PHILADELPHIA — The rebounds are what’s getting Bulls guard Coby White — always the rebounds.
Twice in the last week, he has flirted with his first career triple-double, only to fall short.
“The rebounds, man,” he conceded, laughing.
In Monday night’s 108-104 victory over the 76ers, he finished with 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Last Thursday against the Heat, it was 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.
Twice this December, he has finished with nine rebounds. Over the Bulls’ last eight games, he’s averaging 26 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
Could his next jump as a player be as a nightly triple-double threat?
“The rebounds would be tough because it’s just hard to track them,” White said of that idea. “The game I had 11 assists, I had like seven rebounds, and those two or three just didn’t come my way.”
Plus, there’s another factor: The Bulls have bigs who control the glass. If it’s not Nikola Vucevic, it’s Andre Drummond off the bench.
“Vooch prides himself on getting every rebound, so if it’s between me and him or someone else, I would never [get it],” White said. “I know how much pride he takes in getting 15 or 20 rebounds. If a triple-double comes to me, it comes to me. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
What is coming to White, the former North Carolina standout, is even more important after another offseason spent gaining strength and studying the competition. His three-pointer is lethal, but he’s also becoming a serious problem for opponents in pick-and-roll — specifically his ability to get a defender on his hip and go at his own pace to get to the spot he wants.
“I’ve been covering all of it by watching film and [building] strength in the weight room, but it comes together with the repetition of all of it,” White said. “I’ve been watching a lot of different players — even on nights off at home, just watching games, scrolling through Instagram or Twitter and seeing highlights.
“[Luka] Doncic, [Jalen] Brunson does it a lot, Kyrie [Irving] is good at getting guys on his hip and getting to his spot. Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] does it a lot — lulls guys to sleep and then just knows when to attack, how to attack them. I feel like the league is full of really good guards that know how to do it, so I’m just trying to add that to my game. Especially on set-ups, the coaching staff has been on all of us about setting guys up, setting up our man and getting off the screen. It changes things so much if you set up your man and let him hit the screens.”
White’s detailed knowledge and willingness to work is impressing his teammates. His improvement hasn’t shocked Vucevic.
“I knew he was capable of doing that,” Vucevic said. “When I first got here [in 2021] when Zach [LaVine] was out, [White] and I played together a lot. Coby was really playing well. When it became me, DeMar [DeRozan] and Zach, he kind of had a lesser role and
it was different for him. Now he’s in a situation where he can be himself, be aggressive, and he’s really taking advantage of it. He’s been very efficient, running the team, making the right plays, not turning the ball over. Huge steps.”
Now, about those rebounds.
