The Chicago Bulls are one game away from their season ending. After stealing home-court advantage in Game 2 of their first-round series with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Bulls lost two straight contests — both in blowout fashion.
The Bulls struggled to contain Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo (a fate of the entire league), but also struggled guarding Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen. Both players had double digit points scored in the pair of games at the United Center.
As the Bulls prepare for the season-defining Game 5 in Milwaukee, the questions that revolved around the teams will be ever-present.
Is Zach LaVine worth forking out a max contract? Will the team bring Nikola Vucevic back? Are the role players good enough to contribute against contending teams?
Let’s dive into the three biggest questions heading into Game 5.
3. Are These the Last Days of the Coby White Era?
Coby White has put fans through the gauntlet over his first three years in Chicago. He has games where he looks like a lottery pick, where he shoots 52% on catch-and-shoot 3-point opportunities while helping initiate the team’s offense.
On the other hand, he has games like Sunday, where he can’t find a rhythm while successfully throwing the entire team’s rhythm off. The latter has been the Bulls’ Achilles heel the entire second half of the season. Their core has proven that they can score at will under the right circumstances, but the adjustments to having their star scorers trapped just haven’t been good enough.
Since the traps are coming while the stars are dribbling for layups, the passes out of the traps are rushed and rarely on target. When they are on target, the shooter, who is usually wide open, hasn’t consistently converted.
I'm done with the Coby White experience.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) April 24, 2022
White has had the looks but hasn’t hit consistently in the second half of the season. He had an abysmal shooting slump that saw his overall percentage slip under 30%. In Game 4, he shot 20% from the field and was a minus-17 on the game.
If he was a journeyman trying to find footing in a specific system, the expectations wouldn’t be so high. Unfortunately for him, he’s a lottery pick and is supposed to be the future of the franchise — not a constant liability.
His play this season makes trading him in the offseason something the front office has to explore, but will they?