(670 The Score) As expected, Coby White will start at point guard for the Bulls when they host the Rockets in their preseason opener Friday evening.
The nod comes after a rookie season in which White made one start – when the Bulls defeated the Cavaliers on March 10, which marked Chicago’s final game before the NBA season was halted by the coronavirus. White and the Bulls have been sitting idly by since in terms of game action.
White will be joined in the Bulls’ starting lineup by center Wendell Carter Jr., power forward Lauri Markkanen, small forward Otto Porter Jr. and guard Zach LaVine. And before the Bulls get going, coach Billy Donovan detailed what he wants to see out of White, who he acknowledged is a “scoring guard” but who will be judged in a different manner in Donovan’s mind.
“As a point guard, it’s not always going to be about how well he’s playing but how well the group is playing,” Donovan said. “And I think that’s his maturation, that’s the process he has to go through in terms of understanding that he has to be a connector. And it’s not only him. It’s the group that’s out there together. How can they make each other better? How can they function with one another? How can they play off each other? How can they make the game easier for each other? That’s going to be the biggest thing.”
Donovan had much more to say.
“Coby has to be who he is,” he said. “He is a scoring guard. That’s what he does. And I certainly do not want to take that away from him. I want him to be that way.
But he has to start to look at himself as a point guard from the perspective of, ‘OK, if I get 25 and group isn’t functioning well and guys aren’t really meshing and jelling and there’s not a lot of cohesion there.’ He’s going to have to look at those adjustments he can make. I certainly want him to stay aggressive. I want him to be who he is. But we’ve got to function well together. Zach has to make the game easy for him. Coby has to make the game easy for Lauri. Lauri has to make the game easy for Wendell. They all need to help each other. WE’ll function a lot better as a group than we will as individuals. He has to be conscientious of those things and think about those things.”
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Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.