PHILADELPHIA — In the waning days of this Chicago Bulls season, Patrick Williams has begun to fade out of focus.
The sixth-year forward hardly is playing. When he makes it onto court, he often flashes a brief, promising display of the same talent that lured the Bulls to select him with the No. 4 draft pick in 2020 — a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer, a sudden lurch toward the rim for an offensive rebound.
Then, just as quickly, Williams dissolves into the background. Easy to miss. Hard to explain. A question the Bulls seem incapable of answering.
The trade deadline was supposed to offer a change. Or, at the least, an opportunity. The Bulls traded away seven of their most important players, clearing the runway for the remaining young core to earn significant playing time. But even in that environment, Williams can’t win.
Since the All-Star break, Williams has spent 240.8 minutes on the court. Only five players have logged fewer minutes in that span: two-way players Yuki Kawamura and Lachlan Olbrich and injured players Jaden Ivey, Jalen Smith and Anfernee Simons. Williams tallied five blocks and 25 rebounds in that span. And new addition Leonard Miller — a second-year forward who barely cracked the rotation in Minnesota — has nearly doubled Williams’ playing time.
How does Williams handle his plummet down the team’s priorities?
“I just try to learn from all of it,” he told the Tribune on Wednesday. “That’s where I’m at.”
Williams couldn’t offer a clear reason for his lack of playing time. He said he hasn’t talked with the coaching staff or the front office about his role reduction. He’s trying to learn from each game, make the most of the minutes he receives and absorb the feedback given by the coaching staff.
But coach Billy Donovan had a simple explanation: Nothing has changed.
In his sixth season, Williams still is struggling with the same weaknesses that plagued the early years of his career. He is the longest-tenured player on the Bulls roster, the first player drafted under Donovan, the first project to which the coach fully committed himself in Chicago.
And six years later, Donovan still is prodding and cajoling Williams to crash the boards and control his dribble and contribute physically.
“It bothers me because there are things I see in him that I want to see him do more consistently,” Donovan said. “I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed. … But when someone shows signs of being able to do something, you feel like you want to try to get him to do it more consistently. He’s got to take ownership of those minutes and try to make them as valuable as possible.”
More often than not, Donovan and his staff find themselves mulling over the same questions: What do we need to do to motivate Williams to play this way more consistently? What are we missing? What does he need?
Those questions haven’t changed since his rookie season. They’ve grown more confounding. Donovan doesn’t understand why Williams doesn’t pursue offensive rebounds at a higher rate. He can’t wrap his head around his lack of finishing ability as a dunker. He doesn’t know why this player — big, strong, smart, dedicated — can’t get things to click after years of trying.
Internally, the Bulls coaching staff has reached a point of bafflement. To those who work with Williams, none of this makes sense. As a one-and-done college player who mostly came off the bench at Florida State, he never was a sure-fire guarantee as a top-five pick. Still, Williams had the makings to meet a baseline of physicality and finishing that he simply never has reached in Chicago.
Stardom is more nuanced than height, weight and wingspan, but Williams clearly has the physical gifts and general profile of a solid NBA player. His teammates often marvel at his strength both in the weight room and in team drills. He has a yawning reach, deft hands and light feet. So why has that never translated into consistency — of any kind — on the court?
This has been the worst season of Williams’ career. He is averaging his fewest points (6.9) and rebounds (2.8), with less than one offensive board per game. His 2-point shooting percentage has dropped to 40.9%.
As a result, Williams’ career trajectory is at a standstill. Three years remain on his five-year, $90 million deal. The Bulls didn’t seriously pursue trade options for Williams at the deadline because of a lack of interest on the market, per a source.
Perhaps that will change once he nears the end of his contract. But in the meantime, Williams is treading water — and retreading the same talking points that have defined the last three years of his development.
“I kind of look at it as: Whenever I do get out there, what can I learn from it?” Williams said. “To be completely honest, we’re not competing for a championship this year. So when I’m out there, I’m trying to learn different things. I’m trying to work on things in a game. It might look a little bit crazy, but that’s kind of what the development part of it is for me.”
Williams still talks like a young player at the start of his career. When he thinks about this season in the big picture, he points to foundational aspects of his game that he hopes to improve — playing at a higher pace, filling in the gaps in an undersized frontcourt.
“I hope that in Year 10, Year 12, Year 15, these lessons will start to come back around again,” he said. “I’ll say, ‘OK, I learned that early on when I was in Chicago.’”
There’s some sense to this outlook. After all, Williams is only 24. Life is long.
But NBA careers are not. And as he has to fight for minutes even on a floundering Bulls roster, Williams is adding to the stagnation of his career — and the team as a whole.
