Bulls' Patrick Williams learning best ability is availability

CLEVELAND — Playing all 82 games of a regular season is an achievement few NBA players reach these days.

Bulls forward Patrick Williams (injured left foot) did it last season, but it’s proving to be an aberration.

Now it’s about Williams realizing that open communication with the medical staff moving forward will be key for him to get back to regular availability.

‘‘I think Patrick has got to get better when he has ailments and issues — and I’m not saying that this was the issue [with the current injury] — but he’s got to really make sure that he’s not taking himself to a point where he’s putting himself in harm’s way healthwise,’’ coach Billy Donovan said before the Bulls’ 108-105 loss Wednesday to the Cavaliers.

Williams has missed 12 games this season and hasn’t played since Jan. 25 because of the foot. Before the foot, however, he was dealing with an injury to his right ankle that was even more concerning.

‘‘To be honest, I haven’t had many good days,’’ Williams told the Sun-Times when discussing the ankle in early January. ‘‘It’s just more of: ‘Can I play through it? Is this a feeling that I can play through or not? Can I cut? Can I jump?’ ’’

Whether the ankle injury led him overcompensate and caused problems with the foot is unknown. What is known, however, is that whenever Williams seems to find a rhythm and a groove — other than last season — he suffers a setback.

Before the ankle started becoming an issue, December was as good a month of basketball as Williams had played in his four NBA seasons. In 14 games, he averaged 14.1 points and shot 50% from three-point range and 52.1% from the field.

‘‘I feel bad for Patrick because I really felt like he was playing with the ankle for a period of time, but before that he was OK,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I felt like he was doing a pretty good job with the way he was playing, his motor, his force. How long it takes him to get back, his conditioning, his timing? It will be interesting.’’

The current plan is to try to get him running and cutting during the All-Star break, then reevaluate where he’s at. But he almost definitely won’t be ready when the Bulls return from the break to host the Celtics next Thursday.

‘‘He’s going to need a little ramp-up period, and I don’t know how much time we’ll have before Boston to do that,’’ Donovan said.

Caruso returns

The Bulls got guard Alex Caruso (bruised toe) back in the rotation against the Cavaliers after he missed the game Monday against the Hawks in Atlanta.

Donovan didn’t start him, opting to go with the ‘‘jumbo lineup’’ of Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond and allowing him to better control Caruso’s minutes.

Rookie blues

Even with the Bulls short-handed on this four-city trip, rookie Julian Phillips saw his minutes dwindle.

Donovan, however, said it had less to do with Phillips’ play and more to do with forward Torrey Craig finally having his minutes restriction lifted after returning from plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

‘‘There’s three guys at that power forward spot, so sometimes the opportunity doesn’t present itself,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘It’s not that the confidence level isn’t there; it’s just that there are some guys that are ahead of [Phillips] in the rotation.’’