NBA Rookie Ladder: Ja Morant continues to impress for Memphis Grizzlies

9. Coby White, Chicago Bulls

13.1 PPG, 3.8 REB, 2.4 AST

There are quite a number of people who could show outrage if the word disappointment is used with some of Coby White‘s play up to this point, but I’m going there.

Yes, he’s a rookie with plenty of time to develop his on-ball decision making, but the light at the end of the tunnel is looking a little dim after the first leg of the season.

On the year, 2.4 assists per game to 1.4 turnovers doesn’t sound terrible for a young point guard, but take a deeper dive and you’ll see reason to be concerned.

It’s not that he makes a bunch of bad passes necessarily, it’s more so that White doesn’t have an easy time understanding what’s going on around him.

He’s a one-read guard in pick-and-roll situations, leading to forced pull-up jumpers and inefficient scoring opportunities because he simply doesn’t try to move the ball outside of that initial first look in a play.

And what do those kind of shots lead to in terms of effectiveness?

Nothing good.

White rates out below average or worse in the majority of offensive play types outside of simple spot-ups and hand-offs according to Synergy Sports.

Yes he’s been a decent shooter with his feet set, able to just fire and forget (a la his 27-point outburst that included seven 3s against the flailing New York Knicks). But that’s not going to carve out a steady full-time starting role for White moving forward.

Ball movement is the most integral part to any functional pro offense and the Chicago Bulls don’t make any decisions with purpose in the halfcourt as a whole. So who exactly is White supposed to learn from at this point in his career to improve in those areas?

I’m not completely down on White. He’s a microwave bucket off the bench, but those types of players can be found much later than the seventh overall pick in the draft, so Chicago has to do better to develop White’s other skills to get the best value out of its investment.