3. Daniel Gafford and Coby White (at least lately)
So far this season, the Chicago Bulls are finding some positive flashes through a route that they’ve commonly taken in the last three years. The Bulls are relying on their dynamic rookie pairing of White and Gafford to try and build excitement for the future, when there’s not much to be drummed up for the entirety of this rebuild.
White still hasn’t had the best rookie season by any stretch of the mind. But he’s getting really hot of late. White even won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors in February. He’s off to an even better start to the month of March, though.
Could White wind up winning back-to-back Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards?
So far through the month of March, White is averaging 23.0 points per game, 3.8 rebounds, and 6.3 assists while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the charity stripe. He’s scoring at a higher volume that he did during the month of February, where he averaged 20.1 points per game.
Meanwhile, Gafford is averaging 5.1 points per game, 2.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 69.7 percent from the field and 52.5 percent from the free-throw line. He’s nearly got 2.0 win shares on the season and is posting a defensive box plus/minus rating of 1.5. The overall box plus/minus rating of Gafford at -1.4 isn’t ideal, but he is an overall plus for the Bulls this season.