A tough loss for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls on the night of Feb. 26 at home at the United Center came at the hands of veteran star point guard Chris Paul and the thriving Phoenix Suns. The Bulls fell short to the Suns heading into this weekend by the final score of 106-97, as they were largely dominated down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls solid run in the third quarter, sparked by great play from their veterans off the bench, helped give the team the lead much of the way. But the Bulls were outscored in the fourth quarter by a sizable margin of 16 points.
Turnovers were also a big problem in the Bulls loss to the Suns on Feb. 26. The Bulls turned the ball over 10 more times than the Suns did, which is obviously going to be an issue. The Suns are just too good of a team for the Bulls to make that many mistakes and still be able to come away with the win.
Coby White on knee injury: “I've got a little bone bruise, but nothing too major." #Bulls
— Mike McGraw (@McGrawDHSports) February 27, 2021
In the loss to the Suns, there was also a scary moment for the Bulls when second-year former North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Coby White hurt his knee. But the knee injury is reportedly just a “little bone bruise” and White said that it is “nothing too major”, following the loss.
What Coby means to the Chicago Bulls moving forward
The Bulls need Coby to continue to elevate his level of play, and do so on a consistent basis. Game in and game out, it doesn’t look like Donovan is able to count on a reliable bout of production from White in his starting backcourt.
In the loss to the Suns, White registered 19 points (on 7-of-16 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc), along with five rebounds, four assists, no steals, no blocks, and three turnovers. He’s got to be better than that on a consistent basis for the Bulls to get more reliable production out of their backcourt.
White’s counting stats look better this season than they did last. But the advanced metrics show that his progress is slight at best in his sophomore campaign in the NBA. He’s averaged 15.8 points per game, 5.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.2 blocks. White shot around 42 percent from the field, 35 percent from beyond the arc, and 88 percent from the charity stripe.
His box plus/minus rating has actually dropped by a margin of -0.7 compared to last season, and his player efficiency rating is 0.1 points lower than it was during his rookie campaign.
This Bulls team needs elevated play from the point guard position, and combo guard/wing Tomas Satoransky is providing most of that spark instead of White of late. Star shooting guard Zach LaVine is also helping that cause at times. But there has to be a long-term solution that the Bulls new front office regime can find at the one if White doesn’t step up his play, and soon.