DETROIT \u2013 Coby White pulled no punches in assessing his team\u2019s lack of defensive effort in Sunday\u2019s embarrassing performance against Houston, and less than 24 hours later, White\u2019s coach followed suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give him credit,\u201d Billy Donovan said of White. \u201cI think what he echoed after the game was exactly how I felt coming off the game. From my perspective, I\u2019ve always felt as an opposing coach coming into Chicago, we have a great homecourt advantage and a great crowd, and we need to do a much better job of using that for our advantage. Because they are certainly more than waiting for us to give them something to get excited about. In that game the physicality part of it, we just didn\u2019t \u2026 it wasn\u2019t there, it was nonexistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the 143-107 loss to the Rockets at the United Center, White continued to show his growth as a leader, and according to one source, wanted to make his message loud and clear publicly to the media after first attempting to keep it inside the locker room the last week.<\/p>\n
Not only White showing maturity, but also pulling from the DeMar DeRozan playbook of holding everyone accountable, including himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving up 140-plus in back-to-back games is unacceptable,\u201d White told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing. It\u2019s a disservice to the organization, a disservice to the fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n
And was 100% White speaking the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand where Coby\u2019s coming from,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot to them, at least I have, of what it means to play here. I do think these guys have pride, I know Coby\u2019s got pride, and I think the rest of our guys do, but you got to be mentally tougher than whether or not we\u2019re going to be a team that misses shots, we have no chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find other ways to make yourself competitive. I always say it comes down to the physicality part, to loose basketballs, to taking a charge. I mean we\u2019ve taken two charges all season. For our team as small (as it is), someone\u2019s going to have to put their body in plays. We\u2019ve got to be able to do more of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan was asked if dummying down all the defensive coverages to try and simplify things was on the table, and the coach admitted that had already been done somewhat.<\/p>\n
But in watching the film Monday morning, Donovan and the staff came to the same conclusion they did during the game with the Rockets: Scheme had nothing to do with the defensive breakdowns as much as effort and communication.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the work in progress for this defense \u2013 communicating. Especially for the younger players.<\/p>\n
Second-year wing Julian Phillips didn\u2019t argue that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the most important parts of defense, the communication part,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cCommunicating coverages, communicating matchups, who is in what spot, all that stuff, so of course that\u2019s something we\u2019re definitely trying to always do just so that everyone is on the same page, and when we\u2019re not, that\u2019s when we\u2019re giving up easy layups, fouls, things like that. It\u2019s definitely something we have to continue to get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foot fetish<\/b><\/p>\n
Forward Patrick Williams was probable on the injury report with soreness in the same left foot that required surgery and ended his 2023-24 season last year, but Donovan said it was considered normal considering all the games Williams has played in this condensed November schedule.<\/p>\n
Very strong<\/b><\/p>\n
For those worried about draft placement and standings positioning this early? The Bulls have the fifth easiest schedule remaining this season. A reminder of how tough the schedule was out of the gate for Donovan\u2019s crew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
White pulled no punches about the Bulls, and specifically the defensive lapses too often this season, and a day later it was Donovan’s turn to have White’s back in his assessment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n