The Chicago Bulls select forward Patrick Williams #4 overall.

[MrFortune3]

i think it's pretty fair to question williams's one-on-one offensive upside against other wings. most of the clips i've seen highlighting his "flashes of shot creation" are him taking a couple of dribbles for a midrange pullup.

i do think it's possible that his handle and passing is stronger than he was allowed to show as a rookie in a spread-the-wealth offensive system at fsu, but i wouldn't bank on it. either way, he's probably coming into the league as a spot-up guy who can maybe leverage his athleticism to attack closeouts. that's still a potentially useful offensive player!

Williams has a lot of potential, the question I have about his offensive game is more with his outside shooting and his comfort level with it than his ball handling.

I don't think either will be an issue with his development.

[kulaz3000]

Full video here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHym2d8BfPb/?igshid=1pvqv11tydszb

The thing that stands out most out of the clip is that he looks extremely fluid and comfortable handling the ball. Sure, his handles isn't elite right now, but he can work on that, but he doesn't look awkward handling the ball either. But like I said, he moves nicely out there, and unlike some of his college highlights looks light and fluid on his feet.

[PhilLeotardo]

Lol lamello ball does not have sky high upside. Did someone in this draft seriously compare him to Luka f**** Doncic!? I don’t even....

Williams arguably has more upside than Edwards & Wiseman as well

[cjbulls]

Lol lamello ball does not have sky high upside. Did someone in this draft seriously compare him to Luka f**** Doncic!? I don’t even....

Williams arguably has more upside than Edwards & Wiseman as well

Yes his upside is a ball dominant scorer/distributor. You can use Luka, Harden, LeBron or Westbrook if you want. He was at about 20/7/7 in the NBL last year. This is an argument about ceiling, not probable outcome. And it’s the reason the top 3 were who they were without much debate.

To pretend that Patrick Williams belongs in that high ceiling conversation?!?! I don’t even....

[BahamaBull]

Full video here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHym2d8BfPb/?igshid=1pvqv11tydszb

The thing that stands out most out of the clip is that he looks extremely fluid and comfortable handling the ball. Sure, his handles isn't elite right now, but he can work on that, but he doesn't look awkward handling the ball either. But like I said, he moves nicely out there, and like some of his college highlights looks light and fluid.

damn!! thats not the same guy from FSU...Much more fluid...quicker release....wow!

[VolumePoster]

It reminds me of the time I saw a clip of Paul George working out. Just thought to myself, yup. Player. Same reaction here. Rough edges, needs development...but player.

Good lesson of not letting your first reaction rule the day. I was livid at the moment of the pick. But I’m really interested for the season. He and WCJ, health provided, could anchor a nice defense.

[MrFortune3]

Full video here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHym2d8BfPb/?igshid=1pvqv11tydszb

The thing that stands out most out of the clip is that he looks extremely fluid and comfortable handling the ball. Sure, his handles isn't elite right now, but he can work on that, but he doesn't look awkward handling the ball either. But like I said, he moves nicely out there, and like some of his college highlights looks light and fluid.

damn!! thats not the same guy from FSU...Much more fluid...quicker release....wow!

This is why AK talked about getting to view the prospects up close after working on their games for a few months.
A lot of things can change in that time frame.

[cjbulls]

It reminds me of the time I saw a clip of Paul George working out. Just thought to myself, yup. Player. Same reaction here. Rough edges, needs development...but player.

Good lesson of not letting your first reaction rule the day. I was livid at the moment of the pick. But I’m really interested for the season. He and WCJ, health provided, could anchor a nice defense.

That is a great point. We have too many indifferent/inflexible defenders. WCJ finally has someone who can help him out.

Okoro just would have been better. Haha

[kulaz3000]

It reminds me of the time I saw a clip of Paul George working out. Just thought to myself, yup. Player. Same reaction here. Rough edges, needs development...but player.

Good lesson of not letting your first reaction rule the day. I was livid at the moment of the pick. But I’m really interested for the season. He and WCJ, health provided, could anchor a nice defense.

Maybe he will be used more of a defensive player his rookie season to start, but I think he could be a good offensive player.

There is only limited footage of his one season at college and various clips, but the way he gets into his shot, his shot mechanics, and in that short clip, he just looks extremely comfortable with the ball in his hands, and with improved handles, he could have more offensive capabilities than we are giving him credit for.

I also like the fact that he is willing to take shots from all around the court, and isn't restricting himself to one area. And lastly, he looks extremely comfortable with using either hand, which is another huge advantage as an offensive player.

Put it this way, he looks to have the tools, it's really up to him and the help of the coaching staff as well as teammates to give him a helping hand, but he will need to want it to put it all together. I see so much potential in him.

[gobullschi]

There’s a heck of a lot of no’s here.

