Throughout his first season, Coby White kept saying he wanted, at one point or another, to take control of the Bulls’ game. No way for him to remain sixth man too long. His goal was to integrate the five major, and it has now been done for ten days.
Except that it is not the same world, nor the same expectations. The Chicago leader can no longer be content with scoring points as his role as 6th man allowed him. A titular leader must do more and better.
It starts especially in defense, where Coby White can no longer hide. Especially with Zach LaVine by his side, who isn’t a big defender, and after Kris Dunn left for Atlanta, who was the defensive specialist on field posts last year.
His first outings against Stephen Curry, Malcolm Brogdon and Russell Westbrook were encouraging.
“By being the holder, every evening there will be a challenge to take up so you have to be ready”, assure Coby White. “I think I have been solid, especially in the last two matches, against two league superstars. Facing Westbrook, I tried to avoid penetrations. Faced with such a player, you have to let go of something. So I preferred to let him shoot halfway, rather than see him attack the basket. We can’t stop these players from scoring 25 points, but we have to break their rhythm. We broke the transitions too, by forming a wall with several in front of him. “
“You have to forget the shots scored and the points. The important thing is to lead and organize, to put the players in the right positions ”
Billy Donovan confirms this. Admittedly, the leader of the Wizards made his usual triple-double, but he lost 6 balls and only scored two baskets near the circle.
“He did a good job”, considers the coach. “Westbrook is complicated to manage low post. And I found his defense positive. We helped him too. Against Stephen Curry for example, he negotiated the sequences of races, screens and the various defensive covers well. It’s a lot to ask him because he leads the team too, but it’s clear that he has to defend. “
The former leader of North Carolina seems to be accepting defensive missions rather well. But as the Bulls coach notes, he also has to set up the attack on the Illinois players. And there too, he must improve. Because in his role as scorer out of the bench last season, he was on the floor above all to score points and waste was then tolerated. Not anymore.
With 14.8 points at 37% shooting success and 5.7 average assists but also 3 lost balls per game, Coby White is still struggling to find the right balance.
“We must forget the shots scored and the points, we must remove that from the equation”, ad Billy Donovan pour NBC Chicago. “The important thing is to lead and organize, to put the players in the right positions. I tried to explain that to him during matches. People see him as a great scorer, I think he’s a great shooter. I don’t know if, ball in hand, he’s capable of creating his own actions and his own shots. When he can feign a shot from a distance and penetrate to either shoot or pass, that’s where he is best in my opinion. He has the mindset of the playmaker and he is aware that he has to involve everyone. He has to adapt. “
| Coby White | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2019-20 | CHI | 65 | 26 | 39.4 | 35.4 | 79.1 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 13.2 |
| 2020-21 | CHI | 4 | 32 | 37.0 | 39.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 14.8 |
| Total | 69 | 26 | 39.2 | 35.6 | 80.3 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.1 | 13.3 | |
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