Chicago Bulls: Coby White proving to be premier volume scoring guard

The 20-year-old Chicago Bulls point guard Coby White can continue his improved play to give his team a chance to beat the Thunder on Jan. 15.

On the night of Jan. 15 is when the Chicago Bulls and first-year head coach Billy Donovan will get their next shot at making some headway in the Eastern Conference standings after a lengthy break between games. The Bulls last played in a game on the road on Jan. 10, in what resulted in a tough three-point loss to the superstar forward duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Although the Bulls were originally scheduled to face the Boston Celtics on Jan. 12, the game was pushed back due to novel coronavirus related issues. That was one of more than five games pushed this week in the wake of COVID-19-related issues around the NBA landscape.

Hopefully their scheduled Jan. 15 showdown on the road against Donovan’s former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, will happen on that date. They also get to face superstar point guard Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks for the second time this season on the road on the night of Jan. 17.

It will be important for the Bulls to continue to get solid production out of the top players in their young core when it’s time to tip off against the Thunder heading into the weekend. That means that second-year point guard Coby White and standout shooting guard Zach LaVine continue their hot streaks that they’ve found of late.

It should also mean that the Bulls get a nice boost from the return of fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen to the rotation, if he’s ready to go on Jan. 15.

Of that trio of key players for the Bulls, White might be the key to victory on Jan. 15. He did well against the Thunder in two wins in two tries for the Bulls in the preseason slate. And he’s responded well of late after a slow start out of the gates during this regular season slate.

He’s averaging just shy of 35 minutes played per game this season, while starting in all 11 games he’s played in. And White averaged 17.3 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.1 blocks. He’s shot 42.1 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.

White’s game really took off since the turn of the calendar year. In six games played through the month of January so far, White averaged 19.2 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 3.0 turnovers. He’s shot 46.8 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc. All of that amounted to a solid 56.7 true shooting percentage and 111 offensive rating.

What White is really proving so far this season is just how good of a volume scorer he can be and how his facilitating is improving in the process. As previously mentioned, White got out to a slow start this season, but his play is really picking up of late.

He’s also gone from averaging just 2.7 assists per game last season, to 6.2 this season. All that transpired while his assist-to-turnover ratio saw a decent uptick. His shooting percentages are also up across the board.

All of these encouraging signs for White’s game should only continue from here on out. He proved down the stretch last season that once he finds his rhythm, especially on the offensive end of the floor, the rest of his game will come with it over time. And it’s hard for him to lose that rhythm once it’s found.

The Bulls carry a record of 4-7 into their Jan. 15 meeting on the road with the Thunder. White and the Bulls will be looking to revert course on the three-game losing streak that was built up last week during their west coast road trip heading into the weekend.