The Chicago Bulls just provided an update on the recovery of talented guard Coby White and when they expect him to return. The timeline has grown longer, perhaps in part because White's return has the potential to ruin everything for the Bulls.
The Bulls are riding high this season in a way few expected, even in Chicago. The team is 6-1 and in first place in the Eastern Conference, with the league's sixth-best net rating. They have already notched wins over most of their competitors in the East, from the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic to the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks.
Josh Giddey is playing like an All-Star, stuffing the stat sheet and keying their up-tempo offense. Sophomore Matas Buzelis is making a second-year leap. Nikola Vucevic is on fire to start the season and is shooting 48 percent from deep.
Around that trio of offensive players, the Bulls are plugging in the right defensive pieces to make the entire operation work. Tre Jones is starting and looks like a steal on his new contract. Patrick Williams has revived his career. Lanky wing Julian Phillips is getting some run and has real defensive tools.
Adding Coby White could be a problem
On the surface, adding Coby White to that group should be a positive. He averaged 20 points per game last season, shot a reasonable 37 percent from deep on good volume and buoyed the offense playing with and opposite of Josh Giddey. He is a bargain on his current $12.89 million expiring deal.
The problem is that basketball is not so simple as merely adding up the talent of all the players on the court. Fit matters, perhaps more than ever, and adding Coby White back into the rotation makes the Bulls' limitations even worse.
The Bulls are not a team that plays "big" on defense. Their best defenders are largely guards, from the 6'1" Tre Jones to the 6'5" Isaac Okoro and the 6'5" Ayo Dosunmo. Having a center rotation largely made up of Nikola Vucevic (likely the worst rim protector among all teams' starting centers) and Jalen Smith means their paint presence is muted.
Adding in the 6'5" Coby White, a player who has been a negative defensively his entire career, makes their defense not only worse, but smaller. The current starting group can pick at Giddey and Vucevic; adding in White for Okoro gives them no one to defend opposing wings and makes them incredibly small, while swapping him in for Tre Jones means there is no one at the point of attack.
The Bulls have found an identity this season, with Giddey running the show, Vucevic at the height of his offensive powers as a pick-and-pop center, and the rest of the team running and defending around them. Coby White is a new element, a player who will want the ball and who cannot stop it on the other end.
Chicago is leaning into Josh Giddey as the central star, but how White fits into that vision is very uncertain. His defense will be a problem, and it's not obvious that his offense will make up for it. Does that mean the Bulls stumble upon his return? Probably. Does it mean he is shopped on the trade market? Likely. Yet he is also a good player, and if he can find a way to integrate into the new-look Bulls, they could be a better team for it.
The Bulls are playing extremely well this season, and that is likely why White's return has been delayed; why rush to stop a good thing? When he does return, he could ruin everything that has made Chicago special this year.