Coby White discussion thread

[transplant]

I know that everyone figures that White will fit perfectly into an "instant offense" role with this team. I'm a little skeptical. What I love about this team is how smart they play. As a Bulls team, they have the best BBIQ I've seen since the dynasty. White will come in as an offensive catalyst, but he'll usually be in there with one or more starters. He can't just go out there and chuck. He needs to play smart and fit. If he can make this transition, he'll be a great addition.

[sco]

I definitely think Coby deserves some time to work himself back...say 10 games at 10-18 minutes depending on how he does. That said, Ayo can and should get more minutes if Coby fails to perform. There's a decent chance that Coby fails to shoot above 30% from 3 from now until the deadline, in which case, we'll definitely need to trade for a better option (I think we do anyhow, but that would only highlight the issue more). To be clear, I'm fine keeping Coby, even if he doesn't make the rotation this year. His injury may kill his season, but he could still be a useful rotation guy next season. The big difference between him and Lauri is that Coby will have shown himself to be a non-starter, and may be keepable on cheap deal.

[dougthonus]

If you had given me an over/under on Coby White and 1 point, I would have bet the over every time and been wrong in his first two games back

It's okay, he needs to find his role and just get comfortable on the court, but boy is he not stepping back on there with confidence. Looks gun shy and way off on the shots he is taking.

Makes me wonder if he's just not ready yet.

[madvillian]

If you had given me an over/under on Coby White and 1 point, I would have bet the over every time and been wrong in his first two games back

It's okay, he needs to find his role and just get comfortable on the court, but boy is he not stepping back on there with confidence. Looks gun shy and way off on the shots he is taking.

Makes me wonder if he's just not ready yet.

I don't think people understand the severity of his injury, at least quite a few people. He tore his **** labrum. He basically couldn't lift a single weight for probably 12 weeks and maybe closer to 16. You can't squat while recovery from a torn labrum, you certainly can't bench.

Look how skinny he is, he probably lost a good 15lbs of muscle, that's bad man. He always had an uphill road to get back and the Bulls are worse because he's playing right now those are just facts. I hope he gets better but I think he's just going to have a horrible year.

[jordanwilliams6]

Not that it was unexpected, but after watching his first couple of games it’s clear he definitely should’ve spent a couple of weeks in the G league. Coby could’ve ran around with minimal pressure, jack up a bunch of shots and work on rhythm and conditioning.

Obviously he should improve but there’s also the very realistic possibility that his playing style just won’t mesh with this teams game style.

[GoBlue72391]

If you had given me an over/under on Coby White and 1 point, I would have bet the over every time and been wrong in his first two games back

It's okay, he needs to find his role and just get comfortable on the court, but boy is he not stepping back on there with confidence. Looks gun shy and way off on the shots he is taking.

Makes me wonder if he's just not ready yet.

I'm sure the rustiness and returning from injury has a lot to do with it, as does getting adjusted to new teammates on the fly, but during most of his time on the court the last two seasons he typically had the ball in his hands, regardless of whether he was running point or not. He was a creator and a facilitator, not necessarily a good one but that was his role.

Now he's primarily playing off-ball, spotting up, and relying on others to create his offense for him when he's used to creating it for himself. Maybe he'll get more time with the ball in his hands after he knocks off the rust, but I doubt it given he wasn't very effective at it and now we have Zach, DeMar, Lonzo, and Caruso who are all better in that role. So the way I see it is, he'll either have to get comfortable playing an off-ball role or he could be in danger of losing his spot in the rotation and possibly his spot on the team.

Obviously it's still very early for him and he's literally just returned and has only played limited minutes, so some rough patches and an adjustment period is to be expected, but it's something to watch moving forward.

[MrSparkle]

Besides for not playing for a while, it does seem he bulked up to play more SG/SF minutes. There is no way he's still at his listed 195 lb.

But anyway, I like throwing him in. Don't see the point of G-League. That's a different sport.

He was in the wrong place at every time, even sometimes crossing paths with Demar near the 3P line, which made no sense.

Sooner or later he'll have a good shooting night. In the meantime, he needs the basic practice of syncing his off-ball movements with the team. Epitome of the struggling combo guard. Would torch college or Euro at the 1 or 2. Here it's like he doesn't have the first-step to beat guards to the rim, so he's a very limited outside-in iso threat... and he never developed his off-ball motions like a Redick or Korver. So now that the developmental year at PG ended on a C note (being generous), he's gotta spend another year developing off-ball. But really it's been his poor D that's stood out. He gets massacred by screens. Probably very hesitant to fight through them given he just spent 6 months rehabbing his shoulder (can't blame him).

Tricky little situation. I'd give him some on-ball time in short minutes to get a bit more involved, as opposed to just spotting up. But the 8-15 mpg program depending on his FG% works for me. Just baking in that his development minutes are going to be a drastic negative RPM, unless he is on fire.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

He looks at least a couple weeks away from being a value add. I'm not worried about it big picture, but after a night where the 10 minutes he played felt like too many, I'd consider the G-League if he can't ramp up his aggression.

[ATRAIN53]

kind of hard to go from a #7 pick and franchise hope to basically a bench player
he's the odd man out, kinda lost his gig to injury.

this mentally destroys a lot of players.

coby has probably always been one of the best kids at every level and he was progressing here before he got hurt
and he's probably never had that severe of an injury before.

and he clipped off all his hair.
we know what that did to samson.....

