NEW ORLEANS \u2014 At some point this season, one of the Bulls\u2019 guards will have to step up with a \u201cNot on my watch\u201d attitude. \u201cIndividual pride\u201d is what coach Billy Donovan calls it.<\/p>\n
But as Wednesday\u2019s season-opening 123-111 loss to the Pelicans showed, the search for that person continues.<\/p>\n
When the Bulls (0-1) traded Alex Caruso to the Thunder for Josh Giddey in June, they added a lengthy ball-handler but also created a hole on defense, where Caruso was both the lead communicator and a pit bull who locked onto the opposing team\u2019s best guard.<\/p>\n
Forward Patrick Williams is considered the best wing defender the Bulls have, but what about in the backcourt? What about when it comes down to blowing up screens or just locking down a ball-handler in isolation?<\/p>\n
\u201cI get it \u2014 Patrick\u2019s a good defender,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI think for every team, there\u2019s a formula you\u2019ve got to do to win. We can\u2019t turn the ball over, we cannot get dominated the way we did [against the Pelicans] on loose balls. And the other part of it is we\u2019re going to have to play with some more physicality because we are undersized in a way. Patrick can\u2019t stop five guys, and we\u2019re going to have to do it as a team. There\u2019s going to have to be some individual pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coby White hopes the line can start behind him. He showed flashes of better defense two seasons ago, but when his role changed last season to be more of a high-minutes scorer, he admittedly slipped a bit on defense. Over the summer, he worked hard on his conditioning, looking to remedy that issue and help account for Caruso\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told myself at the start of the summer, \u2018I want to be a two-way guy,\u2019\u2009\u201d White said. \u201cAnd [Donovan] always challenges me on that. He always talks about that leap that I had a few years ago. Last year, it kind of went down with the usage rate and the amount of minutes. I want to get back to being that guy on defense that can be relied on, be very detail-oriented on that side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
White sees the Bulls as having guards who can defend at a high level, but only in certain matchups. Against an athletic ball-handler, Zach LaVine is generally the best option. If it\u2019s a taller guard, then it\u2019s Giddey, and if it\u2019s a more physical guard, White wants his name called.<\/p>\n
What about a guy who can just lock down a player no matter his strengths or weaknesses? Ayo Dosunmu is a key reserve for now, but he was on the floor in the final few minutes Wednesday night as Donovan was making one last push to get back in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously don\u2019t have just a guy you can say, \u2018He\u2019s a stopper,\u2019 like Alex Caruso was for our defense,\u201d White said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality of it. Now, do I think that Ayo is one day going to become that? For sure. That two-way player that can be an offensive player and be named All-Defensive? For sure. I think Ayo can guard anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sounded good to Dosunmu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d he said of White\u2019s assessment. \u201cIt means he has a lot of confidence in me. And, yeah, I think I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone needs to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patrick Williams is considered a wing stopper, but as Wednesday showed, the Bulls need more than Williams on the defensive end if they want to start getting serious. Caruso’s vacancy is there for the taking, but can any of these guards actually grab it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n