Bulls guard Coby White keeps collecting hardware and leaguewide praise

DENVER — Nuggets coach Michael Malone didn’t want to listen to about Coby White’s newest recognition from the NBA to know the way good the Bulls guard has been taking part in.

“[Coach] Billy [Donovan] has given him the green light to attack, to shoot the three,” Malone stated Monday. “The last couple of years, Chicago has always been a team that didn’t shoot a lot of threes, and I think [this year] they’ve shot a lot more, and I think Coby is a big part of that. In the open court, he has become almost unguardable with a relentless attack mindset. You back off him, he’s going to shoot it. You press up on him, he has the handle, size and physicality to break you down, get to the rim and finish.”

That’s excessive reward from a championship-winning coach, and the NBA appeared to agree, saying earlier within the day that White had been chosen as Jap Convention Participant of the Week for the second consecutive week. The final Bull to do it was Michael Jordan.

“He’s been great, and the big thing I’ve seen growth in is he’s pushed himself to be really consistent,” Donovan stated. “That’s the thing that was encouraging to me, to be honored last week for the award and then to come back and be honored again.”

White helped lead the Bulls to a 3-1 document final week whereas rating fourth within the NBA in scoring (30.3 factors per sport). He additionally prolonged his career-best streak of 20-plus-point video games to 12. Towards the Nuggets on Monday night time, he made it 13, changing into considered one of eight Bulls in historical past to try this.

That’s the consistency Donovan has been harping on White about for years.

“I think the hardest thing in the NBA with 82 games is, can you move to the next thing, move to the next thing? Because they keep coming,” Donovan stated. “You’ve got to be able to handle success, and you’ve got to be able to handle failure, and I think he’s really worked hard on figuring out ways he can he stay present in the moment. ‘What’s in front of me now?’ ”

Ball’s actually rolling now

Donovan obtained a optimistic report from Chicago on Monday afternoon: Guard Lonzo Ball (proper wrist) took some large strides as he will get nearer to a return.

“[Monday] was really the first day where there was a pretty significant workout, and when I say ‘workout,’ he’s been doing the running,” Donovan stated. “I’m talking about ball-handling, shooting, that kind of stuff. I wouldn’t say he’s totally pain-free, but he’s in a much better place than he was a few days ago.”

Ball missed his twelfth consecutive sport with the harm, which additionally value him 15 video games earlier within the season.

“This was really the first time where he was really shooting the basketball, dribbling the basketball, and we’ll see how he responds,” Donovan stated. “The medical guys that were with him back in Chicago felt like it was a really good day for him. So there’s some optimism when we get home.”

Imposing figures

The season-high 146 factors the Bulls scored of their victory over the Lakers on Saturday was the sixth-highest whole in regulation in franchise historical past and their highest whole in regulation since they scored 151 in opposition to the Bucks in 2008.