![\"Bulls](\"https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com\/reuters\/MEM7G2AO65PLXEHIPD4ENFI7MY.jpg\")
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The Bulls provided the runway for forward Patrick Williams years ago. All he had to do was take off.<\/p>\n
Heading into his sixth season with the Bulls, the No. 4 overall pick of 2020 is still mostly grounded.<\/p>\n
After the Bulls finished off their second game of the preseason Thursday, beating the visiting Cavaliers 119-112, coach Billy Donovan discussed Williams \u2014 who finished with eight points and three rebounds in 21\u00bd minutes \u2014 but didn\u2019t dwell on him. If he wants to succeed at this point, it\u2019s clearly on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk to Patrick, he\u2019s a guy that
\nassumes responsibility,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI talked to him, even, like, his rookie year when he was going through some things where he had to learn a lot. I tell all these young guys the same thing: There\u2019s a certain amount of runway you end up having, and that runway kind of ends, and it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, you\u2019ve got to step up.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams had already gone through numerous development coaches who work with players individually, including former shooting guru Peter Patton, who actually connected with him. But, as the Sun-Times reported this summer, he was told during exit meetings that the days of catering to him were ending. The Bulls gave him a five-year, $90 million deal last offseason and wanted more results.<\/p>\n
To Williams\u2019 credit, he came into training camp this month in much better shape, having obviously shed some weight. But Matas Buzelis took his starting spot in the middle of last season, Isaac Okoro was added in the summer to fill his role as wing defender, and now just a piece off the bench \u2014 sometimes an extremely deep piece.<\/p>\n
In the preseason opener Tuesday, he was the 11th player in the rotation. On Thursday, he jumped up to seventh, but the Bulls were also without Nikola Vucevic, Kevin Huerter and Julian Phillips.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like that old adage, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s talent, talent. Then it\u2019s potential, potential,\u2019\u2009\u201d Donovan said. \u201cThen, over a period of time it\u2019s like, \u2018The potential thing \u2026 there\u2019s a runway here and it\u2019s Year 6, Year 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can carve out a really good niche for himself as an NBA player. He\u2019s really good defensively. But can he play with a consistent motor up and down the floor? And I think he knows that\u2019s coming from within himself and he really wants to do that. You can tell he\u2019s tried to focus on his conditioning and being really in shape, but we\u2019ve talked a lot about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams was solid in his debut in Cleveland with 11 points. He was a plus-8 in plus\/minus on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has to accept the fact that he knows [what needs fixing] and he wants to make that step,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The organization has done all they could to help develop the former No. 4 overall pick, but at some point he needs to take steps forward on his own. That time is now and he’s been told that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":109415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n