It happened. Pat got 8 Rebounds.

[Chi town]

Yes it deserves its own thread.

Pat got 8 Rebs in 21 mins.

This is unheard of.

I believe this is the 3rd time he’s done this in his career.

Are we beginning to see a motor? Are my eyes betraying me?

[WesPeace]

Yes, nice surprise when I saw statline after game, 10-8-5 in those minutes for Pat is encouraging. I hoped I would see slimmer faster PWill tho, so he could really be that rookish SF maybe again. He still looks kinda bulk and heavy.

[Ice Man]

The nice thing about being a #4 pick is that years after being drafted, you can have an outlier game and have people hope/speculate that represents your true level. Not just fans -- the Bulls FO paid up on that belief, too.

At this point, though, I will say no more than "Good game, Pat."

[sco]

That's true. He did an overall decent job, but he is still a turn-over just waiting to happen when he dribbles in the paint.

[kodo]

Yes, nice surprise when I saw statline after game, 10-8-5 in those minutes for Pat is encouraging. I hoped I would see slimmer faster PWill tho, so he could really be that rookish SF maybe again. He still looks kinda bulk and heavy.

He's still a short PF, he can't dribble to save his life. That behind the back dribble in transition and just losing the ball completely sums up why he shouldn't try to do too much.

Spoiler:

[The Box Office]

Pinned this thread. Forever pinned.

[Chi town]

Pinned this thread. Forever pinned.

As it should be!

Let’s see how long it takes to get another 8 rebs

[dougthonus]

Yes it deserves its own thread.

Pat got 8 Rebs in 21 mins.

This is unheard of.

I believe this is the 3rd time he’s done this in his career.

Are we beginning to see a motor? Are my eyes betraying me?

I've been more optimistic on Pat than most this off-season, because I think he was out of shape last year and never really worked his way back fully from the foot injury. He had a bone bruise (similar to what Lonzo had in the knee) and that can be a long time to recover from. He visibly had no lift or athleticism last year.

He looks a bit better this year, and he's had a full off-season to work on his game instead of being on the shelf all off-season trying to maintain conditioning while not being able to work out hard.

I think we should see a bounce back year from Pat a bit.

All that said, while 10/8/5 is a nice stat line in 21 minutes, let's see Pat put this together say a good 15 out of 20 games in the regular season rather than one preseason game before we start guessing whether he's putting anything together. It's not like this was an amazing, eyepopping stat line, this should be an every day baseline.

[ShouldaPaidBG]

What should have been done earlier on with Pat is the coaches should have set missions for him - "I don't care what else happens tonight, you need to get 10 rebounds". Clear, singular directives are what he needs. Stuff that eliminates the need for thought.

[Chi town]

Yes it deserves its own thread.

Pat got 8 Rebs in 21 mins.

This is unheard of.

I believe this is the 3rd time he’s done this in his career.

Are we beginning to see a motor? Are my eyes betraying me?

I've been more optimistic on Pat than most this off-season, because I think he was out of shape last year and never really worked his way back fully from the foot injury. He had a bone bruise (similar to what Lonzo had in the knee) and that can be a long time to recover from. He visibly had no lift or athleticism last year.

He looks a bit better this year, and he's had a full off-season to work on his game instead of being on the shelf all off-season trying to maintain conditioning while not being able to work out hard.

I think we should see a bounce back year from Pat a bit.

All that said, while 10/8/5 is a nice stat line in 21 minutes, let's see Pat put this together say a good 15 out of 20 games in the regular season rather than one preseason game before we start guessing whether he's putting anything together. It's not like this was an amazing, eyepopping stat line, this should be an every day baseline.

Billy said post game it’s all about consistency. He wants to see that good game 9 of 10.

We shall see. Pat has never shown that consistency. He has been disrupted with injuries though too.

[dougthonus]

What should have been done earlier on with Pat is the coaches should have set missions for him - "I don't care what else happens tonight, you need to get 10 rebounds". Clear, singular directives are what he needs. Stuff that eliminates the need for thought.

