LAS VEGAS — The first half of Patrick Williams’ NBA Summer League debut Monday went about as well as the Chicago Bulls could have envisioned.
Williams looked like the most impressive player on the court. He grabbed rebounds, took the ball upcourt and pulled up for 3-pointers. He read the defense on the pick-and-roll, facilitating his teammates or charging to the rim looking to score. He attacked the basket with an aggressiveness that was absent most of his rookie season.
And even though Williams could not continue that momentum into the second half of a 94-77 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in the Bulls’ Summer League opener, he looked like a player too good to be here. At times, he appeared dominant and physically imposing on the court — Williams said he felt more agile and has more core strength than last season — standing above the crowd like a veteran among rookies.
“I put so much work in,” Williams said. “Our coaching staff, our (player development) guys were locked in for me all summer. We worked all summer. To make the moves and do the things I did out there, it came naturally, honestly.”
Such a statement is encouraging for the Bulls, who will be counting on Williams to take a leap in his development, even with their dramatically remade roster.
Williams finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. He shot 6 for 13 in the first half but struggled to replicate his production in the second half, going 0 for 7 from the field.
Williams credited the Pelicans for making adjustments, but Bulls assistant Damian Cotter, who is coaching the Summer League team, acknowledged that fatigue was an issue.
“I’ve still got steps to go — I think you saw that in the second half,” Williams said. “I could have (done) more, for sure. Like I said, they made adjustments and I’ve got to learn how to make adjustments, too, on the fly. That’s just a step that I need to take.
“But it definitely felt good just to be out there and see the things that I worked on all summer come to fruition.”
Williams, who turns 20 this month, missed out on Summer League last year after the pandemic pushed the draft into November, so he was excited to get some of the game reps denied to him as a rookie. He quickly has taken to an unfamiliar role, offering advice to rookies Ayo Dosunmu and Marko Simonović.
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The No. 4 pick in the 2020 draft, Williams is the only player on the Bulls Summer League roster who is certain to be in the rotation during the season, so the ball will be in his hands frequently during this nine-day stint in Las Vegas
“Things have been a bit backward; he missed out (on Summer League) last year,” Cotter said. “For him, he’s got to be the man and score. It’s a totally different mindset. I thought he was trying. We’ve asked him to improve his conditioning. I thought he worked hard to try to run.
“He got fatigued tonight, but we’ll go through the film and we’ll keep trying to develop him in that role and try to find ways to get him the ball where he can execute more effectively.”
Williams took 20 shots Monday, more than he attempted in any game during his rookie year. The Bulls won’t be counting on him for that kind of offensive output during the season, especially after adding Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan to the starting lineup.
“I’m excited, I think the whole Chicago Bulls nation is excited,” Williams said about the offseason moves. “I’m definitely excited to get to work in training camp and work with those guys.”
