UNC Basketball: Breakdown of Coby White’s Summer League rookie debut

Lowlights: Decision-making, Handle, Defense, Finishing

…With that said: Coby White was genuinely bad last night.

Detractors of the North Carolina speedster likely came away from Friday night’s showing with feelings of validation and assurance, as the 6-foot-5 guard put all of his shortcomings on display throughout the evening. If you weren’t sure that White, who rose among the high school ranks as a score-first combo-guard and not a pure point, was capable of leading an offense full-time or was worthy of a top-10 selection, then his uninspiring performance against Los Angeles — one rife with ill-timed shots and passes, shaky floor vision, loose ball-handling and so-so defense — left you feeling more than justified for holding such beliefs.

While the rookie guard managed to get to the rim with relative ease and regularity throughout the night, speedy downhill drives often ended in negative results for a player whose frame, strength, and vertical pop were questioned when it came to his ability to finish at the rim against NBA-caliber defenders. A below-the-rim athlete, White isn’t one to rise up above the trees and throw down thunderous slams; rather, he routinely drives into the defender’s chest, contorting his body and using crafty touch to float up layups. At times, they go in; and at times, they don’t, and such an occurrence repeatedly took place against the Lakers.

The deceleration out of the slipped screen action helps momentarily freeze the defense, but Nick Perkins’ vertical contest — including a sizable collision with his 249-pound frame, which is no small bump — is too much for the 185-pound White and his hapless lefty layup.

He uses a quick crossover to shake his defender and dart to the basket, but gets met with a pair of defenders that ultimately swallow him up, with his limited vertical pop giving him no room for error on the contested attempt.

Going downhill out of another Gafford pick-and-roll, White barges right into Devontae Cacok without a plan or single idea of what to do, taking the bump and throwing up a truly disappointing layup attempt that has no legitimate chance of falling. Frustrating plays such as this weren’t uncommon for White as a Tar Heel, although he did cut down on them as a collegiate player compared to his days as a shoot-first high-schooler, but it’s still worrisome that he has these shots in his diet.

Subpar at-the-rim finishing and questionable vision and decision-making intersected throughout the game, with White’s limited vision and tumultuous processing hurting him and his team to a noticeable degree. White uses the Holmes hand-off to create separation to get downhill and get to the rack, but the whistle isn’t called on his contested shot attempt, instead missing the shot and leaving the Bulls empty-handed. If one game is to be indicative of how the Bulls plan on using their newly-drafted point guard, then it’s clear that screen actions involving the Chicago bigs will be a regular facet of their offense, in a maneuver to make up for his limited ball-handling and athleticism. However, on plays such as this one, although he may have lanes to the rim, it’s sometimes better to pass the rock than drive into the trees and flail for a friendly whistle.

On just one drive to the basket, Coby White missed reads on a pair of windows: One, on the initial handoff, with a narrow pocket pass to the rolling Holmes as a possibility, and two, whenever he’s firmly in the thick of the defense, with all five defenders keying in on him and teammates open along the arc and in the corner. An additional hesitation could’ve been enough to widen the initial window, which was fairly tight, tight enough to dissuade White from sending a bounce pass to the roller, but there was genuinely no excuse for failing to deliver a kick-out when the entire Laker defense was collapsing on top of him. He simply has to make that pass on a regular basis; that’s just awful vision, recognition, and decision-making from the rookie guard.

Outside of the few smart pick-and-roll reads to start the game, White’s decision-making as a passer returned to form as the game wore on, showing a tendency to make predetermined reads, throwing inaccurate passes into windows that had already closed …

… or into windows that didn’t even exist in the first place.

With his short torso, long legs, short arms and small hands, Coby White has a naturally high dribble, with his handle being loose enough to cause him significant distress when pushing the offense in transition (especially when using his left hand), or even running routine sets in the half-court (such as in the first example of a closed window, where he failed to shake his defender with a lefty dribble move and subsequently settled for an inaccurate pass over the top of the defense).

White pushes in transition following the Laker miss, but fumbles his dribble after going for a lefty in-and-out move, forcing him to pull back and reset the offense. He ultimately runs a simple pick-and-pop with Holmes, a fine counter, but his limitation as a ball-handler was made evident only a few seconds prior. His speed is perhaps his biggest ally, and it’s potentially damning that he can’t corral it enough to make the most of it. If you’re a roadrunner in the open court, what’s the point of outpacing your defenders in a foot race if you can’t keep up a live dribble?

And although his defense wasn’t really a point of contention during this game, as it wasn’t a primary focus of mine throughout the night (he was largely decent on that end), there was one notable instance where his motor was nerve-wracking.

The effort here was simply gross. Flat-footed, matador defense on the perimeter, giving up an open driving lane with zero resistance is simply disappointing from him, and is nothing short of unacceptable considering that he’s likely to be a negative defender outright in the NBA. Effort is what can keep him afloat — if the effort isn’t there, then he’s hurting you more than he’s helping you. It’s one play, yes, but it’s something to monitor. Single plays can add up, and he wasn’t a lockdown defender at UNC, either; defending flat-footed and getting dusted on the perimeter was sadly not an uncommon occurrence when White was defending opposing ball-handlers, as his lateral agility isn’t the best (it’s largely fine).

And, to top off a poor sequence of events, White gets rejected at the rim on the fast break. It just wasn’t his night.