ATLANTA – Coby White refers to himself and teammate Josh Giddey as the “Dynamic Duo.”
One problem so far this season: They’ve only been a duo for less than half the games played because of calf issues White has been dealing with, and “dynamic” might be a bit of an overreach. “Promising Duo?” Not the same ring to it, but much more accurate.
In defense of White, there was something dynamic about them post-All-Star Break last season, in which White averaged 24.5 points per game and Giddey was at 21.2 points per game to go along with 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists.
The benefit the Bulls got out of it was a 15-5 record in the last 20 regular-season games.
But with the emergence of Matas Buzelis, the addition of Isaac Okoro, and another year of basically the same roster getting another chance to run Billy Donovan’s up-tempo pace and space offense, does this team even need the tandem to play with capes on?
“I think it would definitely help us,” Donovan said on Tuesday. “I think the hard part has been Coby just trying to get back and find a rhythm with him being out. So with him being out, he and Josh also finding a rhythm. But I think last year they coexisted very well. They have a very good relationship, they talk and they communicate. Certainly, for us those two guys playing at a high level is going to help us, but we’re going to also have to rely on the other guys too.”
Giddey agreed that the key in this is White getting back in game shape and “doing what he does.”
“You never want to compare this year to last year, but when we’re both playing at that level that’s when we can get back to a team that wins 15 out of 20 games,” Giddey said. “When Coby is playing his best ball it makes us so much better.”
Which White feels is coming.
“I think I’m close,” White said. “These last couple games Josh and I have been feeding off each other really well.”
Rookie blues
Noa Essengue underwent season-ending shoulder surgery earlier this month, and while he’s dealing with pain and still not close to any sort of activity, the team is already putting a plan in place to keep him busy as well as feeling like he’s still part of the group.
That means emerging himself in film study for now.
“The biggest challenge for him right now is going to be just the pain he’s dealing with,” Donovan said. “He’s having a hard time sleeping, that’s been a problem. I spoke to him right before we left to go on the road trip, and I know he’s got some family coming in for Christmas, which is good.
“We’ve met and talked about the direction coming out of this is going to end up coming from the medical guys. Like the film is easy, he can do that regardless, but just in terms of when he’s actually able to start to do some things, they’ll have to let us know as he gets checkups and stuff like that.”
Steady approach
The two-big combo is more than just an experiment for Donovan, as he’s used combinations of Nikola Vucevic, Jalen Smith and Zach Collins on this entire road trip.
According to Collins, it’s not hard for all three to figure out the spacing of it as long as they play to their roles.
“I think offensively we’re trying to keep the roles as similar as possible,” Collins said. “That’s been the focus, keeping the integrity of our spacing with two bigs out there. It’s worked out well.”