UNC Basketball: 2019 NBA Draft profile of Tar Heel guard Coby White

Needs Improvement: Physical Profile and Guard Skills

Coby White is a fine prospect at 19 years old with great height and speed at his position with his mixture of natural skills as an offensive dynamo, and he’s undeniably a fun player to watch and is largely lauded by many as a great, high-character young man that teams would love to have in the locker room — but he’s not a perfect prospect, hence why there are plenty of disagreements pertaining to Whtie’s ability to transition into playing the ‘1’ in the NBA full-time.

While the flashy scoring, electric open-court speed and burgeoning guard skills (given his relative unfamiliarity with the role and what all it takes to operate as the engine of an offense) are all aspects of his basketball resumé that lend to the perception of high upside as a good, top-shelf scoring guard with starting equity, the glaring weaknesses (or “soft spots,” as not to be too harsh) in his game — a loose dribble, questionable feel/vision and viability as a passer and decision-maker, shot selection, and a narrow frame with athletic limitations as a leaper — must be heavily considered and scrutinized, as they truly factor into his future as an NBA lead guard.

Growth is expected, yes, but how much is the question. Without polishing and honing these areas of his game, that “top-shelf scorer” upside looks far less attainable (although his odds of reaching that aren’t great anyway), let alone reaching the status of an average NBA starter in the backcourt. There’s film and stats to suggest that he is someone to believe in, but that doesn’t negate the concerns that he must address.

There’s plenty of work for him to do, and some of his shortcomings are out of his control, which is fairly comparable to Darius Garland, whose lack of vertical pop and above-average strength, width, and length are all things that can’t truly be improved in a significant way (if at all) barring some miraculous event. Similarly, Coby White has little that he can do about being a tall guard with a neutral (6-5) wingspan with a narrow waist, long legs, short arms, and small hands (his 7.75-inch by 9-inch hand measurements were some of the smallest at the 2019 NBA Draft Combine). Additionally, he can only add so much mass to his thin frame, and gaining additional bounce as an athlete is a hard thing to accomplish, especially at this point in his development.

Which is unfortunate for him. These physical limitations manifest themselves on both ends of the court on a regular basis, although White does his best to challenge them (and at times overcome them) due to his competitive, fearless nature and the aforementioned talent that he possesses.

By having small hands with a higher center of gravity and shorter arms, his dribble is innately high, much higher than it should be for a 6-5 guard. Loose and shaky, White’s high dribble causes him trouble consistently, as he struggles to take advantage of opposing defenses without a tighter handle. His 2019 NBA Draft counterparts in Morant and Garland have him beat in this area, both for having proportionate wingspans for 6-3 guards (and thus a naturally lower dribble) and elevated craft/feel handling the ball in general. White can work to tighten up and polish his dribble, sure, but his physique likely lessens his ball-handling upside and narrows his avenue of becoming a truly dynamic dribble-threat in the NBA. For his sake, he needs to do what he can to improve, as it impacts various aspects of his play.

White has great North-South athleticism and ball-handling, with change-of-pace and hesitation moves that he uses to attack defenders in order to drive or step back for a jump shot. Yet, his East-West movement, particularly his handling, is far more limited. He won’t break down defenses with typical side-to-side crossovers, as he doesn’t have the requisite hand speed nor control to manipulate the ball in such a manner. This particular dribbling deficiency pops up on film in two ways: One, with White failing to get past his defender and either giving the ball up or settling for a suboptimal shot attempt, or two, with White getting stripped for trying to use a left-right/right-left move against someone with even average hands on defense.

With such a loose/high dribble, it’s much easier for defenders to reach in and poke the ball loose or completely strip the ball from White’s hands. Often, ill-timed dribble moves from White — such as the aforementioned left-right crossovers, as well as his patented pick-and-roll split — result in turnovers, with the opposing team granted a clear runway to the hoop. Part of this has to do with decision-making, as the simple more is sometimes the right one, but it’s still connected to his inconsistent handle.

Ill-timed and irresponsible dribble moves are never good, especially with a loose handle, but those aren’t his biggest concern when it comes to maintaining control of the ball. Rather, it’s when he’s trying and making intelligent, deft dribble moves, probing the defense in transition or in the half-court and doing what he can to get by the defense. His uncanny manipulation of momentum on his herky-jerky stop-start moves are impeccable, but they aren’t the only moves he attempts — going behind the back is a common tactic of his, offering mixed results.

