Cold-Blooded Coby White: No 'Ramp Up' Necessary

Michael Walton

Nov 28, 2025, 07:57

Michael Walton

Nov 28, 2025, 07:57

Updated at: Nov 28, 2025, 07:57

Coby White returned from a long injury-related absence and picked up right where he left off last season in terms of a productive--second? third?--"breakout year."

Coby White has only played four games in the 2025-26 NBA regular season. But across those four games, White showed little in terms of rust after missing the first 11 games of the year. He is averaging 24 points, 6.8 assists, and a career-high 8.5 free throw attempts per game. There is a lot of season left to go, of course, but White looks a lot like the player who dominated the 2024-25 NBA season post-All-Star break, when he averaged 24.5 points and 5.7 FTAs per game.

White hit the ground running both literally and figuratively, racking up 30 minutes in a double overtime thriller in his first action of the season.

As White showed in that game in Utah, what makes him so difficult guard is the fact that he is an analytics-department's dream. He is attempting 9.5 3-pointers per game, a figure that leads to plenty of hard closeouts, which opens up plenty of great driving opportunities.

White has improved his ball handling dramatically over the past two seasons--shoutout Johnny "Dribble2Much" Stephene--and that, along with the high volume of 3-pointers, has helped him to average the aforementioned career-best 8.5 FTAs per game. Simply put, you have to play White off the 3-point line, knowing that his handle and blazing speed can allow him to get to the rim in a flash if the help defense isn't sliding over early.

Things haven't been all sunshine and rainbows in White's return to action though. While he has been superb in his return offensively, no one would mistake him for a difference maker for the Bulls struggling defense. White hasn't played in every game since he returned, with injury management seeing him miss a surprising road win against the Denver Nuggets, and a disheartening blowout loss to the Miami Heat. The two games White missed being split between a win and a loss makes it even tougher when trying to project how badly the team need the explosive guard to reach their goals.

Nov 22, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Coby White's (right) return has helped take pressure off of Josh Giddey (left) to produce as a scorer. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Denver game showcased that the Bulls offense can produce big numbers sans White (130 points in the win), but games like the loss to Miami erased the validity of the previous statement, with Chicago struggling their way to 107 points when a defense was able to limit Vucevic and allow nothing easy in the painted area.

At the time of this writing, Chicago's next five games contain four matchups against teams near the bottom of the standings.

The Bulls play the Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers (twice), Orlando Magic, and Brooklyn Nets. The Hornets, Nets, and Pacers all have less than five wins as we near the 20-game mark of the season. It is likely that White is dominant in these games--although we should expect to see him sit one of the games of the Charlotte-to-Indiana back-to-back--but the true mark of success will be if the Bulls can avoid any disappointing losses, meaning that losing to the competitive Orlando Magic would be the only "acceptable" loss over this upcoming stretch.

It may seem that holding the Bulls to a 4-1 standard over a five game stretch is harsh, but these are simply the type of games the Bulls cannot drop if they want to be a winning team this season. And the question of whether or not White's explosive scoring truly helps the team win, will have something closer to an answer in about a week. But as we await more evidence to support how the Bulls should move forward in their rebuild, it is only right to commend White for his stellar play immediately upon returning to the rotation.

Cold-Blooded Coby White: No 'Ramp Up' Necessary