The 20-year-old Chicago Bulls point guard Coby White sounds very excited about how his game, and the offensive scheme, is evolving for next season.
The start of Training Camp brought with it a lot of excitement for the Chicago Bulls. Getting back up and running in group/individual player workouts at the Advocate Center for the first time in a couple of months had to be exciting for this team. The Bulls haven’t played in any meaningful game action since their home win at the United Center back in mid-March over the divisional foe Cleveland Cavaliers to prematurely round out the 2019-20 regular season in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
One player that is going to have a lot of attention falling on him this coming season is the 6-foot-5 and 200 pound former North Carolina Tar Heels second-year point guard Coby White. As one of the hottest rookies post-All-Star break when the 2019-20 season hiatus was put in place back in mid-March, White comes into next season with momentum.
White was named as the final Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month prior to the hiatus, which he garnered for February.
It’s hard to tell that White ended his rookie campaign on a high note when you look at his overall body of work for last season. He was up and down for much of the outset of his rookie season. But he appears to be much more in tune with his game in Training Camp this year.
The game is reportedly “slowing down” for White as he starts out the group workouts phase of Training Camp (per NBC Sports Chicago piece from this week). He also sounds very excited for what this new look offense brings to the table for the Bulls under newly hired former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan.
The fact that the Bulls hired a proven winner that helped move forward a lot of younger player’s games from his time with the Thunder in Donovan is very exciting for this rebuild heading into its fourth year. Management also changed the look of the front office, bringing aboard executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley.
For White in particular, if the new offense has a lot more connotative movement and he’s just seeing his complete game slow down around him, more exciting results could be on the way.
Moreover, White played in all 65 games for the Bulls during the shortened 2019-20 regular season (just one of which he started in). And 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.
White and the Bulls open up their four-game preseason schedule at the United Center on Dec. 11 against the Houston Rockets. They have two games against the Rockets before hitting the road to travel to face the Thunder on Dec. 17 and 19 to round out the preseason slate. The Bulls then open up their regular season slate at home on Dec. 23 against the Atlanta Hawks.