Defense... is this issue overblown?

[GoBlue72391]

You think it's good now? Just wait until Patrick Williams comes back ......

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

[gardenofsound]

Yeah, honestly don't crown PW yet. All he's shown so far is potential/flashes and that he can say the right things.

He isn't a good defender yet. The hope is that he really puts it together on that end and can be a true 3/D player this year with flashes of playmaking and scoring.

[NecessaryEvil]

You think it's good now? Just wait until Patrick Williams comes back ......

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

[TyrusRose2425]

Overall we knew what we were doing though. It’s not like we were targeting a bunch of PF’s, struck out, and became forced to roll with this. I doubt AK and Donovan built this knowing we would be huge defensive liabilities. I’m pretty sure we will be fine, worst case.

[GoBlue72391]

You think it's good now? Just wait until Patrick Williams comes back ......

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

No, I don't. I think he's roughly an average to slightly above-average defender with the potential to be a very good defender down the line. And I don't think that is in any way a controversial opinion.

[DASMACKDOWN]

I sort of feel we are arguing for Keith Bogans over Korver here.

Don't over analyze it. Patrick Williams is the answer.

[Salo23]

Overall we knew what we were doing though. It’s not like we were targeting a bunch of PF’s, struck out, and became forced to roll with this. I doubt AK and Donovan built this knowing we would be huge defensive liabilities. I’m pretty sure we will be fine, worst case.

For the most part, yes. However we did target both Milsap and Aldridge, and lost out on both to the Nets.

As a result the Nets had to waive Alize Johnson which so far looks like a great pickup for us anyway, two years non-guaranteed for minimum salary.

[TyrusRose2425]

Overall we knew what we were doing though. It’s not like we were targeting a bunch of PF’s, struck out, and became forced to roll with this. I doubt AK and Donovan built this knowing we would be huge defensive liabilities. I’m pretty sure we will be fine, worst case.

For the most part, yes. However we did target both Milsap and Aldridge, and lost out on both to the Nets.

As a result the Nets had to waive Alize Johnson which so far looks like a great pickup for us anyway, two years non-guaranteed for minimum salary.

I think Aldridge was for backup C spot and Millsap maybe as well. At best it was as a backup and like you said we got Alize Johnson instead. Point being, we had every intention of being undersized at the 4 or we would have actually attempted to keep Theis and wouldn't have signed both Lonzo and DeRozan to big deals on top of Caruso being MLE.

[NecessaryEvil]

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

No, I don't. I think he's roughly an average to slightly above-average defender with the potential to be a very good defender down the line. And I don't think that is in any way a controversial opinion.

cool

[tedwilliams1999]

After thinking about it a bit, I don't think the defensive issues are overblown - it's up to the players to prove the narrative wrong. I like that the perimeter guys have taken on the challenge, knowing each game that they'll be a bit undersized. Playing with a chip on your shoulder is the exact mentality you need to have to become an average to good defensive team - it entirely explains how the Knicks became elite defensive without any specific individual defensive specialists. I hope the frenetic energy is still there when we're playing against teams that are less turnover prone - if so I do think we'll be average or better on that end of the court. If, on the other hand, we become discouraged with a lack of turnovers and blown coverages - there were definitely several of these over the past few games - then I could see the media pundits being right more often than not this season.

The individual personnel we have looks bad on paper, but I think all of us would agree that Vuc and Lavine at this point are more than capable of being perfectly average defenders. Coby and Derozan project to be terribly bad, but it's still entirely possible that we can build an above average defense in spite of them - if anyone can do it, it'll be Donovan.

Patrick Williams is definitely a potential trump card that could raise the defensive ceiling of the team. I also didn't think he was particularly impressive defensively last year, and most of that highlight clip above is him landing in the right place at the right time. More often than not, he was invisible. Hopefully this is mostly from a lack of conditioning and experience, because if he does max out his potential defensively we're going to be a problem.

[GoBlue72391]

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

No, I don't. I think he's roughly an average to slightly above-average defender with the potential to be a very good defender down the line. And I don't think that is in any way a controversial opinion.

cool

Excellent rebuttal.

[NecessaryEvil]

No, I don't. I think he's roughly an average to slightly above-average defender with the potential to be a very good defender down the line. And I don't think that is in any way a controversial opinion.

cool

Excellent rebuttal.

Thank you sir

Enjoy todays game

[Jcool0]

It was that game against Lebron i think where Williams did okay and everyone just kind of assumed he was going to be the Bulls best defender. But he would get burned a lot on the defensive end. I kept thinking where was this great defender everyone keeps talking about? Still has a ways to go.

[NecessaryEvil]

It was that game against Lebron i think where Williams did okay and everyone just kind of assumed he was going to be the Bulls best defender. But he would get burned a lot on the defensive end. I kept thinking where was this great defender everyone keeps talking about? Still has a ways to go.

He was 19, with no training camp and a bench player in college.

I think expecations are too high. Give that kid some time. He'll be absolutely fine.

[sco]

You think it's good now? Just wait until Patrick Williams comes back ......

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

So Pat played 5 good minutes of defense all season?

[NecessaryEvil]

Are we still pretending like he's some kind of stopper/defensive prodigy? If he can give us half the defense Green has so far I will be pleasantly surprised.

So, you don't believe Patrick Williams is a good defensive player?

Watch on YouTube

I guess you must of forgotten how disruptive this kid was as a 19 year old last season. This guy is going to be absolutely swarming within this defense.

So Pat played 5 good minutes of defense all season?

[TeamMan]

...Pelicans had 18 TOs, but 14 were Bulls steals.

This could be a fun stat to keep track of as the season goes on...

I nominate you to keep track of it brother.....

OK - will see how it looks by the end of preseason...

Opponent TOs: 38
Bulls Steals: 27
Percentage: 71%

Easy stat to follow...

Cavs game 2 update...

Opponent TOs: 38+16=54
Bulls Steals: 27+10=37
Percentage: 69%

[coldfish]

Bulls had a D rating under 100 last night, which is still elite. The reason the game was close was bad offense by Chicago.

[RSP83]

DELETED. Wrong thread.

[dougthonus]

Worth noting Williams had a positive DRPM and a near neutral (slightly negative) defensive RAPTOR. I feel like as a rookie often assigned to the opposing teams best player that's actually quite good. I'd say he still projects out as a really good defender in the long run.