Jaylen/Tatum- no
siakam/Og - no
Butler- no
Durant- unknown post injury
Middleton - no
Okoro - no
Knox - no
Thybulle - no
Warren - yes
Ross - no
Harris - yes
Reddish/Hunter - no
Ariza - yes
Bridges - no

This is interesting. I think you could argue a lot of the guys marked “no” are up for debate. Are we really worried about Knox, Tatum, Ross, & Reddish/Hunter?

Of the guys you marked “no”, how many of them can blow past PatWill?

And now you get to why I didn't want to bother with this exercise. You’ll just say it should be yes. It was pointless for me to go through it all.

It's not whether we're worried about these guys. It's about being a star. If you have a lot of maybe's then he's not a star or even remotely close. He's just a role player, with your #4 pick.

Maybe you find it as a bad exercise, but it was helpful for me to get a baseline of how you measure him up against the competition. It’s also necessary for me to see how reasonable of a person you actually are.

If you can’t acknowledge that some of the guys on your list were a bit of a stretch, then your right, it’s pointless to continue this discussion. But cmon man... you included Kevin Knox on your list. Some of the guys are legit defensive stalwarts that make it difficult for all forwards to score (Butler, Siakom, Thybulle)

There were some legit guys on your list that I think would make it very difficult for PatWill to explode past them offensively and I agree that he might never have the initial first step to blow past some guys. He will need to learn how to use his body, strength, & develop into a respectable outside shooter to become the player we hope he will be.

[cjbulls]

This is interesting. I think you could argue a lot of the guys marked “no” are up for debate. Are we really worried about Knox, Tatum, Ross, & Reddish/Hunter?

Of the guys you marked “no”, how many of them can blow past PatWill?

And now you get to why I didn't want to bother with this exercise. You’ll just say it should be yes. It was pointless for me to go through it all.

It's not whether we're worried about these guys. It's about being a star. If you have a lot of maybe's then he's not a star or even remotely close. He's just a role player, with your #4 pick.

Maybe you find it as a bad exercise, but it was helpful for me to get a baseline of how you measure him up against the competition. It’s also necessary for me to see how reasonable of a person you actually are.

If you can’t acknowledge that some of the guys on your list were a bit of a stretch, then your right, it’s pointless to continue this discussion. But cmon man... you included Kevin Knox on your list. Some of the guys are legit defensive stalwarts that make it difficult for all forwards to score (Butler, Siakom, Thybulle)

There were some legit guys on your list that I think would make it very difficult for PatWill to explode past them offensively and I agree that he might never have the initial first step to blow past some guys. He will need to learn how to use his body, strength, & develop into a respectable outside shooter to become the player we hope he will be.

Haha. Ok. My list was completely reasonable. Make your list then. I need to evaluate how reasonable you are.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Watching his highlights, I don’t see blow by speed myself. That goes for when he’s facing SF and PF defenders.

If he’s going to win in iso, I suspect it’ll have to be like Pascal Siakam. Hard dribble to the edge of the paint followed by a spin.

Siakam’s longer and (at this stage) more athletic. His jumper’s obviously a bigger threat too. But Williams is thicker and can hopefully carve space better. He also has massive paws and decent touch, so maybe he’ll be tougher at the rim.

I think you can be high on him without arguing that he has a great first step. He’ll never be Jaylen Brown stylistically, that much seems clear to me.

[dc]

Lol lamello ball does not have sky high upside. Did someone in this draft seriously compare him to Luka f**** Doncic!? I don’t even....

Williams arguably has more upside than Edwards & Wiseman as well

There are a number of players with upside, but everyone in this draft seems to have obvious flaws and/or is rough around the edges. There's a lot of "well, IF he develops this or that part of his game he might turn into something" in most of the selections in the Top 14.

It's a craptastic draft and there are no Lukas in it.

[kulaz3000]

Watching his highlights, I don’t see blow by speed myself. That goes for when he’s facing SF and PF defenders.

If he’s going to win in iso, I suspect it’ll have to be like Pascal Siakam. Hard dribble to the edge of the paint followed by a spin.

Siakam’s longer and (at this stage) more athletic. His jumper’s obviously a bigger threat too. But Williams is thicker and can hopefully carve space better. He also has massive paws and decent touch, so maybe he’ll be tougher at the rim.

I think you can be high on him without arguing that he has a great first step. He’ll never be Jaylen Brown stylistically, that much seems clear to me.

Don't forget his strength.

Getting by defenders is more than having a good first step, which surely helps, but also great foot work, and being able to body people and get to where you want, like Jimmy Butler.

Butler though a good athlete was never a great or elite athlete, and he had the disadvantage of having pretty average length, but he has really good strength, footwork, and decent ball handling skills now, and basically smarts his way to the spots to where he wants to go.

Patrick continuing to improve his ball handling is going to go a long long way for him if he wants to be an offensive player, in fact, I think it's crucial for him.

[dougthonus]

Yes his upside is a ball dominant scorer/distributor. You can use Luka, Harden, LeBron or Westbrook if you want. He was at about 20/7/7 in the NBL last year. This is an argument about ceiling, not probable outcome. And it’s the reason the top 3 were who they were without much debate.

