Bulls guard Coby White trying to figure out the right work-life balance

Guard Coby White is going through it.

He wouldn’t admit it after the Bulls’ loss to the Pistons on Tuesday night and is not the type of player to ever admit he’s battling fatigue and losing, but there are two truths White can’t deny: the numbers and what coach Billy Donovan has been seeing.

In the previous six games entering Wednesday, White was 37-for-104 from the field (35.6%) and a dismal 14-for-47 (29.8%) from three-point range. In his previous 52 games, White was 46.5% from the field and 40.2% from three.

“The minutes ain’t catching up,” White said. “I just gotta hit shots.”

But with only 23 games left in the regular season and the Bulls doing all they can to hold down a play-in spot, White needs to hit more shots and also figure out a less-taxing routine between games.

The problem with White is that he knows only one speed when it comes to his off-day work and in-season routine. So to ask him to throttle it back isn’t what Donovan wants to do.

There needs to be a happy medium, however.

“You don’t want to lose that perspective, but there’s a point of how efficiently you can work with the time you have and developing the routine,” Donovan said. “And we’ve talked to him a lot about it where, ‘Listen, coming in the gym and driving yourself into the ground is not always the solution or the answer.’

“I would rather have a guy like Coby that’s willing to put the work in than a guy where you’re like, ‘Come on, let’s watch more film, let’s get in the gym.’ He’s never shied away from work. But I also think that when you’re coaching somebody, the routine has got to be theirs because there’s nothing worse for a player than to go into a game with the anxiety of, ‘I’m not prepared.’ Where is that balance? He’ll have to strike that for himself.”

The good thing is he has proven vets to talk to in Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan, but at the same time, his workload between games falls on him and his comfort level.

The last thing the already short-handed Bulls need with two weeks left in the season and a play-in spot slipping away is White on fumes.

“These are all things he’s going through in trying to figure out his routine,” Donovan said. “Because I think it’s really hard for a player that has worked his way to this level and then has started to have some success, then has moved himself into a different level than he was two years ago.

“You have to change. It’s not so much he’s got to change his game, but he’s got to change — not necessarily the routine but how much rest, how much work.”

Caruso out vs. Cavs

The injured right hamstring that Caruso suffered Tuesday did not take to treatment quickly enough to get him ready for the game against the Cavaliers.

Donovan couldn’t answer how long Caruso would be sidelined.

“A lot of it will depend on how he responds [to treatment],” Donovan said. “I didn’t really ask what the timeline would be, so we’ll probably have a better idea [Thursday] once he goes through some treatment and they see him a little bit more.”