Tag: Coby White

Bulls star Coby White discusses injury update on brink of return

Coby White recently spoke about his injury and potential return for the Chicago Bulls.

In the Chicago Bulls’ recent overtime win over the Indiana Pacers, Coby White went down. And he went down hard. Driving in transition in the final moments of the game, Pascal Siakam chased him down, blocked his shot, and sent White crashing to the floor. White hurt his hip and left the game. Since then, he’s missed three straight.

Losing White is brutal, as he’s been one of their best players this season. He has a real chance at winning the Most Improved Player award. Chicago has won two of the three games they’ve played without White, as they took on the Washington Wizards and Portland Trail Blazers (two of the worst teams in the league), but they still need him back as soon as possible.

Luckily for the Bulls, it sounds as though White avoided serious injury, as he recently gave an update on his situation. (H/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune)

“I dodged a bullet,” White said. “It could’ve been a lot worse. They said I’m pretty flexible and that’s what helped me in that scenario. I think God was with me at that point and I’m just glad it was nothing serious, nothing more than a strain.”

Getting White back will be crucial to the Bulls’ success down the stretch.

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Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are better than the rebuild some Chicago Bulls fans begged for

Sometimes, the thing you need ends up falling into your lap despite your best efforts to avoid that very thing.

Sometimes, the thing you need ends up falling into your lap despite your best efforts to avoid that very thing over some time. And that appears to be the case for the Chicago Bulls‘ front office, who have been running blind away from a potential rebuild for the team, only to have that rebuild happen to them anyway.

The losses of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, and Patrick Williams to injury had put the Bulls in a position to play younger players like Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Onuralp Bitim in bigger roles. In turn, this made their leaps forward possible, with Chicago now in possession of a solid young core to build around.

Speaking on a recent episode, the host of the “Chicago Bulls Central” podcast, Haize, weighed in on this unexpected silver lining to the Bulls’ snake-bit season.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what he had to say.

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Chicago Bulls front office deserves credit for free agency steals

Despite all the criticism they get, the Chicago Bulls front office made some great moves this past offseason.

The Chicago Bulls have been a beacon of mediocrity for the past few seasons. Outside of a brief period of success when Lonzo Ball was healthy, they’ve been a middle-of-the-pack team, having won just one playoff game with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic leading the way. Needless to say, the fanbase has been frustrated.

However, while Chicagoans have a right to be upset with the front office for their lack of movement, as the team hasn’t made a trade at the deadline in three years, they have done some good things, too. This summer, they brought back two key pieces in free agency, both of whom have been amazing this season.

The Bulls Central YouTube channel recently discussed why the Bulls front office deserves credit for re-signing Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu for great contracts.

White re-signed in Chicago on a three-year, $36 million contract, while Dosunmu inked a three-year, $21 million deal.

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The youth movement of the Chicago Bulls has already begun, but did the front office notice?

The ball club’s front office seems stuck in the past.

The youth movement of the Chicago Bulls has already begun, but has the team’s front office noticed? The impressive breakout play of reserve guards like Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu was made possible by the removal of players like Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine from the equation. And finding young players like Onuralp Bitim and Julian Phillips has laid a foundation for a new era of Bulls basketball.

But the ball club’s front office seems stuck in the past, leaning into older players like DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, and Nicola Vucevic, instead of collective assets at the trade deadline to invest in a new core.

Speaking on a recent episode, the host of the “Chicago Bulls Central” podcast, Haize, got into this seeming confusion over the direction of the team.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear his case on what that future ought to look like.

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Bulls star Nikola Vucevic on absence of Coby White following injury

Chicago Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic talked about how much the team missed Coby White on the court on Thursday.

In the Chicago Bulls’ recent game against the Indiana Pacers, they gritted out an overtime win. DeMar DeRozan poured in 46 points in a game that they barely won. But it came at a cost. In the final seconds of regulation, Coby White was going up for a layup in transition. Pascal Siakam blocked him and sent White careening to the gound.

White exited the game, but an MRI revealed that it was only a small hip issue. However, while he won’t miss a ton of time, he was still out on Thursday night, and the Bulls fell to the LA Clippers. They missed White, as he has transformed into one of their best players this season.

After the game, Nikola Vucevic spoke about how much the team missed him. (H/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune)

“It was tough,” Vucevic said. “He’s one of our best guys in the two-man game, pick and roll, one of our best shooters in general. He gets downhill, he creates a lot, he puts a lot of pressure on the rim and hits me in the pocket or kicks out inside out. So you miss a guy like that. It’s always difficult.”

Not having White will be a challenge, but the Bulls will have to push through it.

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Billy Donovan discusses need for improved preparation for Coby White

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan spoke about Coby White’s injury and his need for preparation.

Despite their lack of moves for the past three years, the Chicago Bulls need to be planning for the future. Guys like DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic won’t be around forever, and the Bulls likely aren’t going to win any championships with their current core. In turn, it’s all about tomorrow in Chicago.

