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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah \u2013 Coby White is no stranger to being on the opposing team\u2019s scouting report.<\/p>\n
He made sure of that with his jump in play last season.<\/p>\n
What the Bulls guard has been learning since Zach LaVine was traded before the Feb. 6 deadline, however, is there\u2019s a big difference in being mentioned on the scouting report and being in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the evolution he\u2019s now working through, and obviously with some success, evident by the fact that he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not about to stop for him.<\/p>\n
Just look at how Houston guarded him late in the loss on Saturday, and then some of the defenses he was seeing against Utah in the Bulls\u2019 111-97 win. A victory in which White finished with 26 points \u2013 a career-long ninth straight game in which he\u2019s scored 20-plus points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you could even see it a little bit in the Houston game late, (Dillon) Brooks was just face-guarding him and denying him,\u201d Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of White and the attention he\u2019s now getting. \u201cThat probably has not happened to him before. Generally, that would have been Zach or DeMar (DeRozan), one of those guys that they would have tried to take out, so he\u2019s adjusting to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not only adjusting to it, he\u2019s embracing it. The win moved the Bulls into the No. 9 seed in the East, jumping Miami, and White\u2019s been a big reason why.<\/p>\n
For White it\u2019s almost a badge to wear, but one that he also knows is going to take a lot more work to be worthy of continuing to wear it.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust picking and choosing and then being aggressive,\u201d White said of the adjustments. \u201cA lot of times, especially early on, (teammates) were telling me, \u2018You\u2019ve got to shoot more.\u2019 So I\u2019ve had to change my mindset a little bit in terms of when Zach was here I was the second or third option with Vooch (Nikola Vucevic), and now it is what it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still got a long way to go in adjusting with getting the best defender every night, but it\u2019s a very exciting time for me to learn. For me, the way I look at it is I can only get better from this. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on, taking on that challenge every night and getting better. Gaining more information from every game and the way teams are strategizing against me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jazz were the latest to try and confuse White with different looks.<\/p>\n
In the first quarter, it was more of a straight up defense and White scored nine points by just playing aggressively on the offensive end.<\/p>\n
Utah then started paying closer attention to him by giving him less room on the perimeter and using their bigs to blow up screen attempts, so White played distributor and handed out three assists in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where his mentality is these days \u2013 understanding there\u2019s a give and take, and when opponents aren\u2019t aggressively trying to slow him down, take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing he\u2019s done a better job of, and we\u2019ve talked to him about it, stylistically how we\u2019re playing, he\u2019s got to find it a lot in transition and in broken-floor situations,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n
In other words, don\u2019t give the defense time to try and handcuff his game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing with him is he kind of leans into that stuff,\u201d Donovan added. \u201cWhen he doesn\u2019t have good performances he\u2019s always going to be pretty self-reflected, gets upset with himself, and always, for the most part, responds, but this has been a good period for him as far as his growth and trying to take that next step as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides White\u2019s performance, Tre Jones chipped in with 18 points and 12 assists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n