(670 The Score) While acknowledging we're stating the obvious here, it's worth noting as the offseason has arrived for the Bulls that there are three paths to externally improving an NBA team.
You can do so in the draft, in trades and in free agency.
When the Bulls acquired All-Star center Nikola Vucevic from the Magic in a high-profile trade in late March, they severely limited two of those paths for external improvement in the short term. Chicago is likely to convey its first-round pick to Orlando in this upcoming NBA Draft – there's a 79.7% chance that happens, to be more precise.
The Bulls' payment of two first-round picks and center Wendell Carter Jr. to the Magic also significantly reduced the resources they have available to improve in future trades. Chicago's available draft capital probably won't be enticing to other teams for a couple more years, and the arrival of Vucevic signaled the Bulls are invested in building and trying to win around star guard Zach LaVine, not trade him. And outside of LaVine, whom on the Bulls' roster would an opposing team want in a trade?
Guard Coby White would be one, but his late-season surge was strong evidence that he has a place and key role in Chicago – it's just probably not at point guard full-time. As he enters restricted free agency, does anyone want big man Lauri Markkanen after his prolonged inconsistencies? The answer to that will be yes, but it seems unlikely that Markkanen has proved enough to spook another team into forking over all that much to the Bulls in a potential sign-and-trade. A rival team with cap space can just call the Bulls' bluff after making him a respectable offer in restricted free agency.
The Bulls' most logical trade chips are veteran forward Thad Young and veteran guard Tomas Satoransky, but anyone who watched the Bulls this past season knows that shipping out Young wouldn't make Chicago better. It would make the team (perhaps significantly?) worse.
That leaves free agency – or perhaps a sign-and-trade spurred by the dynamics of free agency – as the Bulls' best tool for immediate improvement. There are dozens of permutations for what the Bulls could do in free agency, where they're expected to again pursue point guard Lonzo Ball. They could stay over the salary cap, ship Markkanen off in a sign-and-trade, bring back big man Daniel Theis using Bird Rights and still have the mid-level exception available to use. The Bulls could also gut their roster by renouncing and letting walk their own free agents to open up more significant cap space. They could do something in between.
In other words, the Bulls' options for external improvement are counting on lottery luck, threading a difficult needle in the trade market and/or navigating the chaos of free agency during a summer in which a fair number of teams have cap space and not nearly as many stars are landing on the open market as we thought a year ago at this time.
Which brings us to 19-year-old forward Patrick Williams, who's seemingly the most unavailable Bull of any on the trade market. The reason Williams matters so much is because his supreme potential represents the Bulls' best hope for internal improvement, for finding a way to get better outside of the uncertainty that exists beyond the Advocate Center walls where Williams refines his craft.
Williams' importance to the Bulls has been obvious since the rebuilding franchise under the direction of new management selected him at No.
4 overall in the NBA Draft last November, but it was still eye-opening to hear those in the organization speak in end-of-season media sessions about his significance. To hear them, the time for Williams to make a big leap is now.
"We need Pat to continue to be aggressive," Young said when asked what the Bulls need to do to get better. "I think we have the pieces. I think we just need Pat to take his game to the next level. Pat is a phenomenal player already at the age of 19. He has a lot of physical attributes that most 19-year-olds don't have. He has the ability to put the ball on the floor, he has the ability to shoot the three, he has the ability to hover over people and get floaters off. And he's a phenomenal defender as well. I think with time and more understanding of the game, he's going to continue to be great. Well, he's going to continue to be good. I asked him (the other) night, 'Do you want to be great?' He said, 'Yes, I do want to be great.' He asked, 'What do I need to do to be great?'
"I said in games like this (against the Nets last Saturday), you have Zach and Vooch out," Young continued. "So this is your shot. You have to believe that. So when they put a guy like Jeff Teague or any guard on you, you should be, I shouldn't have to say, 'Oh, we've got a mismatch.' You should be calling your own mismatch out and you should be taking advantage of that and being aggressive. If you want to be great – that's what the great players do. They impose their will on the game at all points in the game, and he has to do that a little bit more than he's done this season. I understand it's his first year. But he's shown us and the Bulls fans so much in this first year of what he can be to the point where his standards should be set even higher next year and he should want to be a top two or three guy on this team next year and understand he can be a top two or three guy on this team."
The 6-foot-7 Williams averaged 9.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks and 1.4 turnovers in 27.9 minutes across 71 games, all starts, as a rookie. He shot 48.3% from the field and an encouraging 39.1% on 3-pointers. Williams logged 57% of his minutes at small forward and 41% of them at power forward, according to Basketball Reference.
While his words weren't quite as grandiose as Young's, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas echoed the sentiment on what Williams means to the Bulls.
"Regarding Patrick, we're very excited for him," Karnisovas said. "He's been through a ton this year. Learning experience, 19 years old. I don't think there's a player on the team that was asked to do more than Patrick. I think he guarded always the best player on the other team. And defensively, he was actually switching and playing different coverages, different positions. When you do pick-and-roll coverages as a primary defender and then as a big defender, there was a lot flying at him. I think he's a very unique case. Usually when you get a young player, you build his arsenal. You add certain things to his skill set. Pat has a lot of those skills. It's just when he is going to choose to use them."
As an organization, the Bulls have been unified in their message for Williams: Be aggressive. Because his progress on that front will be a key to their 2021-'22 goals.
"The sky is the limit for him," Karnisovas said. "He's going to have a summer for the first time. He knows again what he needs to work on. I'm looking forward to seeing his growth. He came in a situation where winning is important besides the development piece. All that pressure he was facing this year, I think will benefit him."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
