Bulls forward Patrick Williams hasn’t played since Jan. 25 due to a left foot injury. He’s also dealt with a right ankle injury while missing a total of 12 games this season.
Coach Billy Donovan hinted that Williams, a restricted free agent after the season, needs to give the team’s medical staff a heads-up if he’s not feeling 100 percent.
“I think Patrick has got to get better at when he has ailments and issues, not that he’s not getting treatment, but sometimes – and I’m not saying that this was the issue – but he’s got to really make sure that he’s not taking himself to a point where he’s putting himself in harm’s way health-wise,” Donovan said, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Williams’ hasn’t had any setbacks regarding his current injury but his return depends on his ramp-up activity, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. He doesn’t have discomfort walking at this time but it’s unlikely he’d play against Boston, Chicago’s first game out of the All-Star break, Johnson adds (Twitter links).
We have more from the Central Division:
- Tyrese Haliburton believes the Pacers can reach the Eastern Conference Finals, and perhaps even represent the conference in the NBA Finals. “I have no doubt in my mind that we can be a conference finals team, no doubt in my mind that we have that capability,” he told Marc J. Spears in an Andscape interview. “And again, I don’t even want to say that because I don’t want to put a limit on it. I think that teams already know when they see us it’s not a walk in the park. That was established last [season] with the way we played. And now add another guy like Pascal (Siakam) and with the success that I’m having and the success that everybody on our team is really having this year, it ain’t a walk in the park at all.”
- The Pistons enter the All-Star break with eight victories in 54 gamse. After the Pistons made numerous trades before the deadline, James Edwards III of The Athletic believes that the impact of acquisitions Simone Fontecchio and Quentin Grimes will be one of the top storylines to follow in Detroit for the rest of the season.
- As for the Bulls, Johnson takes a look at the reasons for optimism and pessimism heading into the second half of the season. Chicago currently holds a play-in spot.
The Knicks will regret trading away Grimes. He’s a great 3 and D guy like OG. The Knicks were doing well staying the coarse and not overreacting. That trade wasn’t necessary. They also traded away Ryan A. I highly doubt Brunson approved that trade.
Don’t forget about Fournier. He’s lighting it up in Motown now.
Yeah but he’s a cone
Like Burks and Bogdanovic weren’t?
Detroit should have just signed the 5 or 6 dudes that Memphis just picked up off the street who beat Giannis and Dame Lillard last night. Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart out injured. Jaren Jackson, Jon Konchar and Luke Kennard out resting. Still beat Milwaukee. Lillard trade starting to look horrific for Milwaukee. Having to pay this guy the next several years, and keeping Giannis healthy will be a challenge.
I don’t think it was Lillard’s fault. I blame Doc’s late-game execution… again. The lack of chemistry with the players, their own decisions to ignore Griffin and oust him, and Rivers being a bad decision-maker to begin with are all factors before Lillard in that loss. As well as Beasley not being able to hit the broad side of a barn until the final minute of the game. The Bucks were +10 in Lillard’s minutes.
The Lillard addition has absolutely hurt them defensively. Offensively, it has killed their flow as well. They functioned much better when it was Giannis, and everybody else being a “role” guy. Now, everything is about getting Giannis and Lillard their stats. Chemistry is bad. Milwaukee had the better players without Giannis and Lillard, and still lost. Got dropped by 30 by Milwaukee the game before. They are completely lost right now.
Beasley was a dog last night 3-10 from behind the arc. No doubt. However, I have no issue with that. I cashed a parlay with Beasley over 2.5 triples. All good for me.
No sh*t it hurt their defense. That’s never been in question. Offensively, you’re objectively incorrect. Giannis-Lillard Pick-and-Roll is one of the best offensive sets in the league this season. Especially when Lillard’s gravity allows the shooters around them to get open.
The problem last night was that when they removed Lillard for Pat Bev, the offense cratered instantly. They completely lost the ability to score. And I’m sorry, swapping in Beverly for Lillard doesn’t make this team a good defense. Not even close. Especially when Jae Crowder sucks on *both* ends at this point of his career. Your best defensive 2-3 is Pat Connaughton, who is mediocre on both ends as well. Beasley can’t guard a parked car. They got out-rebounded horrifically because nobody but Lopez was even trying. Lillard was the #3 rebounder last night! And rebounding is almost entirely execution and effort. That’s on the coach to organize it and the on the players to give a damn.
Rivers hasn’t been organizing this team to have the defensive paint-blocking with Giannis as the primary help defender that Budenholzer ran, nor the mediocre version that Griffin was running. Their defensive sets literally look like a Jackson Pollock painting. No coherency. Some of that is because of Lillard being a bad defender, some of it is not having Middleton to rely on for the wing defense. But most of it is that Doc Rivers can’t coach a technical game worth a damn.
Currently, the whole team is in cruise control. And it shows. If they don’t come out of the ASB hungry, they’ll tumble down the standings.
Giannis and Lillard hasn’t just been a problem last night. It has been a problem. They have not been impressive most of the year. They are an absolute mess right now. The team has a lot of aging parts. Khris Middleton has not been the same player, and at the same time is still battling injuries and trying to adjust to a different role. The whole mix is different. For what they gave up for Lillard, they could have shored up a lot of the holes they currently have. Defense was a problem with BOTH of the guys before Rivers nothing new. Milwaukee looks like a team that needs a new set of “role” players to put around Giannis. Lillard ain’t the answer. The other guys on the team no longer seem interested. Doc Rivers ain’t gonna clean up the mess.….. He didn’t create this.
Two guys in Giannis and Lillard, who are both about to go on Max contracts paying EACH 35% of the salary cap ….. They just got beat by a bunch of guys on two-way contracts, and another in GG Jackson, who just got converted to a standard deal. ….. You’re telling me Giannis and Lillard couldn’t run their offensive sets, nor keep these guys from scoring 113 points. Memphis maybe had 10 guys dressed to play last night.
MIL picked the wrong year to downgrade their perimeter defense. I was hoping (not just for MIL) that the league would start to ease up on defenders as the season progressed. It hasn’t. Right now, MIL’s perimeter group are sitting ducks waiting to be hunted.
Like any problem, it likely won’t get fixed until the PTB recognize it and own it. Seems like the FO recognizes the personnel part of the issue, but they lacked trade assets. Beverly might have been the best they could do. Other options might include rookie Andre Jackson Jr. (the guy I was hoping the NYK might trade into the 2nd round to get if he fell). He at least has the physical and mental makeup to be a lead perimeter defender. He can’t shoot though.
Defense wins championships and swapping out Holiday and Allen for Lillard was ultimately a downgrade. I’d rank them 4th or even 5th in the East at this point.