Chicago Bulls
Acquired: F Patrick Williams (Pick No. 4), Marko Simonovic (Pick No. 44)
Traded: None
Everybody knew that Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball would be the top three picks in the 2020 NBA Draft in no particular order, but nobody really knew what the Bulls would do with the 4th pick. Deni Avdija, Onyeka Okongwu, Killian Hayes, Isaac Okoro and Tyrese Haliburton were all in play for Chicago with the fourth pick, but they decided to draft Patrick Williams from Florida State.
The 6’8” forward did not start a single game for the Seminoles last season and was their sixth man off the bench. He averaged 9.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.0 blocks per game, and shot 45.9% from the floor. The Bulls taking Patrick Williams at No. 4 in the 2020 NBA Draft was not only the biggest surprise on draft night, but the biggest reach in the draft.
Williams’ draft stock had been rising over the course of the weeks leading up to the draft, but he is not what the Bulls need. With Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison all on the wing for the Bulls, where exactly does Patrick Williams fit into the equation? He is too small to play the power forward position at the NBA level and does not have the ball-handling skills to play either of the guard spots.
The one thing he does have going for him is that he is one of the elite defenders in this draft class. In the small sample size of just over 20 minutes per game for Florida State last season, Patrick Williams was a great on-ball defender. At the NBA level, he should have no problem defending perimeter oriented players, but teams will look to get him in pick-and-roll situations defensively early on in his career to see if he has what it takes to defend bigger players.
The Bulls could have got a lot more value for the #4 overall pick, as well as trade down a few spots and still draft Patrick Williams, which makes them the team who may have made the biggest mistake in the 2020 NBA Draft. Time will tell if Patrick Williams was worthwhile for the Chicago Bulls, but early on, it is safe to call this the biggest reach in the draft.
