Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry are each amid critical NBA offseasons.
And, by all accounts, they are attacking them with force — from rookie Terry’s strong Summer League showing to Williams’ rigorous Los Angeles workouts, plus a Drew League cameo, alongside DeMar DeRozan.
But Williams and Terry aren’t only testing their mettle against their Bulls teammates.
Both players were also recently spotted at a pickup run featuring plenty of notorious NBA names, including multi-time All-NBA forwards Paul George and Pascal Siakam, Chicago native Patrick Beverley, and Rockets wing Kenyon Martin Jr.
Williams was even being defended by George in one of the pictures taken and shared by photographer Michael Ade on Instagram:
George and Siakam, specifically, are two of the NBA’s preeminent two-way wings, capable of averaging 20-25 points per game while guarding opponents’ best players over the course of a full season. Both have experienced playoff success as well — Siakam in the form of a championship with the Raptors in 2019, George in the form of Conference finals runs with the Pacers (2013, 2014) and Clippers (2021).
Williams, a former no. 4 overall pick who the Bulls hope blossoms into that type of player, could obviously learn a lot by picking their brains and observing their habits. Not to mention the impact a player of Beverley’s experience and defensive reputation could have on Terry, a long, rangy guard with tremendous potential at that end of the floor.
Can those lessons translate quickly? We’ll find out soon enough. Training camp gets rolling in late September, followed shortly by preseason, then the start of a pivotal 2022-23 season.
Williams appeared in just 17 regular-season games in his second NBA campaign due to a severe wrist injury that required surgery in October 2021, but projects as the Bulls’ starting power forward and a defensive linchpin as the team looks to build on last year’s progress. .
Terry, meanwhile, is entering his first NBA season after being selected 18th overall in the 2022 draft. His immediate role is still unclear, but given the versatility Bulls brass touted in their evaluation of him, his progress will be interesting to monitor.
Until then, the work continues.
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