Coby White’s role with the Chicago Bulls won’t change with Zach LaVine’s return: ‘They want me to still be who I am’
Coby White is never concerned about sharing the floor with Zach LaVine.
When the star guard returned to the court last week, it raised fair questions. Can White maintain his breakout performance while sharing playing time with a full slate of stars? Will LaVine’s natural center of gravity throw the offense off its axis?
But for White, expectations remain the same whether LaVine is on the court or on the bench.
“Nothing’s really changed,” White said. “Everybody’s telling me to keep going, keep being myself and keep playing the way that I’ve been playing. They want me to still be who I am and who I have been. They told me just to stay aggressive, make the right plays and keep doing what I’m doing.”
The Bulls can reach a different level when this pair plays in tandem. Wednesday’s 124-119 overtime win against the Houston Rockets proved how lethal White and LaVine can be when they’re on the same page — even with a little rust left over from so many games apart.
The duo combined for 55 points — including 10 3-pointers — in the win. They ran a breakneck pace all night as LaVine fed White for three transition 3-pointers. And they firmly took control of the final minutes of overtime, scoring nine unanswered points in 66 seconds to regain a four-point lead that the Bulls never ceded.
For LaVine, slipping back into this partnership with White was one of the easiest parts of the game.
“The way he’s playing right now, the growth of his game is incredible,” LaVine said. “We want to keep him in that type of rhythm, obviously. When I’m on the court, that’s what I’m always able to find. I have a little sense of finding him on the break or if he’s behind me. He’s hot right now. We gotta keep him in that rhythm.”
For White, LaVine has been the greatest constant in his career in Chicago.
At this point, LaVine is essentially the only person left from the team that drafted White in 2019. There’s a new coach, a new front office, a completely new roster. But LaVine has always been consistent for White. They know each other’s game better than any other teammate, relishing chances to catch opponents off guard in transition and off the catch.
“I love playing with him,” White said. “We’ve been playing together for a long time now. I know how he feels on the court, he knows how I feel on the court. We have that connection to where if we feel like we’re off, we can come to each other and tell each other.”
Midway through the second half of last Friday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, White felt LaVine was still being too timid.
He knew LaVine was a little winded after missing 17 games. And he understood the guard wanted to defer to his teammates as he attempted to mold back into the style of play that had lifted the Bulls to a 10-7 record in his absence. But White just wanted LaVine to loosen up.
During a timeout, he grabbed LaVine and delivered a swift, emphatic pep talk: “Bro, just go hoop.”
“He just knows who I am,” LaVine said. “Sometimes when I’m overly passive, he’s like, ‘Zach, come on, be yourself, shoot the ball.’ He knows how I can get going offensively and who I am on that end of the floor.”
LaVine still hasn’t returned to the fully confident version of himself that Bulls fans are accustomed to watching — and that version of LaVine hasn’t made a consistent appearance this year. But Wednesday’s win was a step in the right direction.
The Bulls lifted the minutes restriction on LaVine and center Nikola Vučević against the Rockets, returning the stars to the starting lineup together for the first time since November. LaVine tallied 25 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the win in his most complete game of the season.
“He was just aggressive, decisive, making the right plays,” White said. “Not necessarily looking to pass every time but just getting downhill saying, ‘Imma get to the cup.’ When he’s aggressive first, that’s how we want him to be.”
As LaVine builds back with the Bulls, White knows the balance within the offense will shift from night to night. In the first two games of LaVine’s return, the veteran guard took a back seat as White continued to command the offense. But that could change as LaVine defrosts his shot and warms back into his role as the team’s primary scorer.
Sometimes that means a higher volume of pick-and-roll for White while LaVine shoulders catch-and-shoot opportunities. At other times, the roles will reverse. Regardless of who’s commanding the offense, White isn’t worried about the handoff of control in future games.
“We want to win,” White said. “Whoever has it going, it is what it is. We don’t have the ego or the pride. He’s not that type of guy, he’s not selfish enough to come to me and be like, ‘Yo give me the ball.’ That’s not who he is. He’s a winner. He wants to win.”
