NEWSLETTER
At this time last summer, Coby White’s future in Chicago was anything but certain. While the young guard had always shown flashes of being a sparkplug scorer, consistency remained a glaring issue. Not to mention, his struggles on the defensive end as a lead ball-handler were hard to ignore.
This is surely why the Chicago Bulls organization failed to come to terms on a rookie scale extension with White. Instead, he headed into the 2022-23 campaign in a classic “prove-it” situation ahead of restricted free agency. And, to his credit, White proved it.
A mere glimpse at White’s Basketball Reference page doesn’t do his season justice. Don’t let the career lows in points, assists, rebounds, and minutes fool you; White’s fourth season in the NBA was easily his best. Not only did he finish with a career-high 55.8 EFG% – which ranked in the NBA’s 81st percentile, per Cleaning the Glass – but he made significant strides as a two-way player. He finished with a positive defensive plus-minus for the first time in his career, showing particularly encouraging progress navigating screens and staying in front of his man.
I mean, heck, when were we ever seeing White do stuff like this …
The clip above also briefly displays White’s improvement as a ball-handler. While his dip in usage undoubtedly plays a role, White did average his fewest TOVs per game during his career-high 74 appearances. Overall, he finished with a staggering +5.2 on/off differential last season, per Cleaning the Glass. This was a massive upgrade over his previous best on/off differential of -0.5 in the season prior.
Now, does this mean I think White is ready to be the organization’s starting point guard? No. While the team may have no choice but to give him a shot, I still think he’s best suited as a Sixth Man. White’s bread-and-butter is his ability to attack in transition and hit shots from downtown. Not allowing White to have this score-first mentality is simply not setting him up for the most success.
Let’s also not forget that White passed last season’s eye test with flying colors while playing all but two of his games off the bench. In other words, if we were getting the best version of White in the second unit, why mess with it?
I especially felt this way after hearing what White had to say in an interview on Scoop B Selects on YouTube. The guard told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson that he’s focused on improving as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and paint scorer:
“I think just continuing to polish my overall game,” White said. “Just continue to get better ball-handling wise, trying to get to the free throw line a little bit more. Playing in the pick-and-roll, playing in the paint, playing off two feet. Just polished my overall game and trying to get better with that.”
Let’s not forget that White is only 23 years old. I want him to have the opportunity to create off the PnR and attack off the dribble in the halfcourt to further his development. His opportunity to do these things, however, is only going to shrink when sharing the floor with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if he should never play with these three. Sometimes having his catch-and-shoot ability and transition speed with this trio will be vital. But the idea of handing him the keys for the bench mob could very well benefit him and the team the best. After all, the Bulls sat just 24th in bench points per contest last season. I think it’s fair to say that having a more balanced offensive attack will be pivotal to improving on last season’s 40-42 mark.
So who do I think should start Game 1 at point guard? Well, Jevon Carter feels like a pretty solid pick to me. Not only does he give the “Big 3” a 42.1 percent 3-point shooter to find behind the arc, but he’s a more proven defender than White. While his six-foot-frame is undoubtedly a bit worrisome, Carter has shown the on-ball discipline and ability to blow up the point of attack that should help keep the defensive identity Billy Donovan started to put in place last season.
Carter may not be the most reliable distributor, but White doesn’t check that box either. Instead, Chicago has put itself in a position where it will have to continue to depend heavily on its “Big 3” to share the wealth among themselves. We talked more about that this week here.
Anyway, I say all of this to also say that I fully expect training camp drama around the starting point guard spot. While I think that Carter would be a wise choice, there is no denying that White’s familiarity with the rest of the roster is a valuable component. But I also think that one of head coach Billy Donovan’s long-standing best attributes is to put role players in a position to thrive. I think he knows that White will do his finest work in the second unit. Otherwise, wouldn’t he have turned to him as a starter in the middle of last season’s troubles?
