Well, that didn’t take long.
Three games into the preseason and the Chicago Bulls have decided to give their No. 4-overall pick a chance to start. Head coach Billy Donovan announced the change to the starting lineup in his media availability before the game.
Patrick Williams will join the starting lineup tonight vs. OKC.
Other Starters:
Coby White
Zach LaVine
Lauri Markkanen
Wendell Carter Jr. pic.twitter.com/OS7BISM2Ko— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 16, 2020
Some started to speculate that Williams could join the starting five after he told reporters yesterday that he might shake things up against OKC. The conversation started to lean toward Markkanen being the player to possibly hit the bench, but Donovan has instead decided to send his veteran forward, Otto Porter, to the second unit.
We should not read too much into the one-game change, however. After all, Donovan did say prior to the start of preseason action that he would look to test out different combinations. The Bulls also hope to keep Porter out of injury trouble this season, so I don’t think it is too surprising that they would opt to have him clock fewer minutes.
With that said, Donovan was asked whether he would consider this type of starting five in the regular season, and he certainly didn’t rule it out: “I think keeping an open mind to that is not out of the question.”
Again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. This is one start in a preseason game. We’ll see how Williams does and go from there.