Hey Stephen, great work as usual. After this game are you more or less confident that he can play the 3? Should the Bulls be shopping Thad so P-Will can get as much playing time as possible at the 4?
I think they're already probably shopping Thad. The problem is that nobody wants him!
I didn't like the idea of PatWill at the 3, the vast consensus from the people who actually watched him closely at FSU (I did not) was that he won't hold up well there. I'm feeling better about his chances there after this game. But that's a determination that for sure you can't make after only seeing a guy closely for 25 minutes, especially when he was guarding fringe NBA guys for a lot of his time.
A lot of people are throwing Kawhi-Lite comparisons and, as a 19 y/o, we can only hope for the best. Maybe he can get there eventually, and that's really exciting. With that said, I'm so happy with what I've seen so far. First off all, he looks very poised, under control all the time. His mid-range game and floaters ara a thing of beauty, something he can relies on as his 3-point shot is worked. On D he also knows what he's doing, not something we can say about 80% of this Bulls squad.
I think he is a prime Marvin Williams type from day one, and that's really good IMO. After all we're talking about a guy who's a long time veteran and always was reliable. PDub will only get better from here, and it's exciting. I'd start him from day one, let the kid develop playing a lot against the best.
Pat might end up the best player in this draft. They game already seemed slower to him than anyone else on the team except maybe Zach at this point. I love his methodical play, and at 19 thats pretty exciting for Bulls fans. I dont think this will happen, but i think Pat needs to start to balance out the starting line up defensively. If not We may see alot of big early deficits which will be frustrating. Donavans teams have always improved defensively but jesus the defensive IQ is low for our starting 5. Great stuff Stephen, i always read your pieces!! Will send venmo!
Thanks! Gafford, Markkanen, and LaVine were horrendous rotating defensively. Carter struggled getting out to Boogie on the 3-point line. A lot of missed rotations. Part of that was scheme-related. The Rockets were popping on most of their pick-and-rolls and the Bulls purposefully didn't game-plan or adjust to keep things simple on the players. But yeah there is a lot to clean up defensively. Hey, at least Williams was good!
Yeah, I think it will improve overall, and like you said its the first preseason game lol. I hope coaching and better effort will make them more competitive. Our starting 5 is alot of finesse and not alot of dog im my opinion, so im worried about it. Cant be worse than last year though.
Hey Stephen, great work as usual. After this game are you more or less confident that he can play the 3? Should the Bulls be shopping Thad so P-Will can get as much playing time as possible at the 4?
I think they're already probably shopping Thad. The problem is that nobody wants him!
I didn't like the idea of PatWill at the 3, the vast consensus from the people who actually watched him closely at FSU (I did not) was that he won't hold up well there. I'm feeling better about his chances there after this game. But that's a determination that for sure you can't make after only seeing a guy closely for 25 minutes, especially when he was guarding fringe NBA guys for a lot of his time.
Nice analysis as always Stephen, congrats!
A lot of people are throwing Kawhi-Lite comparisons and, as a 19 y/o, we can only hope for the best. Maybe he can get there eventually, and that's really exciting. With that said, I'm so happy with what I've seen so far. First off all, he looks very poised, under control all the time. His mid-range game and floaters ara a thing of beauty, something he can relies on as his 3-point shot is worked. On D he also knows what he's doing, not something we can say about 80% of this Bulls squad.
I think he is a prime Marvin Williams type from day one, and that's really good IMO. After all we're talking about a guy who's a long time veteran and always was reliable. PDub will only get better from here, and it's exciting. I'd start him from day one, let the kid develop playing a lot against the best.
Pat might end up the best player in this draft. They game already seemed slower to him than anyone else on the team except maybe Zach at this point. I love his methodical play, and at 19 thats pretty exciting for Bulls fans. I dont think this will happen, but i think Pat needs to start to balance out the starting line up defensively. If not We may see alot of big early deficits which will be frustrating. Donavans teams have always improved defensively but jesus the defensive IQ is low for our starting 5. Great stuff Stephen, i always read your pieces!! Will send venmo!
Thanks! Gafford, Markkanen, and LaVine were horrendous rotating defensively. Carter struggled getting out to Boogie on the 3-point line. A lot of missed rotations. Part of that was scheme-related. The Rockets were popping on most of their pick-and-rolls and the Bulls purposefully didn't game-plan or adjust to keep things simple on the players. But yeah there is a lot to clean up defensively. Hey, at least Williams was good!
Yeah, I think it will improve overall, and like you said its the first preseason game lol. I hope coaching and better effort will make them more competitive. Our starting 5 is alot of finesse and not alot of dog im my opinion, so im worried about it. Cant be worse than last year though.
Okay -- I've got to get Venmo. If I don't remember this time, I'll get it done after your next piece. Your analysis is always terrific.
Thanks! No worries, get me whenever you can.