To pretend that Patrick Williams belongs in that high ceiling conversation?!?! I don’t even....

Sure Patrick Williams has upside in that vicinity. If someone told you in 2011 that Jimmy Butler had as much upside as Derrick Williams, you'd have probably laughed at them. If someone told you that now, you'd say "Derrick who?".

In this sense, I prefer to think of it more as confidence than upside. With his physical body, there's not much reason to think someone like Patrick Williams (or Isaac Okoro if we want to anchor to a non Bulls player) have tremendous upside if everything worked out. We're highly skeptical because there is such a long way to go and so have very low confidence of them making massive changes based on their current development.

With someone like LaMelo, the path is a bit simpler to get there, but I doubt most people would be too shocked if any one of maybe 20 players ended up being the best guy in this draft, and Patrick Williams is probably one of those guys in that list that has a reasonable chance at it.

[Mbrahv0528]

My biggest concern with PatWill is if his first step is explosive enough to blow by wings off the dribble or if he has the ball handling to create his own shot off the dribble. It’s absent in his film at Florida State.

I’ve seen some recent video of him and he looks thinner than he did in college. He also looked a little quicker, but my eyes could be playing tricks on me. Luckily, we won’t have to wait too long to see if it’s legit.

I had no idea he played point guard in high school and then grew 8 inches. If his playmaking ability and ball handling carried over with his growth spurt, his potential is greater than some people realize. These really late growth spurts where guys are able to retain their point guard skills can result into special NBA players. I know AD and Giannis are two recent examples of this.

I feel fairly confident that he will have a long NBA career at some capacity. I’m cautiously optimistic about his ceiling.

Your biggest concern is a possible lacking of a skill that very few NBA players possess??? Alrighty then.

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[R3AL1TY]

It reminds me of the time I saw a clip of Paul George working out. Just thought to myself, yup. Player. Same reaction here. Rough edges, needs development...but player.

Good lesson of not letting your first reaction rule the day. I was livid at the moment of the pick. But I’m really interested for the season. He and WCJ, health provided, could anchor a nice defense.

Same reaction I had when looking at his workout videos and high school videos. He looks in line with the PGs, Kawhis, Butlers, and Siakams when their games were more raw and they needed some polishing. I don't really like bringing up big names to have my expectation high, but it's fun seeing some similarities.

[Threekola]

Watching his highlights, I don’t see blow by speed myself. That goes for when he’s facing SF and PF defenders.

If he’s going to win in iso, I suspect it’ll have to be like Pascal Siakam. Hard dribble to the edge of the paint followed by a spin.

Siakam’s longer and (at this stage) more athletic. His jumper’s obviously a bigger threat too. But Williams is thicker and can hopefully carve space better. He also has massive paws and decent touch, so maybe he’ll be tougher at the rim.

I think you can be high on him without arguing that he has a great first step. He’ll never be Jaylen Brown stylistically, that much seems clear to me.

Hopefully he develops the Jimmy Butler/Luka Doncic thing where he's big and strong enough he gets wherever he wants even though he's not fast. But it also takes a lot of skill which I haven't seen i his highlights.

[Mbrahv0528]

The underlined hyperbole needs to stop. The top 3 guys all have higher ceilings and it's not debateable. Likelihood of reaching it may change based on personality and work ethic (which Williams profiles for ahead of the top 3), but all 3 can do things Williams only dreams of right now.

The italicized remains suspect. He looks more like a 4 to me long term and I'm not alone in that view, as much I would want him to be a wing.

I disagree. None of the top 3 are the wing I'm talking about. Edwards is a big guard with awful D and low IQ. Melo doesn't play D and his shot is fixable to below average IMO. Wiseman is an athletic specimen that doesn't and won't have a 3 ball IMO and he's a C... the least important position in the pros.

Not only do I think PW has the highest ceiling but I think based on what we know from background and continued improvement he is more likely to reach it. I could be totally wrong but I don't get those reaching potential vibes from Edwards and Melo. I do from Wiseman but I just don't think his position is important enough.

On a basic level, if you're saying a guy has a low ceiling because he doesn't play D then you're ignoring the whole concept of a ceiling.

Edwards has shown he can be a lock down defender, but his energy/effort is mixed (putting it nicely). Now, I am not saying that means he will, in fact he likely won't, be a good defender. But his ceiling is great defender and 25-30pt scorer with middling bball iq.

Wiseman's a potential All-NBA center with his size and athleticism.

And Ball is a Luka type do-it-all scorer/distributor.

Williams has no elite skills other than size/strength for a 3. He's a jack of all trades, so he needs something to set him apart to get a ceiling near those guys.

You tell him to stop using hyperbole... and then proceed to list those 3 players in a hyperbolic manner. Ball being compared to Luka, lol. You can't make this stuff up.

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[TheGOATRises007]

Williams looks pretty good in that instagram clip.

Way better than his college highlights.