That’s enough. The Patrick Williams experiment needs to terminate immediately for the Chicago Bulls in order to reduce their losses.

Williams has done little to live up to the hoopla around his “potential” in the NBA, as he enters his fourth season with three games remaining.

Even worse, he’s not the only reason he’s making headlines: his performances are constantly terrible.

The Chicago Bulls would be wise to sit and move Patrick Williams, their most recent bust.

I wish I was writing this just because I’m a previous fan of Patrick Williams and not because of his lack of output.

Unfortunately, it isn’t true.

Let’s go back to the beginning of this whole thing, which was nine days ago when a report from ESPN’s Zach Lowe appeared and sent Bulls Nation into fits of hilarity or rage.

I’ll never understand how someone could defend paying a player who averaged 10 points per game—his career high—$20 million or more a year.

It was later emphasised that the yearly pay of $20 million or more was the genuine aim, despite the initial story (shown in the tweet below) indicating a desired deal of $200 million or more in total.

In any case, such are wholly unrealistic objectives. Other than being genetically fortunate, how has he earned that request exactly?

Although Williams’ sincerity in this regard has never been established, the Chicago Bulls’ refusal to extend him and the lack of public denials by others say volumes about it.

But this information was made public prior to the 2023–24 NBA season commencing. In my hopeful thoughts, I pondered whether Patrick Williams had made a breakthrough during the summer and was ready to soar to stardom.

Unfortunately, that is untrue. Patrick Williams, in his contract year, is shooting an embarrassing 27.8% from the field—including an embarrassing 11.1% from outside the arc—while averaging 3.7 points, 2 assists, and 3 rebounds through three games played.

The stats are so appalling that I felt like I was lying as I typed. It wouldn’t be too far to assume that I could locate a player at the neighbourhood YMCA who could make more shots at a higher % for the Bulls.

No one’s defence strategy is centred around him, after all. Just why would he be? To support it, he hasn’t done anything.

I would actually design my game plan around ensuring he got the ball the most when against the Chicago Bulls. Since he hasn’t defeated a professional in a meaningful game in more than three years, let Patrick Williams beat you if he can.

For a basketball player who makes a living, his passivity is insulting. Despite his youth, I used to be able to overlook him, and I don’t think anyone else should either.

Simply glance at the box score from the Pistons’ loss yesterday. Perhaps even if you saw the game, you still need to do this.

He made 21 minutes of playing time against Detroit. He only tried three shots throughout that period, and he missed them all. His final stat line read: 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.

This startlingly horrible performance occurred the night after Patrick Williams, a man who will never be known for responsibility, was benched by Billy Donovan for the remainder of the game in the third quarter because of how poorly he played against the Toronto Raptors.

You would assume that with such a poor career thus far, Williams would be reminded to improve all facets of his game by being benched.

Instead, he pouted on the bench like a child as if he didn’t have millions of reasons to consider his attitude and be a good teammate. That leads me to the most damning moment of Patrick Williams’ career thus far in my opinion.

In the video below, Williams showcases just how immature he is. It’s hard to find him, but once you find him (he walks to the right at the end), watch it again and keep an eye on him through the entire video.

After making a game-winning three-pointer in the second game of the season, Patrick Williams chose not to celebrate with his teammates because he felt upset.

Perhaps that indicated that he was concerned about being benched, but if that’s the how this specific contract-year athlete thinks and handles hardship, then I wouldn’t give him the change in my pocket, let alone grant his implausible contract demands.

Williams’ measurables have led to comparisons to Kawhi Leonard for the majority of his career. Even if Leonard isn’t going to be recognised for being an emotional leader anytime soon, his performance on the field balanced everything out.

Patrick Williams isn’t able to afford it. I might throw up if I ever hear his and Leonard’s names referenced in the same phrase again without any statistical connection.

Torrey Craig should take the lead, even though I really doubt Billy Donovan has the intelligence or the will to make the required change at this time, whenever he chooses to do so.

The Chicago Bulls front management should then trade him to someone else so that he can become someone else’s prospective cap albatross. Williams’ trade value decreases with every game he plays or sits out, so they need to be aggressive in their approach.

What the Chicago Bulls get back for him doesn’t matter to me. For a player who is clearly headed towards oblivion at this point, I’ll take anything.

Although it’s unfortunate that we’ve come to this conclusion, Patrick Williams has left us with no other option. Time to move on, please.

 

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