Now he's stuck coming off the bench, he's got AYO in front of him who has been playing some great defense - and is a WAY cheaper option than him. He knows it's team option the next 2 years on what's left of his 12 million dollar deal. Knows he has to be perf3ect and he's gotta wonder if hes trade bait.

They are the same age but Ayo has 2 extra years of college seasoning. That matters.

I love Coby but just don't see the room/minutes here for him now.
I'd ship him out for a PF so they kid can grow.

[kodo]

More G-League or just run more practices with the team, he shouldn't be playing game time in 1 point games. Any of his 10 minutes going to one of our existing bench guys Bulls are probably up 1 instead of down 1 when we lost it.

The game time can't be used as Coby's personal training program.

[sco]

More G-League or just run more practices with the team, he shouldn't be playing game time in 1 point games. Any of his 10 minutes going to one of our existing bench guys Bulls are probably up 1 instead of down 1 when we lost it.

The game time can't be used as Coby's personal training program.

Yeah, having him play in a few g-league games to help him find his stroke is a great idea.

[Michael Jackson]

More G-League or just run more practices with the team, he shouldn't be playing game time in 1 point games. Any of his 10 minutes going to one of our existing bench guys Bulls are probably up 1 instead of down 1 when we lost it.

The game time can't be used as Coby's personal training program.

Yeah, having him play in a few g-league games to help him find his stroke is a great idea.

Makes sense, I will argue this point though, they want him playing with NBA guys in practice to get back to NBA speed and also to learn how this offense and defense run. I think the second part is holding him up more than the first part. He doesn't know his role or where to be. He needs team practice, not bum slaying imho. He needs to bond with these guys not the WCB. He still won't know where to stand or who to rotate to if he puts up 50 in a g league game, he will still look out of sorts, it is more than his shooting stroke.

[Michael Jackson]

If you had given me an over/under on Coby White and 1 point, I would have bet the over every time and been wrong in his first two games back

It's okay, he needs to find his role and just get comfortable on the court, but boy is he not stepping back on there with confidence. Looks gun shy and way off on the shots he is taking.

Makes me wonder if he's just not ready yet.

I don't think people understand the severity of his injury, at least quite a few people. He tore his **** labrum. He basically couldn't lift a single weight for probably 12 weeks and maybe closer to 16. You can't squat while recovery from a torn labrum, you certainly can't bench.

Look how skinny he is, he probably lost a good 15lbs of muscle, that's bad man. He always had an uphill road to get back and the Bulls are worse because he's playing right now those are just facts. I hope he gets better but I think he's just going to have a horrible year.

He is skinnier but I don't think that much thinner. His upper body is weaker for sure, but he actually put on the most mass right before he got hurt I think. His hair might make him look thinner? Not joking. He needs to get stronger again for sure but I don't think that is his biggest hold up. I think his low BBIQ and knowing the system, coupled with him just going out there and being a go to guy, and now having to fit in are messing with him more. I'm not Coby though so I am just speculating

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

He actually looks a bit doughy to me.

[sco]

I know we want to win SO BADLY. That said, I suggest folks stop pinning their championship hopes to Coby becoming an above average 6th man this season. I think our chances are better with Matt Thomas becoming useful, or better yet, Ayo developing into a better offensive player by season-end.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

He actually looks a bit doughy to me.

I didn’t want to say anything yet and give it some more time, but yeah, he looks like he worked out with Luka and Zion in the offseason. He was ripped last year, looks like he has just a little belly and very little definition in his arms.

Not sure what was feasible with the injury, so maybe that’s it. But to me it’s going to be at least a couple months before we get peak Coby IMO.

[BullChit]

Lets give it some more time people...

It either works 3 ways
1. Coby rounds out and ends up being the scoring punch we need
2. Coby rounds out and ups his trade value!
3. Coby flops and we were never in the position to get any value out of him at all.

The one thing that doesn't work is trying to trade him now when he has zero value.

If we are going to try and get him back into the game now is the time to do it because believe it or not we can lose games now and its not that big a deal.

Also if we are losing games because we play Coby White then the rest of the roster isnt as good as we thought and we have bigger problems.

[Jvaughn]

I get that Coby has been out for awhile, and needs to find his role, but he can't do that being passive. If he doesn't have the common sense to realize that his role with Zach/DeMar on the court is to catch and shoot and often, he doesn't have a role on this team. Roll with Ayo and trade Coby if it continues long term.

[DuckIII]

He looks awful. But whatever, I’m not sweating that. He’ll work his way back. But he’s not ready to do that in games yet. At least not ones that are highly competitive. Don’t rush him back at the expense of effectiveness. He can work his way back during practice.

[HomoSapien]

I know we want to win SO BADLY. That said, I suggest folks stop pinning their championship hopes to Coby becoming an above average 6th man this season. I think our chances are better with Matt Thomas becoming useful, or better yet, Ayo developing into a better offensive player by season-end.

Wow, Matt Thomas being useful over Coby being an above average 6th man?

Coby’s really underwhelming when you’re expecting him to be a top 3 scorer on your team. As a bench microwave scorer, it’s not hard to imagine him being useful once he shakes the rust off. I also think there’s a good chance we see him as a valuable 6th man sooner rather than later. He gets a lot of grief, but he’s still only 21.