ATLANTA — Guard Coby White refers to himself and teammate Josh Giddey as the “Dynamic Duo.”
But they’ve been a duo for less than half of the Bulls’ games because of White’s calf issues, so “dynamic” might be a bit of a stretch. “Promising Duo” doesn’t have the same ring to it, but it’s much more accurate.
In White’s defense, there was something dynamic about them after the All-Star break last season. White averaged 24.5 points, and Giddey was at 21.2 to go along with 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists.
The Bulls benefitted with a 15-5 record in their 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 coach 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 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, but we’re going to have to rely on the other guys, too.”
Giddey agreed that the key was 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 being a team that wins 15 out of 20 games,” Giddey said. “When Coby is playing his best ball, it makes us so much better.”
White believes it’s coming.
“I think I’m close,” White said. “These last couple of games, Josh and I have been feeding off each other really well.”
Rookie blues
Noa Essengue had season-ending shoulder surgery this month. He’s dealing with pain and still not close to any sort of activity, but the team already is putting a plan in place to keep him busy and to make him feel like he’s still a part of the group.
That means immersing 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. The film is easy; he can do that regardless. But just in terms of when he’ll actually be 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 an experiment for Donovan. He has used combinations of Nikola Vucevic, Jalen Smith and Zach Collins on this trip.
Collins said it’s not hard for all three to figure out the spacing as long as they play to their roles.
“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.”