Chicago Bulls: 4 free agents connected to Billy Donovan
By Ryan Heckman
3. Forward Patrick Patterson
One guy the Bulls could look at in terms of front court depth behind Markkanen is veteran Patrick Patterson, who played under Donovan for two seasons between 2017-2019. The power forward has been mostly a career backup, but played fairly meaningful minutes for a long stretch of his career.
In Chicago, he’d be in rotation with Thaddeus Young and Chandler Hutchison for minutes off the bench at the forward spot. For most of his career, Patterson has actually been a pretty well-rounded player.
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Per 36 minutes this last season, Patterson averaged his best overall production since 2013-2014: 13.5 points (39 percent from deep), 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
The 31-year old will be an unrestricted free agent when the offseason officially kicks off, and would be one of the cheaper options for Chicago to bring in. The only hesitancy with Patterson is his history of not playing in a ton of games each season, typically due to injury. Patterson has only played 70 or more games in three of his 10 seasons as a pro.