Raw rebound numbers is probably not the right goal. The Bulls aren't a poor defensive rebounding team, so Pat trying to fight for defensive rebounds wouldn't help him or the team. What they should be (and maybe were) working with him on is court awareness, get a body on someone box them out, be physical. Robin Lopez didn't put up huge rebound numbers, but he was a beast for team rebounding and keeping guys off the offensive glass.

The problem with Pat and rebounding isn't the numbers, it's that HIS guy often gets offensive boards because he doesn't put a body on him and loses track of him.

On the offensive side, whether you go for offensive rebounds or not is often a schematic choice. If Billy wanted to create a "crash the glass hard" offense, than Pat should charge in when a shot goes up, but he usually starts heading back to ease transition defense instead. That is a trade off, and I'm not sure what he is coached to do or what the team wants to do. He definitely doesn't have the instincts to be very good at doing that opportunistically, he needs that decision simplified, and either always crash or always go back.

[GoBlue72391]

A 4th overall pick in his 6th year has a solid game in the preseason and we're making threads about it.

Let it go man, it's never gonna happen for him. He'll be the same player he's always been.

[Bulldog23]

The Bulls are a mediocre team, so Pat grabbing 8 rebounds is a big deal. The bar is so low for Pat. On a good team 11th guy in the rotation.

[Chi town]

A 4th overall pick in his 6th year has a solid game in the preseason and we're making threads about it.

Let it go man, it's never gonna happen for him. He'll be the same player he's always been.

Hahahaha.

That’s why he gets a thread! In the preseason…

A thread of irony and dark satire.

[Chi town]

A 4th overall pick in his 6th year has a solid game in the preseason and we're making threads about it.

Let it go man, it's never gonna happen for him. He'll be the same player he's always been.

Hahahaha.

That’s why he gets a thread! In the preseason…

A thread of irony and dark satire.

[Chi town]

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Billy on Pat.

[dougthonus]

A 4th overall pick in his 6th year has a solid game in the preseason and we're making threads about it.

Let it go man, it's never gonna happen for him. He'll be the same player he's always been.

Well I think if the Bulls could get "the same player he's always been" prior to this year, that would be a big step up from the player he was last year, no one is suggesting Pat's going to be a star or even very good. I think we're just hoping to climb out of albatross land.

[CROBulls]

8 real rebounds or fake ones where he tips himself another rebound after miss? But hey, guy is improving. In 25 years he gonna be All-Star at this tempo.

[GoBlue72391]

A 4th overall pick in his 6th year has a solid game in the preseason and we're making threads about it.

Let it go man, it's never gonna happen for him. He'll be the same player he's always been.

Well I think if the Bulls could get "the same player he's always been" prior to this year, that would be a big step up from the player he was last year, no one is suggesting Pat's going to be a star or even very good. I think we're just hoping to climb out of albatross land.

Even then, how much does low-volume catch-and-shoot 3s on wide open attempts with poor rebounding, low motor, and decent defense really help as opposed to playing someone like Essengue over him for development purposes and just giving more minutes to our glut of good bench guards + Okoro and maybe Smith?

I think that group could, and probably should, eat up most of his minutes. Even at his best, Pat struggled to make an impact on the game. At this point, I don't even care if he's technically better than some others, just play the guy who will impact the game.

I would probably have the rotation like this, and that's already tight with 11 guys:
PG Giddey 30
SG White 32
SF Okoro 20
PF Buzelis 28
C Vucevic 26
6 Dosunmu 22
7 Jones 22
8 Collins 20
9 Huerter 18
10 Smith 12
11 Essengue 10

Who deserves to have their minutes trimmed to get Pat in the rotation? We just traded for Okoro, so he's going to play, and Essengue needs some PT, whether deserved or not, for his development.

I know Pat WILL get minutes, but he shouldn't unless we're leaning heavily on 3 preseason games.

[Ice Man]

For what it's worth, Pat had rebounding games of 14, 11, 10, 9 (twice), and 8 (twice) during his rookie season. So this was uncommon territory for him but not unknown.