Coby White poised for jump to Bulls' lead ball-handler originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
On the first day of Bulls media week, Billy Donovan said that, while he’s not yet ready to name an opening night starting five, he envisions Coby White being the team’s primary ball-handler this season.
A noticeably effervescent White confirmed on Day 2 that Donovan relayed that sentiment to him. Entering the season the Bulls’ starting point guard is a goal White first professed during the team’s voluntary group workouts back in September. But asked if he sees the job as his to lose, he responded with humility.
“No. Not at all. I’m hungry,” White said. “I’m always going to be hungry. I’m always going to play with that chip on my shoulder. I don’t really see myself losing it. But I’m going to come in and I’m going to compete like I don’t got it.
“Me and [Tomáš Satoranský] always compete every time out there on the court, so it’s going to be fun to compete against Sato. I don’t look at it like I’ve already got the spot because anything can happen. I’m just looking at it as I’m going in to compete, and I’m going to play hard, and I’m going to be the best competitor out there.”
Still, he appears on track to lock down the job. Satoranský started 64 of 65 games for the Bulls last season before White usurped him in the final contest before the campaign was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic nearly nine months ago. At the time, White was embroiled in an historic post-All-Star break scoring tear that saw him average 24.7 points per game on 46.8-40.7-89.5 shooting splits in the team’s final 11 games.
But successfully assuming the starting point guard role -- even on a team that both Donovan and White stressed has an array of players that can handle the rock -- will be about more than bucket-getting. In a technical sense, White said he’s spent the extended offseason dissecting his decision-making in the pick-and-roll and fine-tuning his pull-up shooting and finishing at the rim.
“Those are three things I focused on the most,” he said. “The game has really slowed down for me, I feel like these last couple months. Still learning, obviously still learning. Can never take that away, still learning, but I feel like I’ve made a huge leap and I feel like I’ve gotten better.”
With a full NBA season -- and more than a full offseason -- under his belt, White also reported feeling more comfortable as a communicator entering camp, which Lauri Markkanen first posited on Day 1, saying “he’s a lot more vocal.”
“It's kind of overwhelming when you first get to the league just to have that vocal presence,” White said, citing a marked age gap in NBA locker rooms that doesn’t exist at the collegiate level. “But this year, you know, (assistant) coach (Chris) Fleming was the first during this offseason to tell me after the season, one of your biggest growth is leadership and having more of a voice on the court and demanding more and commanding more of the ball. So I've been focused on that, and then when Coach Donovan got hired, his biggest thing he said, your biggest leap for you I think this year will be just be more vocal and communicative on the court.
“So that's all I've been trying to focus on. Just being more vocal, having more, you know, always got positive energy cause I'm a goofy person, but just being more vocal, demanding more, commanding more, just letting everybody hear my voice and let them know, hey, I want to be the leader of this team, I want to be the head point guard.”
Fleming, White said, was a boon for him throughout his rookie year and will continue to be his workout coach this season. He also said he’s developed an early affinity for new Bulls assistant Josh Longstaff and “the legend” Mo Cheeks.
Donovan pointed to Chris Paul, who coached White in AAU, and Russell Westbrook as past examples of players he’s coached that White can model his verbal leadership skills after.
“I think when you’re at the point guard position, you’ve got to find ways to make the people around you better. And a lot of times that’s through communication and talking. I think that’s an area that as he gets more and more experience, he’ll be able to do,” Donovan said. “The hardest position to go from high school to college and college to the NBA, is playing the point guard position. Because you’re running the team. You’re making decisions out there. You’ve got to communicate. And at the same point, he was a rookie last year. He’s going through his own transition, his own experience. That’s a lot to put on him.
“He’s a great competitor. He’s really, really emotional in a good way. Like he really cares and he’s passionate. How do you take that and now have it impact the rest of the group? I think that would be the next step for him in terms of what kind of vocal leader can he become as a point guard.”
White reached out to Paul immediately after the Bulls hired Donovan and got “all positive” feedback from his mentor.
“He just told me how great of a coach he was, how great of a guy he was and how he’s going to do great things for us. And how he’s like a player’s coach and he just wants to build relationships,” White said. “Chris seemed excited for us and me. Like I said, he’s my mentor. He’s my big bro. He would never steer me wrong. So anytime he says something about somebody positive or negative, it’s always the truth. It was nothing but positivity that he spread.”
Donovan and Artūras Karnišovas have cited ball and player movement as fundamental tenets of the way they want the Bulls to play moving forward. White’s assist numbers improved over the course of his rookie season, especially in the last five games when he averaged six helpers per night, but his ceiling as a facilitator has been questioned by many.
There was even considerable buzz about the Bulls bringing in a lead playmaker this offseason over the top of him, which never actualized as the team drafted Patrick Williams fourth overall, then signed longtime reserve guard Garrett Temple in free agency.
“I'm on social media so of course I see it and I see those types of things. But like I said I just take it as a learning curve, you know, take it as pride, take it as motivation to get better,” White said. “My whole life I've been the underdog, I've been proving myself and proving people wrong, so it’s nothing new to me.”
As of now, he appears well on pace to get his shot.
