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How Coby White Complements the Bulls
White, like Culver, rose up draft boards over the course of the season. He wasn’t originally supposed to be a one-and-done player, but it didn’t take long for him to show that he was the best prospect on a North Carolina team that had two other players (Cam Johnson and Nas Little) taken in the first round. White, a speed demon who pushes the pace at every opportunity, is a classic Roy Williams point guard. What makes him such an intriguing prospect is that he combines that speed with great size for the position (6-foot-5 and 185 pounds) and a good 3-point shot (35.3 percent on 6.6 attempts per game).
One of the knocks on White coming into the draft was that he might not be ready to run an NBA offense. He can make highlight-reel passes, but he’s still a score-first guard who can get out of control at times. Few coaches at the next level will give White as much freedom as he had under Williams. Bulls head coach Jim Boylen certainly won’t. The good news for White is that while his NBA coach may not be the best fit for his game, his teammates are. Markkanen is an even more prolific 3-point shooter than Towns: He shot 36.1 percent from 3 on 6.4 attempts per game last season, the most of any 7-footer in the league. White will be playing in spacing nirvana next to Markkanen.
It’s not just Markkanen, either. White will be the rare rookie point guard taken in the lottery who starts his NBA career with a lot of talent around him. Zach LaVine and Otto Porter Jr. are knockdown 3-point shooters, while Wendell Carter Jr. showed flashes of the ability to stretch the floor in a promising rookie season. The Bulls could run a five-out offense with shooters at every position. Porter and Carter, two of the better frontcourt passers in the league, can also take some of the playmaking pressure off of White. He won’t have to do everything on offense. He can play off the ball and count on his veteran teammates to create open shots for him.
White is a much better fit with their starters than Kris Dunn, a streaky outside shooter who can’t threaten the defense without the ball. Everything has to go through Dunn when he is in. White, on the other hand, is an excellent spot-up shooter who should be able to succeed in a smaller role in the offense. The Bulls don’t need their point guard to dominate the ball. They have two of the most skilled young big men in the NBA and two wings who can score in LaVine and Porter. For as much criticism as they have received during their rebuild over the past few seasons, they suddenly have one of the most interesting young cores in the league.