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The NBA trade deadline has come and gone. While the Chicago Bulls chose not to make any trades it doesn’t mean the team won’t be getting any additions this season.
Many thought the Bulls might be active at the deadline because of the injuries they have sustained this season. The team has been without Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and Derrick Jones Jr. for extended periods of time this season.
Reports have indicated that all of those players will return at some point this season. Jones is expected to be back soon. While Ball and Caruso could return in a month or so. There has been uncertainty though on when Williams could return.
Williams Return
Williams has been out since he suffered a wrist injury on October 28. He had to undergo surgery on his left wrist to repair torn ligaments.
Recently there has been speculation that Williams could return before the end of the regular season. On Thursday Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations, Arturas Karnisovas gave an update on Williams and his return.
“He’s working extremely hard, doing this recovery and at some point I think you’re gonna see him this year,” said Karnisovas. “Timeline, we don’t have one for now. We don’t want to put any pressure on Patrick or us to bring him back, but there’s a lot of positive things.”
While he didn’t give an exact timeline on when Williams will return, Karnisovas is clearly encouraged by what he’s seen in the recovery. It’s definitely encouraging for the Bulls to hear that Williams will likely return this season.
Williams Impact
If Williams is able to return the second-year forward will immediately help a Bulls frontcourt that has been extremely shorthanded this season. He can definitely help a Bulls defense that has struggled a lot since the start of 2022.
During his rookie reason, Williams ranked in the top 40 among bigs in both block percentage and steal percentage according to Cleaning the Glass. His return would immediately take the pressure off of a Bull team that has been player undersized on the interior.
On the offensive end, Williams can also be an addition. During his rookie season, Williams averaged 9.2 points per game while shooting 48.3% from the field and 39.1% from three.
Williams had only played in five games this season with the new Bulls lineup before his injury. His scoring was down to 6.6 points per game, but he was playing even more efficiently. Williams was shooting 56.5% from the field and 50% from three. His effective field goal percentage was also up from 54.3% to 63% Williams was also averaging 132 points per 100 shot attempts, a big jump from the 113.8 he averaged during his rookie season.
While those improvements have come in small sample size, it’s encouraging to see how well he was meshing with the new lineup. If Williams can return to that production and his level of defense then his return will be huge for the Bulls.
In the meantime, the Bulls are expected to explore the buyout market to help plug their holes. If the team can find one or two contributors to plug the holes until their roster is healthy then the Bulls should be in a good position for the postseason.
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