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Over the course of the past few weeks, the Chicago Bulls have been among the teams participating in voluntary workouts at their practice facility under strict medical restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bulls, and the seven other teams that didn’t qualify for the season restart, have been permitted to do various training exercises inside of their own bubble. The setting gave the Bulls their first chance to be around each other since the league shut down in March.
Since most of the Bulls hadn’t played consistent basketball since March, much of the training camp was likely spent knock off the rust and getting back into shape. However, as noted by K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, Bulls rookie Coby White was among the standouts.
Given that the focus was mostly on getting the rust out and merely playing 5-on-5 while doing some team bonding in a setting in which the new regime could get to know players personally, I’m not sure I’d put the level of competition even on the summer-league level. That said, I heard the names of Lauri Markkanen and Coby White the most of limited conversations.
White was named to the 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie Second Team last month after averaging 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 65 games played this season. He had an outstanding run over his last nine games of the season, in which he averaged 26.1 points per game.
Despite the All-Rookie Second Team honor, White said that he still felt as though he was overlooked this season. He said the exclusion from the Rising Stars Game at All-Star Weekend helped motivate him to be better as he now looks ahead to his sophomore year in the NBA.
White said is looking to improve on virtually all aspects of his game this offseason and wants to compete for the starting point guard job in training camp next season.
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