Bulls guard Coby White shares a personal goal for upcoming season — shoot 40% on 3-pointers for the first time
(670 The Score) When the Bulls hired director of player development Peter Patton – who's also a well-regarded shooting coach – ahead of the 2023-'24, he initially took a laid-back approach to working with guard Coby White.
"He kept kind of saying what everybody else had told me my entire life – 'You're a really good shooter, I don't want to mess with your shot,'" White said on the Spiegel & Holmes Show on Tuesday afternoon.
White was unmoved by the praise, so he encouraged Patton to take a more hands-on approach. White was a quality 3-point shooter, but he didn't view himself as elite in that department. And his goal is to be one of the very best from behind the arc in the NBA.
"I was like, 'I'm a good shooter, but I want to shoot 40% (on 3-pointers),'" White said. "I hadn't done that in my career. I think the closest I ever came was 38.5% (in 2021-'22). I still haven't done it, but I want to be an above 40% shooter (on 3-pointers)."
In his work with Patton, White acknowledged he had deficiencies in his shooting stroke. Notably, working on a quicker release and having a more consistent follow-through straight at the rim were two areas he wanted to improve.
The final tally in the 2023-'24 season still wasn't to White's standard, as he shot 37.6% on 3-pointers. Still, that was a promising figure considering he attempted a career-high 7.0 3-pointers per game and had a bigger workload in playing a career-high 36.5 minutes per game while becoming a centerpiece of the Bulls offense. Now, White hopes he can tick up his efficiency once again.
"I talk to him constantly about my shots," White said of Patton. "It's grown into a great relationship."
