NFL
By: Stephen Garner
Third-year guard Coby White is enjoying his most effective season in the league for the Chicago Bulls.
Much was made of the North Carolina products fit, and a solid faction of Bulls Nation wanted him included in a swap for more wing/frontcourt depth.
I, however, was on the other side of this belief and want (at least as far as this season goes…) because there are specific skill sets of his that, outside of DeRozan, and or LaVine, are not nearly as viable.
You take a look at Coby White and, at the surface level, his counting stats don’t necessarily garner your attention in the manner you’d maybe hope for. He’s averaging 13.6 PPG (down from last seasons 15.1), 2.9 APG, and 3.1 RPG.
However, when you apply context to his career as a Bull, things begin to make sense.
He’s played a different role on each rendition of the Bulls in his three seasons as a professional, each of which demanding different things from him.
As a rookie, the 6’5 combo guard was in the sixth man role, finding his way as the Bulls were doing the same. In his second season, he was thrust into the starting guard role and had the expected growing pains in learning floor generalship as the Bulls turned the corner. Now, he’s in a position where the sixth man duties are being shared in a sense with rookie Ayo Dosunmu.
Three very different renditions of the Bulls, three different roles for him, yet he’s continued to find ways to be effective in them all.
Let’s zoom in on the aforementioned specific skill sets that make him invaluable for the 2021-22 Chicago Bulls.
3-Point Shooting & General Scoring Prowess
The Bulls are second in the NBA with a 3-point field goal percentage of 37.4%, however, that’s in large part due to them being dead last in attempts with just 29.2.
The League average for 3-point makes is 12.3, and attempts is 35.2. The Bulls are at just 10.9 makes per game.
The great majority of their attempts come from Ball, LaVine, Vucevic, or White.
Coby White is averaging 2.4 made 3-pointers a game at a 40% clip.
Even more, it’s the manner in how his attempts function within the Bulls offense, playing second-side of DeRozan and LaVine, and/or off of movement lifting or sinking in the perimeter, and even occasionally via off-screen shooting though it isn’t a consistent part of their offense.
His ability to shoot from a standstill and via relocating is invaluable, is a big-time asset that can’t really be replicated to this level of effectiveness outside of Ball and LaVine (who’s typically working with the rock.)
His 42.5% catch and shoot 3-point percentage is tied for second on the team with Lonzo Ball, just behind LaVine who does so at 45.7%.
White however is second in catch and shoot 3-point attempts per game on the Bulls at 4.7, with Ball leading at 5.5.
Being a threat off-ball to shoot when on the floor with two players who demand so much attention from the defense is much needed come playoff time, and that need grows more profound the way teams will have to scheme and load up on the talents of DeRozan and LaVine.
White is also at 6.5 PPG off spot-up shooting (the stand-still variety), pacing the Bulls there, and has a 44.6% accuracy in that, ranking in the 88th percentile of the league in effectiveness.
Again, very seldomly used in their system, but he’s averaging 1.25 points per play when shooting off a screen, and he scores on those half of the time. That equates to a 90.6 percentile ranking which suggests it should be used more.
Nearly green around the horn, Coby has 27 games with 2+ 3-pointers made on the season and has seen his level of play gradually rise as we’ve inched closer to the playoffs.
Keep White and his dynamic playing off of those two in mind as the playoffs near, it’ll be a big deciding factor in how far they advance this season.
Rim Pressure
Examining the Bulls, outside of the top two, they lack general effectiveness in guys driving to the basket, generating rim pressure.
This is something to watch because oftentimes these players are attacking defenders who are in disadvantageous situations, closing out from help positions.
White and his shooting prowess, gives a different sense of urgency for defenders closing out. That, in turn, allows for him to display a big area of growth in his game, understanding the gravity he has as a shooter and playing off of that in attacking closeouts.
He’s been great in the detailed area doing so as well, identifying the defender’s top foot on closeouts and using his elite quick first step to blow by and generate rim pressure off of that.
He’s shooting 64.6% at the rim, a near +10% from last season. It’s on a smaller sample size in volume, but the effectiveness is there.
Getting downhill allows him to playmake more as well.
He’s also third on the team in drives per game, behind the obvious two, averaging seven rack attacks and 4 points on them per game on a 51% clip when he attempts shots via that no-less.
In all, he has the skillset and versatility to be extremely impactful. His playstyle, effectiveness, and versatility all suggest he’ll (continue to) thrive off the ball as his dynamics as a player are maximized by being positioned as he will be.
His effective field goal percentage (the NBAs all-encompassing measure of shooting efficiency) ranks 86th percentile this season per cleaning the glass, and this is the type of effectiveness you want to surround two all-world talents and a playmaking big man with.
The Bulls are indeed top-heavy offensively, but if they can get consistent contributions from the bench, starting with Coby White, they could potentially push through the second-round ceiling I placed as this season’s deemed peak.
The two dynamics in shooting prowess/threat as a shooter, and his ability to generate rim pressure off of his gravity in attacking closeouts, is why I’ve felt he is an invaluable piece to the puzzle for this rendition of the Bulls, and am glad he was kept past the deadline.
It’ll be plenty of fun watching the Bulls grow back whole, as Caruso (potentially back tonight), Ball, and Williams’ returns are all pending. It’ll be even more fun watching the meshing of all of their talents and dynamics as they, hopefully, are all in the fold moving forward.
He’s averaging 15.3 PPG with an ELITE 47.6/48.8/90.5 shooting slash in 13 games since returning from his 2-game absence because of an adductor injury.
Sub Zero and his potential pyrotechnics will surely play a big part in it all.
They have an all-important matchup tonight at 7pm CST as they host the Cleveland Cavaliers.
