Where the Chicago Bulls go from here this offseason largely depends on what future plans they have for rookie point guard Coby White.
The possibility of the Chicago Bulls running former North Carolina Tar Heel and rookie point guard Coby White at more of a combo guard spot in the rotation heading into his second season in the NBA was real. White is a volume scoring guard that averaged more rebounds than assists during his rookie campaign in the NBA. That combination can make for a potent scoring combo guard instead of a pure point guard.
According to Cleaning The Glass stats, White did play the bulk of his minutes in a combo guard type of role. Basketball-Reference also lists White as predominantly playing at shooting guard. But he still could be a fit at point guard moving forward for the Bulls.
White does apparently feel like point guard is the position he’s meant to play moving forward. According to a piece from Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times on Sep. 20, White thinks that “moving forward my primary position is point guard”. But he did mention that he feels like more of something like a combo guard role could still suit his skill set.
Here’s more on what this piece from the Sun-Time had to say on the matter.
"White reminded the media of his versatility to play either guard spot, but make no mistake, he also made it very clear what his goal will be whenever the 2020-21 season is set to tip-off.“I think moving forward my primary position is point guard but I also can play off the ball because I can score and shoot it so well,’’ White said. “So I think that this past year showcased that I can be a point guard but I can also play off the ball at times when I need to.”"
White played in all 65 games during his rookie season 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.
For his efforts in his rookie season, White earned All-Rookie Second-Team honors and finished in the top five in the voting for the Rookie of the Year award. ROY was an award that was won by Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Moran.
The right confidence looks to be there for White moving forward. He’s going to be one of the focal points of this franchise heading into the 2020-21 season. But he might be sharing the backcourt still with other guards like Kris Dunn, Ryan Arcidiacono, and Tomas Satoransky.
That all depends on how the Bulls shift the picture of the backcourt rotation under a new front office regime and coaching staff this offseason. He wants to be the starter at point guard, and can assume that role if he continues the momentum he started building down the stretch last season.
The Bulls also have the fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft that they could use to upgrade the backcourt rotation. But no matter what happens, a bright spotlight is going to fall on White at the outset of his sophomore campaign in the NBA.