NBA Notes: Bulls, Patrick Williams, Nets, Clippers

Bulls

• The Bulls have exercised the fourth-year option on forward Patrick Williams, per Keith Smith of Spotrac. Williams missed most of last season with a wrist injury, appearing in 17 games and averaging 9.0 points and 4.1 rebounds.
• Coach Billy Donovan said after the first preseason game that the Bulls still have some work to do. “We’ve got a long way to go defensively,” he said, citing open-side pick-and-rolls, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
• Donovan didn’t elaborate on if Ayo Dosunmu will remain the starting point guard. “I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can handle the basketball and bring it up for us and play, but, a lot of times, the point guard on a made basket is the guy bringing it up, but we’re pretty comfortable out-letting the ball to anybody one through three on the perimeter and playing from there,’’ Donovan said, via Cowley.

Nets

Despite being a veteran and star-studded squad, the Nets are still a work in progress, Kevin Durant indicated.

“New look? I don’t know,” Durant said, via Ethan Sears of the New York Post. “I think we know how we play, each and every one of us. It’s just about finding rhythm out there, getting our legs. It’s good to see Ben (Simmons) back, it’s good to see (Edmond Sumner) back, Joe (Harris) back after having some tough surgeries. So, yeah, once we get our legs up under us, everybody finds out exactly what they want to do out there, I think we’ll be in good shape.

“But for the most part, it may take a couple of days, a couple of preseason games, a couple of weeks, who knows?”

• In case you missed it, Simmons returned to game action for the first time in 470 days, and for the first time as a member of the Nets. Read what he had to say right here.

Clippers

Kawhi Leonard said he is still working his way back into game shape after missing all of last season following ACL surgery.

“(The timing] is going to come,” Leonard said, via ESPN. “I am going to be rusty. Legs definitely felt healthy. A lot of lactic acid in them. But as that time goes on, the rhythm will get back, the footwork, the spacing, the timing. Just knowing playcalls, getting used to the crowd, getting used to (coach Tyronn Lue) calling plays on the fly, my teammates yelling, the breathing, all that is going to come.”

The applies to John Wall, who sat out all of last season while with the Rockets.

“I could have shown off (the speed) in the halfcourt,” Wall said about his first preseason performance, via ESPN. “But I was just trying to run the sets and get used to being in the moment with certain guys but just trying to push the pace and keep the pace into the game. … It will all come to me, it’s all easy, like I know I still got the stuff I need but now I think for us it’s just trying to figure out different lineups.”