Billy Donovan said “it brings rain.” Patrick Williams recalled the times toiling in low-ceilinged gyms on the AAU circuit when it would hit the ceiling.
Embellishment or not, the rookie’s jump shot has some serious arc on it. Whether he’s launching from 3-point range or midrange, even on his one-handed floaters, Williams shoots the ball high.
“I’ve kind of always shot with that much arc, pretty much since I could remember,” the 19 year-old-rookie said. “I tried to lower it a little bit and then it goes right back up.
“Here [in the NBA], it’s been working. I mean guys here have such long arms and can contest so well, you need a high arc to get your shot off. Or I do at least... Sometimes I hear people say it was like a skyscraper or whatever, but I mean that’s just my shot.’’
And nobody is asking him to change it, particularly since he’s connecting at an impressive 47.2 percent clip. That includes 45.8 percent from 3-point range.
It’s his shot, and it’s going in. It’s just noticeable.
“(Coaches) just look at the form and then the rotation, and I think those are pretty good,” Williams said.
Indeed, coach Billy Donovan is less focused on form and more on function.
“I’ve always felt like in dealing with guys’ shots and their shooting, I think the most important thing for a shooter is to be comfortable. And I think when you start taking a guy at 19 years old, taking arc off his shot and changing his form, a lot of the times you’ve got to take a lot of steps backward before you can move forward,” Donovan said. “I think for us as a staff, we need to get a lot more inventory on him shooting the basketball, certainly at the professional level.
“But he’s a good worker on his shot. I think he has shot the ball well. I feel comfortable when he’s open taking that shot. We really have talked to him a lot about attacking the paint and the basket. I think he’s tried to do that, and he’s developed a good floater in and around the lane. So I just want him being comfortable and taking the right shot.”
Through 11 games, Williams has shot consistently from all areas, but his midrange game has stood out. He’s 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) from that area.
“I've been shooting kinda in that midrange area pretty much since high school. So as I went through college and now that I got here I see that it's kinda open more off the pick-and-roll,” Williams said. “We have so many shooters on the court, it's so spread open that a lot of times the defense just wants to take away 3s and dunks. So that midrange area is always open. I'm just comfortable there.”
It’s a shot that Donovan and the coaching staff have embraced, even encouraged.
“They definitely enforce just getting downhill. They see that sometimes when I get downhill, I either get to the rim or I get a foul or I kick it out to an open shooter,” Williams said of his forays into midrange. “They just embraced that I kinda play in that midrange area. They don't want everything to be in that midrange area of course. They want a well-balanced game. But they just incorporate that into their gameplan.”
Donovan stressed he’s more focused on “good shots” than the distance from which they’re launched. The Bulls rank 15th at 35.5 3-point attempts per game and seventh in shots from 15-19 feet at 7.5 per game. Even adjusted for pace, the Bulls are taking the ninth-highest percentage of their field goal attempts (34.2 percent) between four feet away from the basket and the 3-point arc, according to Cleaning the Glass. They've made 46.4 percent of those midrange shots, second-best in the NBA.
“I don’t like dictating to a team, like, ‘Hey, we only want to take 3s or layups.’ I mean, every team in the league wants those,” Donovan said. “I think you’ve got to play to guys’ strengths. I think there’s a flow and a rhythm to the game.
“There are players that are good in the midrange who are comfortable getting to those spots. Certainly, if we can get more good quality 3-point shots, we’d be more than happy to take them. I’m not putting a limit on how many they should take, and I’m not obviously telling them to shoot more. We’ve got to take what the defense gives us. But we’ve got to generate good shots.”
Overall, Williams has attempted 39 shots in the paint, including 19 in the restricted area. He has taken 12 corner 3-pointers and 12 above-the-break 3-pointers. Donovan said he has discussed a few possessions with Williams where he pump-faked and then side-dribbled into a 3-pointer rather than driving.
“He’s good in that area, but my biggest thing with Patrick and those shots is if he can get off a good look,” Donovan said. “He’s got the athleticism to elevate over people. But if he gets into that teeth of that defense and he’s shooting that one-handed pull-up jumper, he’s really efficient at it and I’m fine with it.
“I think it’s a really hard shot to make when you’re shooting over outstretched arms or hands. But for the most part, he’s gotten into good areas of the floor where I think it’s a real consistent, makeable shot for him.”
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Why Bulls encouraging Williams to make it rain from midrange - NBC Sports Chicago
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