Bulls 2019-2020 Season Recap: Coby White

*65 game season

Coby White, the rookie 7th overall pick out of North Carolina, has immediately established himself as a Chicago fan favorite in his first NBA season. The 6-foo-4 scoring dynamo went through typical rookie up and downs throughout the year, but he flashed enough speed, confidence and scoring punch – particularly in the final stages of the season before the worldwide pandemic shut the season down – to get Bulls fans truly excited for his bright future.

White, the all-time leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history, could put the ball in the bucket in a lot of different ways, and when he heated up he was nearly impossible to stop. He led all rookies with three-pointers made with 133 on the year and finished third overall in scoring (seventh in points per game). He showed he was a fit early – scoring 17 and 25 in his first two NBA games, respectively – and worked his way out of the midseason rookie wall. Bulls fans can expect this young combo guard – who didn’t turn 20 until February 16 – to be a mainstay in Chicago for years to come.

Coby drops seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter vs. New York

Here are a few of Coby’s standout performances this season:

Coby White Stat Line: 25 points (10-16 FG, 4-8 3PT), 6 rebounds, 2 assists

White has plenty of ‘hot’ games to choose from – most notably his three game run of 30+ games in late February – but we wanted to highlight this one as Coby’s introduction to Bulls fans as a true talent. After a solid opening night, Coby went off in this second game of the season, outplaying No. 2 overall pick Ja Morant (10 points) and being one of the biggest reasons (along with Zach LaVine) the Bulls pulled out an early road win against a talented Memphis squad.

Coby remained confident but a true team mentality after the game, crediting the squad for helping him get his first NBA victory.

“It was a team win,” White said. ”I was just one little piece of it. We got it done as a team. I was just doing what I can to create some type of spark.”

Coby White Stat Line: 27 points (8-14 FG, 7-11 3PT), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

This might not have been Coby’s most complete performance or highest scoring output of the season, but it sure was a moment. White hit seven threes on the night – all of them in the fourth quarter. With his college coach Roy Williams in attendance at the United Center, White became the youngest player in NBA history to make seven threes in a single quarter – all the more impressive because he missed his first three attempts on the night. This performance buried the Knicks and caused the United Center to have a palpable buzz through the entire building.

Coby White Stat Line: 35 points (13-21 FG, 6-9 3PT), 7 rebounds, 3 assists

The Bulls may have lost this game – a 24-point comeback effort falling just short down the stretch – but Coby White continued to turn heads, dropping a career high 35-points in his third consecutive 30-point game. The rookie was truly unstoppable putting the ball in the basket, and in teaming with Zach LaVine (41 points), the Bulls have a young scoring backcourt that when on is going to be hard to stop for years to come.

"We can both score, but we're also unselfish and make the right play," said White, who had 10 in the fourth quarter after LaVine stunned the Thunder with 19 in the third. "I just think we're hard to guard as a team. Us two as a one-two punch, it's good for us as a team."