Bulls Young Star Admits to Feeling The Pressure

Few things in life are guaranteed. The Chicago Bulls are one game into the preseason but the evaluations have already begun on third-year forward Patrick Williams. This summer has been set up for a breakout campaign from the 21-year-old former fourth-overall pick.

In the preseason opener, Williams had five points, five rebounds, and one assist with a pair of turnovers.

He shot 2-for-7 from the floor and knocked down one of his two looks from deep.

Surprisingly, Williams played under 17 minutes despite having his first healthy offseason. Meanwhile, veterans DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic both saw over 20 minutes on the floor. Perhaps, after two years of disruptions, they had already seen enough and simply wanted to protect the promising youngster.

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Williams Feeling Pressure

The Bulls made a procedural move, picking up Williams’ fourth-year option and guaranteeing his full 2023-24 salary. It was never really in much doubt. But the move does continue the trend of the Bulls maintaining the utmost faith in Williams and his potential.

He was a mainstay in hypothetical trade scenarios this summer but the Bulls are quite far away from that being a reality.

“Well, he does not really have trade value because they have no intention of trading him out,” an Eastern Conference executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney. “Definitely not this year and they shut down anyone asking about him last year. They are banking on him being a star down the line.”

That pressure to be great has always existed. Williams is a top-five pick, after all.

Williams has previously said he was looking at this year just like any other. But even he seems to know that just isn’t the case.

“It’s definitely different,’’ Williams said. “Whether it’s [the media], my teammates, my coaching staff, they’re all just telling me to be aggressive. Not really because I was a certain pick or anything like that, but just because I have the talent to. Whether I was the fourth pick or the 40th pick, if you have the talent, you have the size, guys are going to want you to do it.” (h/t Joe Cowley/Chicago Sun-Times)

Standing 6-foot-7 and listed at 217 pounds, Williams is right that he has prototypical size – and length with a 7-foot wingspan – that teams covet.

It won’t mean much if Williams is passive as has been the case far too often. Williams missed all but 17 games last season skewing the sample size. But the Bulls’ net rating was 9.2 points better without the Bulls’ Big Three of DeRozan, Vucevic, and Zach LaVine on the floor with Williams last season, per Cleaning the Glass.

“When I [am aggressive], we’re a better team, and I’m a better player.’’

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DeRozan in Williams’ Ear

“Mentally, it’s a huge part of it, what you tell yourself,’’ Williams said. “The self-talk you have with yourself throughout the game. I’ve been trying to focus on that.’’

Williams has plenty of supporters on this Bulls roster. Not the least of which is the 14-year veteran DeRozan with whom Williams trained this summer. Williams spoke highly of the rigorous training that DeRozan does. The veteran, who is always outspoken, says he has told Williams that his expected leap this season is “big.”

“Even before the season ended last year, I was telling him how important this summer is for him,” DeRozan said before adding, “Me telling him that wasn’t to put pressure on him. It was more so giving him the comfort of him understanding what he can do on the court.’’

Williams noted that a lot of what DeRozan puts himself through during the offseason is “mental”. Following the preseason opener, Williams is finding himself in his own head in many ways.

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Bulls Need Williams

The biggest shift in the pressure on Williams may have come from his head coach who has gone from downplaying expectations on the talented forward to saying in plain language that they need him to take the next step this season.

Any roster led by DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic needs far more on defense than it does offensively.

But DeRozan and Vucevic are both over 30 years old and Williams – who will be extension eligible next offseason – is the Bulls’ best hope for becoming a contender now and deep into the future. Adding to the situation is rookie Dalen Terry whose play in the opener was cited by Donovan while discussing Williams’ tendency to overthink.

The pressure is on, indeed.

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