Coby White had yet another strong preseason performance for the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
Back in 2019, the Chicago Bulls were hoping to land the first overall selection in the NBA Draft Lottery so they could select Duke superstar Zion Williamson. That didn’t happen, as they ended up with the seventh overall pick.
But with that pick, they selected a solid player in Coby White, former guard of the UNC Tar Heels. White didn’t crack the starting lineup much in his rookie season, but he’s on pace to be the team’s No. 1 point guard in the 2020-21 season. Based off his preseason, he’s going to have no problems taking on an expanded role.
In Chicago’s preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, White managed to score 18 points in the third quarter alone! In total, White scored a total of 27 points in the game while shooting 11-of-17 from the field.
It doesn’t look like Coby White will have a sophomore slump
In his rookie season, White was only penciled into Chicago’s starting lineup once, and that occurred on March 10 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. White tallied 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 7-of-17 from the field. That would be Chicago’s final game of the season due to the coronavirus pandemic hitting North America, putting a months-long pause to the NBA season. Additionally, the Bulls were well out of playoff contention at the time to receive invitation to the Orlando bubble.
Prior to the end of last season, White was really showing that he could be the Bulls’ guard of the future. White averaged 26.1 points per game, with a 48.0 field-goal percentage and 43.2 3-point percentage in his final nine games of the season. In fact, he became the first rookie in NBA history to score 30-points off the bench in three consecutive games. White dropped 33 points against the Phoenix Suns (Feb. 22), 33 on the Washington Wizards (Feb. 23) and 35 against the Oklahoma City Thunder (Feb. 25).
As this year’s preseason began, White showed that he didn’t have a drop-off due to the extended break. White scored 15 points and tallied 6 assists while shooting 5-for-11 from the field in their preseason opener against the Houston Rockets this past Friday. In Chicago’s second meeting against the Rockets on Sunday, he dropped 20 points (7-for-15 from field), dished out 5 assists and grabbed 3 rebounds in their 104-91 victory.
Bulls fans, you may have found your point guard of the future in Coby White, and we can’t wait to see what he can do throughout the 2020-21 campaign.