NBA Draft: Bulls select Patrick Williams with the 4th overall pick

The Bulls stuck with their number 4 selection tonight, not liking what they saw in terms of trading up or down, and selected Patrick Williams, a 19 year old 6’8” forward from Florida State.

If going by pre-draft hype, Williams looks to be a reach at number four. ESPN rated him number 9 overall, and our guy Ricky O’Donnell at SBNation had him at number 11. But this draft was always also seen to be a bit interchangeable after the top 3 picks. And those picks before the Bulls went somewhat expectedly: Anthony Edwards to the Timberwolves, James Wiseman to Golden State, and LaMelo Ball to Charlotte.

Here’s what Ricky had to stay about Williams on SBNation.com in his final mock draft:

Williams didn’t start a game for FSU this year, but he’s a big, long, and athletic prospect with promising flashes of all-around skill...offering some real defensive playmaking ability and secondary rim protection with the promise of spot-up shooting. Williams’ skill set remains a work in progress, but he’s an enticing developmental prospect for a team with the patience and dedication to turn him into the best player he can be...the youngest American-born player in this class, so he has plenty of time to tap into the two-way versatility he hinted at during his one-and-done year in college.

And our bro-site college blog Tomahawk Nation had this detailed video analysis on the now-former Seminole:

This is the first selection in the post-GarPax era, so even in what has been called an overall lackluster draft class there will be scrutiny on the pick. When it comes to my own evaluation, I trust the experts, and initial reaction is this is pretty ‘meh’, yet interesting for the rest of the roster plan that they took someone so young and raw. And it also helps the reaction to remember that it’s not GarPax making this pick.

We’ll have more full trade grades from around the basketball web tomorrow.

The Bulls are next up in the 2nd round at the 44th overall pick.