Chicago Bulls: Brief, convincing Coby White Draft Night case

The emerging draft targets for the Chicago Bulls for next week have to include the UNC point guard Coby White if he’s still available at seven.

The case for the Chicago Bulls to take a point guard in the 2019 NBA Draft definitely depends on who’s available at No. 7 overall. Two targets that continuously stick out for the Bulls at point guard are North Carolina’s Coby White and Vanderbilt’s Darius Garland.

But the problem if Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen and front office executives John Paxson and Gar Forman feel that Garland is the best fit is availability at seven. Garland is likely to be off the board by the time the Phoenix Suns pick at six. That would even be really late for Garland to fall off the board. The buy-in for the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers to nab wings at picks four and five would have to be the theme of draft night for him to fall that far.

There is the off chance that the Lakers and Cavs do either trade those picks and have wings taken in those spots. Or, both teams could just take fliers out on Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter and/or Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver.

Anyhow, it’s easy to understand how difficult it will be for Garland to make it all the way to the Bulls at seven. In all likelihood, if GarPax really wants him, they would have to trade up to four with the Lakers to get him.

A more realistic and ideal scenario for the a Bulls would be the standout UNC true freshman White, who has a very good shot of making it all the way to seven.

What White brings to the table for the Bulls is a point guard who has ideal NBA length and could work well off rising star shooting guard Zach LaVine. He’s also very good at shooting off the dribble and has the length to potentially thrive as a two-way guard with the Bulls.

The main point that makes the idea of pairing White with LaVine is just the scoring ability that backcourt duo would have. White could be a solid volume scorer that is pretty efficient in the process. White was a record-setting All-ACC honoree that shot better than 35 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free-throw line.

There is definitely room to improve for White with his offensive efficiency, but there is so much to like about what he’s done in the past given years of his basketball career. White owns the North Carolina high school basketball record for career points and he set the Tar Heels record for points by a freshmen.

The Chicago Bulls could do much worse in the way of adding to the backcourt depth this summer than with White. Any guard that stands at 6-foot-5 and has the potential to be an efficient volume scorer in this day and age, snagging them at seven is a good idea.