For the first time in more than a decade, a guard from the Chicago Bulls received All-Rookie Team honors. This year it was Coby White.
Big honors came the way of the former North Carolina Tar Heels 6-foot-5 and 195 pound point guard and the Goldsboro, NC, native Coby White this week. White received 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie Second-Team honors on Sep. 15. It was not going to be easy for the Chicago Bulls rookie volume scorer White to get on either one of the All-Rookie Teams this year, given the play of some other rookie guards during the 2019-20 season.
Nonetheless, White got those elusive All-Rookie Team honors this year. He is the first Bulls rookie to do so since former Arizona Wildcats power forward and seven-footer Lauri Markkanen, who got the honors during the 2017-18 campaign. Markkanen got All-Rookie First-Team honors for that season.
Last year, one of the bigger snubs on the All-Rookie Teams was the former Duke Blue Devils center Wendell Carter Jr. WCJ didn’t get on either of the two teams last season, after posting decent rookie stats. But a big reason why could’ve been the fact that he only played in roughly half of the regular season games.
2019-20 NBA All-Rookie teams:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 15, 2020
First team: Ja Morant, Kendrick Nunn, Zion Williamson, Brandon Clarke, Eric Paschall
Second team: Coby White, Tyler Herro, Terence Davis II, PJ Washington, Rui Hachimura
However, White was also the first rookie guard for the Bulls to make one of these two teams since Derrick Rose, for the 2008-09 season. The Bulls haven’t had all that many guards make any of the All-Rookie Teams over the course of the last 15 years.
In his rookie season, White played in every single one of the 65 regular season games for the Bulls. He averaged 13.2 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks. White shot 39.4 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 79.1 percent from the free-throw line.
COBY WHITE.
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) September 15, 2020
Congrats to @CobyWhite on being named to the All-Rookie Second Team! pic.twitter.com/r5AksJ5IyC
The other guard on the All-Rookie Second-Team this year was the former Kentucky Wildcat and Miami Heat combo/shooting guard Tyler Herro. On the All-Rookie First-Team, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant and Heat combo guard Kendrick Nunn were the two in the backcourt that received the honors.
One name that was absent in the frontcourt from these teams was former Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford. In his place on the All-Rookie Second-Team, Charlotte Hornets forward PJ Washington and Washington Wizards big man Rui Hachimura got the honors.
White received the final Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors during the original part of the 2019-20 regular season, for February. He was on a torrid scoring streak prior to the pause, and hopefully we continue to see him standout next season.