At times, he creates worlds of space, giving him just the edge he needs to get to the bucket or create a pull-up shot in rhythm, even flashing his improved passing vision and touch on occasion:

Yet, on other occasions, one of his best assets — his top-notch quickness — works against him. He’s super quick, both speed-wise and when it comes to getting his shot off, which can help negate the shortcomings of his ball-handling, but he really slows himself down on drives and isolations whenever he tries to string together moves. He’ll move faster than his ball-handling skills are capable of keeping up with, especially when dribbling behind his back; he regularly slows down greatly when doing so, giving his defender time to get back in place. He’s also lost his dribble quite easily, especially against better defenders, and has thrown up rushed shots as a result of picking up his dribble and panicking with the ball in his hands (which is one factor that sank his shooting percentages).

Sometimes this results in passing windows and transition opportunities disappearing in a flash, as windows do tend to close quite quickly.

Here, White goes behind his back to force the defender to flip his hips and change directions; as he recovers the ball on the right side of his body, he looks down for a split second to ensure that he still has possession of the ball, not seeing that Kenny Williams is all alone on the wing. White ends up sending a pass whizzing into the paint to Nassir Little, who ends up assisting Garrison Brooks, but the point nonetheless stands. As a lead guard, or a player who will be drafted with the expectation of becoming one in the NBA, you simply can’t miss those reads — they end up hurting the team in the long run, as does an iffy handle.

Decision-making is also a work in progress for the 19-year-old guard whose familiarity with point-guard duties is still rather unrefined. Improvements in processing have been made, as he’s had to refrain from falling back into his high school shoot-it-on-every-possession tendencies when he was given total control of the offense as the primary scorer who wasn’t expected to make plays for others. Often in high school, White would put his head down and drive, looking to get a bucket by any means necessary.

Although collegiate coaching has done a great job of hammering these inefficient leanings out of his game (even a six-game stint under Bill Self on Team USA last summer saw him play a more refined and controlled brand of basketball), he still has a possession or two in every game where he buries his head down and tries to create for himself and no one else. It isn’t a “selfish” act, but rather one pertaining to his feel as a playmaker; he’s still learning and growing, but still has significant room to improve.

Really, White is phenomenal at putting pressure on the rim, but bad at properly managing that pressure (on a consistent basis). He doesn’t really look to kick the ball out or skip it to the corners, instead looking to attack the rim no matter how congested the paint may be, often resulting in him either hitting tough, crafty layups or him getting blocked into oblivion. His speed and stop-start ability are both real assets, but he needs to learn how to corral them and use them tactfully.

It also doesn’t help matters that his vertical athleticism and functional strength (i.e., his core) are both average, making it difficult for White to adequately adjust for his short reach on his layup attempts. He’s not afraid to drive into someone’s chest, and although he can hit some tough unbalanced shots, it’d be best for him to improve his core so that he’s not flailing around the basket, praying — and failing, based on his low .293 free throw rate — to get a favorable whistle. Simply driving into the trees without a plan isn’t going to work, not when you’re not going to rise above them; using craftier finishes (euros, step-throughs, etc.) and simply pulling it back to reset the offense are both better alternatives for the vertically-challenged White. He’s not a bad finisher — seriously, he has legit touch and craft, and the tape and stats will both tell you that he’s talented there — but he has his limitations. .

Similarly, his physical concerns will ultimately limit him on the defensive end. His foot speed is fine, but he does struggle at times against quicker, shiftier guards, as his technique as a defender needs work. Generally, he keeps up with his man on that end, thanks to his motor and athleticism, but his short wingspan will give him less room for error. If he were longer, it wouldn’t hurt him as much if his man was a half-second faster; with a mere 6-5 wingspan, that’s not the case. White isn’t particularly wide, either, which doesn’t bode well for potential weight gain or viability as a wing defender. He doesn’t boast the strength or length necessary to defend larger opponents, and his torso isn’t one that’s conducive for bulking (although he’ll still probably gain some mass over time). Because of his size, his impact will ultimately be limited, and as mentioned in the previous section, a lack of event creation will ultimately limit him from ever being a positive defender; being neutral on that end is in the cards, but smaller/thinner guards do typically sport worse defensive stats overall.

His motor helps mask his limitations, but relying solely on effort and so-so awareness won’t be enough at the next level. White’s recognition and mobility as an on-ball and team defender are both relatively strong, but his technique in both areas needs improvement. White can be a tad bit overzealous when flying around the court, jumping passing lanes or running past his man on closeouts (thus giving up space and driving lanes) and not having the necessary hip-speed to overcorrect his mistake. White is also prone to straying too far from his man on help defense, sinking far into the middle of the paint at times in order to help his teammates, ultimately leaving his man open and leaving the defense scrambling as a result. On the ball, White isn’t bad, but he can be a bit jumpy against guards who excel at changing directions. And although he’s competent chasing players around screens, he’s still prone to barging into or clipping screeners; he doesn’t tuck his shoulder in as one should, so he’ll need to improve in that area as well.