East Notes: Bulls, Patrick Williams, Hawks, Zaccharie Risacher, Heat

Bulls

Power forward Patrick Williams said he fully intends to be ready for Bulls training camp after undergoing season-ending foot surgery in February.

“I’m running and jumping now with no pain, no swelling. So it’s just a matter of getting my legs back under me,” Williams said, via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “The bone is fully healed. That rehab process is pretty much resting, making sure that I’m getting enough rest on that foot. Going over some things like how you run, how you walk, some preventative things. But for the most part, it’s let the bone rest, let the body do what it does.

“After not being able to jump around for four months, the muscles in the leg, the Achilles strength, the pop that comes with playing a lot, you have to gain that back. That’s the same if I sprained my ankle and I’m out two weeks. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get that pop back. That’s kind of what I’m dealing with now. It couldn’t happen at a better time.”

Williams went down in January, finishing the season with averages of 10 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

• One report suggested that guard Zach LaVine wants to level the Bulls because of a bad relationship with coach Billy Donovan. 

Hawks 

No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher looked good in his NBA Summer League debut, doing a little bit of everything in the Hawks’ loss to No. 2 pick Alex Sarr and the Wizards.

Risacher finished with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. He went 3-of-9 shooting on 3-pointers.

“I thought Risacher’s shooting selection was fine and the fact that he wanted to keep shooting threes was encouraging,” wrote Jackson Caudell of SI.com. “Now, Risacher needs to start hitting those at a higher clip, but he should get better looks whenever he gets on the court with Trae Young in the regular season.”

• Speaking of Young, in case you missed it, the Hawks reportedly intend to keep him, despite some trade rumors.
• You can check out my own thoughts on Atlanta on the Bleave in Hawks podcast with Brice Lewis.

Heat

Forward Nikola Jovic is expected to miss the Paris Olympics after suffering an ankle injury with the Serbian national team, per Meridan Sports.

“Jovic suffered the injury during an offseason workout, but the hope was that he would be healed enough by the time the Olympics started so that he could suit up for Serbia,’ wrote Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “It now appears that he will not be healthy and ready to play in France.

Jovic came on strong at the end of his rookie season with the Heat, averaging 9.4 points and 6.6 rebounds a game as a starter in the playoffs.

• Despite some offseason rumors to the contrary, the Heat are not shopping star forward Jimmy Butler, per reports.