Summer of playing one-on-one in SoCal helped White improve his defense
To get better defensively, Bulls guard Coby White spent the summer at a popular NBA hangout in Los Angeles. Whoever was in the gym, he tried to take them on.
"I played against a wide range of players," White said. "I played ones against (Brooklyn's) Cam Johnson, so he was bigger, taller. (Houston's) Josh Green, explosive. (Sacramento's) Davion Mitchell, explosive. (New York's) Obi Toppin, longer, taller.
"(Philadelphia point guard) Shake Milton was probably the one that helped me the most because of his footwork and the way he plays, he bumps you first and then reacts off you. So he's the one that taught me to take that first official bump and then to react after that. It was all different types of players."
He was in Los Angeles, so naturally he crossed paths with teammate DeMar DeRozan, a native of Compton, Calif.
"Me and DeMar played ones because we have the same trainer," White said. "He was still in that summer form, he wasn't THE DeMar DeRozan. He flips a switch. I won, but he wasn't in that mode."
The past 11 games might be the best stretch of White's NBA career. He's averaged 14 points and 5.3 assists, while shooting 52.7% overall and 47.5% from 3-point range. During those 11 games, he's led the Bulls in plus-minus and offensive rating, while ranking second in net rating behind Derrick Jones Jr.
"One characteristic I always admired about Coby is he's incredibly self-reflective," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before Tuesday's game. "A lot of times young players, the last place they look is internally. They always look externally as being the problem. I think he's always look at what he can do better.
"If you look at all the great point guards in the NBA, they really impact winning. Coby's impact earlier on was just his scoring. If he scoring, he was really impacting the team. Now I think what you're seeing, he's doing it with his scoring, he's doing it with his defense, he's doing it with his playmaking."
Trae stays home:
Atlanta was without top scorer Trae Young on Tuesday due to an illness. He'd averaged 24.7 points and 11 assists in three games against the Bulls this season, but did not make the trip to Chicago.
"He started to have all the symptoms he's still got, throwing up, and unfortunately fighting a pretty strong bug," Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. "We were hopeful he could get through it and come whenever and it just hasn't been the case."
After spending eight years in Utah, Snyder sat this season out until taking over the Hawks on Feb. 26. The team had gone 8-9 with Snyder at the helm heading into Tuesday's action.
Bull horns:
Hundreds of fans were lined up outside the United Center before Tuesday's game to get the giveaway White Sox basketball jersey. ... The Bulls had a chance to win the season series against Atlanta by beating the Hawks on Tuesday, which would give the Bulls the edge in a two-way tie. By beating the Hawks, the Bulls would also win a potential three-way tie with Atlanta and Toronto on the basis of the three teams' record against each other. The Bulls went 1-2 against the Raptors.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports