2. Coby White, Point Guard
I will start off this portion of the list by saying that I don’t condone necessarily drastically shifting the role of the former North Carolina Tar Heels 6-foot-5 rookie point guard Coby White early next season, and they especially shouldn’t try to part ways with him. But hopefully White is able to continue improving his shot selection and efficiency heading into his second year in the NBA.
White really started to improve his all-around game and efficiency once the calendar turned to February. He won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for February and continued his hot play into early March. The season was cut short just after White got his first start of his career, in a March 10 home win for the Bulls over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For the season as a whole, White averaged 13.2 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks. He shot 39.4 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 79.1 percent from the free-throw line. That amounted to a 47.8 effective field goal percentage and 50.6 true shooting percentage.
White’s advanced stats and league-adjusted shooting numbers were really poor throughout his rookie campaign. He was well below the league average in all but one major shooting categories (free-throw percentage). But the good news is that his shooting drastically improved near the end of the regular season/the pause.
Pre-All-Star Weekend, White shot 37.0 percent from the field, 33.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.7 percent from the free-throw line. After the All-Star break in 10 games played, White shot 46.8 percent from the field, 40.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 89.5 percent from the free-throw line.