Chicago Bulls: What drafting speedy PG Coby White means

Using their No. 7 pick to address the biggest concern entering the offseason, Chicago Bulls picked the speedy Coby White to fix their point guard play.

Leave behind all of the rumours, trades, mock drafts, and speculation, the Chicago Bulls ended up with speedy point guard Coby White from North Carolina, who may have been the perfect pick all along. On a wild night of movement around the NBA, the Chicago Bulls stayed put and found a potential answer to their point guard woes.

Chicago found a productive college player with their early round selection. White averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game, shooting 42.3% from the floor. While his 2.7 turnovers per game are effective, he’ll now have a chance to clean up his handles at the NBA level.

Adding White into the fold, the Bulls didn’t add an elite passer, but they might not need one. White adds to what will be a pretty solid passing team, which will make the Bulls deadly in transition. In fact, some of White’s finest moments as a Tarheel came setting his teammates on the fastbreak, but his 6-foot-5, 185 pound frame allow him to attack the rim and get to the stripe.

The Bulls also definitely added the best hair available in this year’s NBA Draft. Sporting the afro grown throughout his freshman year at North Carolina, White enters the NBA as a high-character, high-energy point guard adding more good chemistry into the Bulls locker room.

Internally, the Bulls seem to be reacting like the pick is a home run. Both head coach Jim Boylen and Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson shared rave reviews of the arriving guard. Paxson said, “we think Coby White has the ability to score and handle the ball. He’s fast and brings a lot of intangibles. He’s a guy we’re going to enjoy having in here.”

Adding White onto this Bulls team only helps them modernize. No one in their starting line-up stands under 6-foot-5, they’ll be a fast, explosive, and young team who can still take and make a ton of three-point shots. The speedy core will be a terror in transition next season and give Boylen a chance to employ some of the most interesting small ball lineup experiments in the NBA.

Where the Bulls got a lot more interesting is in their department of pick-and-roll offense, favoring bigs Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr, plus the incoming No. 38 pick, Daniel Gafford. Setting screens for the big-bodied White, Carter and Markkanen could become a lot more deadly fading for threes or burning their man back inside for alley-oops.

Also helped by the addition of the speedy Coby White is Zach LaVine, who led the team with a 30.5 percent usage rate last season, will now be able to find more work off-ball and with more space. White could very well be the best guard to ever share a backcourt with LaVine during his time in the NBA, which will certainly be a much need pressure relief.

Perhaps the only player who shouldn’t be excited about the arrival of White is Kris Dunn, but Paxson already announced in his end-of-the-season comments that Dunn’s job on the market. While Dunn and White share an agent, entering his fourth year, Dunn’s time as a Chicago Bull could be coming to a close.

In all likelihood, the team will try and put a veteran point guard alongside their newest, youngest addition. The 19-year-old White could use someone like Patrick Beverley or Derrick Rose to help him grow in this league. Especially if the Bulls sneak into the playoffs this year, having a vet alongside such a young player gives him someone to push him into good basketball choices.

On a closing note, the last time the Minnesota Timberwolves used the No. 6 pick in the NBA Draft was 2009 (ten years ago); they picked Johnny Flynn and Steph Curry fell to the Golden State Warriors at No. 7 overall. Obviously, Chicago is hoping for talent as great as Curry with their own speedy No. 7 pick ten years later.