Leading the way for their next-up group is Coby White, who has enjoyed a breakout season this year. However, a recent injury scare will have White thinking about his preparation process. He’s been playing more minutes than ever, and the Bulls will need him to be at his best every step of the way.

Head coach Billy Donovan recently spoke about how the injury will help define White’s offseason preparation moving forward, especially with his new expectations. (H/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune)

“For Coby, it’s been an eye-opening experience in a lot of ways,” Donovan said. “He has an incredible threshold to fight through things. But coming into the season, I don’t know if he would’ve anticipated the number of minutes that he’s gotten this year. … That’s part of his evolution as a player.”

White has been awesome this year, and he’s still getting better.

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Chicago’s Coby White is among the NBA’s most intriguing players on rebuilding teams

This unexpected development has helped to salvage some of the high hopes heading into this season for Chicago.

It is not all that often that losing a key player to injury ends up having a real silver lining to it. But in the case of the Chicago Bulls losing guard Zach LaVine for the season after already being without starting point guard Lonzo Ball since the start of the Bulls’ 2023-24 campaign, it actually happened.

That vacuum in Chicago’s back court rotation made space for an opportunity for backup floor general Coby White to spread his wings. And White made the most of that opportunity, quickly showing off that not only could he survive playing in a larger role for the Bull, he could thrive in it.

This unexpected development has helped to salvage some of the high hopes heading into this season for Chicago, and has even caught the attention of the national NBA media.

One such example is the “All NBA” podcast, which had hosts Tim Legler and Adam Mares breaking down White’s unexpected leap, along with several similar stories from around the league. Check it out above!

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Why Coby White needs to get more consistent with the Chicago Bulls

The biggest leap a player can make is from a star who can carry a team on occasion to one who can be relied on night in and night out.

The second-biggest leap a player in the NBA can make is from being a solid rotation player to becoming a star a team needs to lean on in order to win some nights. But the biggest leap a player can make is from a star who can carry a team on occasion to one who can be relied on night in and night out.

For Chicago Bulls point guard Coby White, mastering that toughest leap is the final challenge left in his developmental arc, the Bulls floor general haven proven he can hang with the league’s best when he’s on. The challenge, then, is STAYING on — and many a player never quite gets to that place.

For Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, White “looks like the leading figure of (the Bulls’) next chapter and a primary piece of this one.”

“The spotlight has never shined so bright on the No. 7 pick of the 2019 draft, and that’s always a tough task for young players to handle. White has handled it better than most, but he isn’t yet at a place where he is bringing his best every night,” he adds.

“Granted, that’s a huge ask of someone who averaged fewer than 24 minutes per game and made just two starts last season, but that’s his new reality.”

We believe that while superstardom among the elite of the league may be out of the reach of the Chicago guard, reaching a level where he’s in the mix for All-Star over much of his prime is on the table. But can he avoid wilting in the brighter lights that come with the territory? Only time can tell.

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Coby White discusses career night in Bulls win over Kings

After the Chicago Bulls’ comeback win over the Sacramento Kings, Coby White discussed his career night.

The Chicago Bulls need to scrap for every win they can get at this point in the season. They find themselves in the mix of a wild Play-In race in the Eastern Conference, and while it’s looking very likely that they’ll end up in that realm, it’s far less likely that they break through and earn a regular playoff spot.

That said, anything can happen in a single-game elimination situation, so Chicago needs to keep fighting. Obviously, the play of DeMar DeRozan will be key, but Coby White has stepped up in a major way this season, too. Just the other night, the Bulls climbed all the way back for a win over the Sacramento Kings, and White put up a career-high 37 points.

After the game, White spoke about the game, refusing to take all of the credit. (H/t Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times)

“It was cool. It was dope,” White said. “I think it was a team effort. I don’t really look at it as, ‘Oh, me and [DeMar DeRozan] were doing this and that.’ I look at it as a good, solid team win, and I’m proud of our team. I was just letting the game come to me, not force it. . . . I just wanted to play in the flow of the offense.”

White’s monster season has been crucial to the Bulls’ success this year.

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Bulls star Coby White only cares about stacking wins

At this point in the season, all that matters is stacking wins, according to Chicago Bulls star Coby White.

At this point in the season, the Chicago Bulls are fighting tooth and nail for a spot in the playoffs. It’s unlikely that they will jump all the way up to the sixth seed in the East for a guaranteed spot, but climbing up the standings to secure a higher spot in the Play-In should help them break through.

On Wednesday night, the Bulls picked up a massive win over the Sacramento Kings after being down by as many as 22 points in the third quarter. They came all the way back and picked up a victory behind a pair of monster performances from DeMar DeRozan and Coby White.

After the game, White spoke about the importance of stacking wins at this point in the season. (H/t Ben Ross of the Chicago Tribune)

“At this point in the season, however you can get wins, you’ve got to get wins,” White said. “You’ve got to start stacking wins. I don’t care how we get them. I don’t care how it looks. At the end of the day, if we win, that’s all we care about.”

White finished the night with a career-high 37 points, helping lead the Bulls past the Kings.

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