with any elite traits. I prefer not to draft by process of elimination. Here's hoping he looks more like the guy in the pickup games than the guy at FSU. As a legitimate 3, he has a chance to break through and be a star.

Those are the same issues as every player in this draft. It's not an actual legit concern, it's just "This player didn't have the name of the guy I wanted."

There are going to be issues with every player drafted, but not every player has these issues. You wanted to know what is not to like, so now you know.

[Dez]

The draft this year was indeed weak, very weak. No one ran too far with it. For gods sake lol, some drafts are just weak, and we’ve known that 2020 was going to be poor for almost 2 years.There simply weren’t any clearly elite-level prospects. The fact that Edwards is really the only one speaks volumes as to just how weak it is. He was the consensus #1 this year, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see him drop out of the top 5 in 2021

Also, a few sleepers randomly breaking out down the road doesn’t constitute a good draft

Also, what does it matter who AKEVS would have picked....if Williams was gone? Gone where? They had the 4th pick & seemingly wanted nothing to do with anyone else

I love how everyone knows a draft sucks 2 years in advance and that the bunch of teenagers selected in it will never become stars... but Coby White can play a whole crappy NBA season with the ball in his hands and he's still a total unknown.

Will he be an All Star? WHO KNOWS! HE MIGHT! TOO EARLY TO SAY!! WE HAVE TO GIVE HIM THE "CAR KEYS" TO FIND OUT!

I love how you rip into Coby despite him playing very well after the All Star break but will move heaven and earth to defend Lauri even making up skills he doesn't possess to do so.

[MrFortune3]

This comment wasn’t meant to be taken very seriously. I have already said I would have wanted Hayes/Bey over Williams. Also wanted Okoro over PW if forced at 4. Just funny to see people bragging about those teams to justify the Bulls pick.

Detroit just hired a brand new FO, Cleveland is in the 3rd season of a rebuild, what exactly is so bad about using those FO's to justify the Bulls pick?

You want us to be OKC who is trying to tank and sell off everything for picks? You want us to be like the Pelicans who had a superstar player traded away and landed the #1 OA pick to get there?
There is nothing wrong with pointing out that had we not selected Williams, he was likely going right after us.

Wait, so you're trying to sell me on Detroit and Cleveland being good front offices, and OKC is bad?

Cleveland has the second worst roster in the league (Detroit is worst) and that's after 3 years of rebuilding. We think things are bad here, but it's downright depressing there. Garland flat out sucked. He ranked 506/520 in rpm and 517/520 in win shares. Sexton gets a bid of a bad rap because of the terrible situation, but he is not a star or anything close to it. Other than that, they have well, no one, unless you want to count the $60 million they're committing to Love and Drummond. That roster is a wasteland.

Next is Detroit (under a new FO), who easily won the title for worst offseason. They made one head scratching move after another. Letting their one good player go, Wood, for not much money (3/41), before acquiring like 9 other centers including signing Mason Plumlee at 3/25 and Dedmon with 2/14 left that they just stretched out (do the math on that and see how stupid it is). They also had the second biggest overpay of the summer with Jerami Grant at 3/20.

You can sell me on a lot about why it's good those two wanted PW, but don't pretend we should envy the management of either situation.

I'm pointing out the silly nature of trying to claim one FO sucks and shouldn't be used as a barometer for player evaluation when another FO that is lauded is in a similar situation from a roster construction standpoint.

I care nothing about whether or not the Spurs, OKC or etc like Williams vs Detroit or Cleveland. Outside of it meaning that we would not have been able to trade down and still get him. I care that AK wanted him and his track record is pretty sound.

[MrFortune3]

It has been frequently covered here what there is not to like. Among other things:

Position may be limited by body type
Switchability may be limited by athleticism
Not a playmaker
Not a dominant college player, or anything close to it.
No elite traits, other than size/strength combo for a 3

If you wanted size and athleticism, you should have gone Okongwu, Toppin or Wiseman
If you wanted athleticism and defensive ability to switch you should have gone Okoro
If you wanted a lot of potential, you should have gone after the top 3 picks (especially since the narrative now is that he's the 4th best player).

PW was closer to the guy with no red flags than he was the guy with any elite traits. I prefer not to draft by process of elimination. Here's hoping he looks more like the guy in the pickup games than the guy at FSU. As a legitimate 3, he has a chance to break through and be a star.

Those are the same issues as every player in this draft. It's not an actual legit concern, it's just "This player didn't have the name of the guy I wanted."

There are going to be issues with every player drafted, but not every player has these issues. You wanted to know what is not to like, so now you know.

Why would you take Okongwu who is a 4/5 when you already have WCJ and Lauri at the 4/5 and WCJ provides the same type of game as Okongwu.
Toppin plays no defense and doesn't give you a better option than Lauri plus he's got less size.
Wiseman is a beast but he went #2, not #4.

Okoro is nice but if they liked him better than Williams they would have taken him there. All of those prospects have just as many question marks, holes and issues as Williams.

Once again, this is a issue of "He's not the name I wanted" rather than an actual legitimate reason.

[Leslie Forman]

Then you have drafts like 2014 where it's considered one of the strongest in many years and it ends up being a major dissapointment with Wiggins, Parker, Exum and more.

Only rubes thought that was still gonna be a great draft by the time draft day actually came. Wiggins was disappointing in college yet nobody seemed to care. The warning signs were there. Poor handles, low motor, low IQ. Parker looked like homeless man's Melo. Don't even get me started on Doug, who was really nothing more than a late first/second round talent, being projected as a lottery pick. Man what a terrible draft.

Embiid and Jokic saved it from being flat out 2000-bad.