Like most young NBA players today, they patterned their game after the ones they saw on TV. For Chicago Bulls guard Coby White, it was Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard whom he idolized growing up.
Per Eric Woodyard, White was particularly drawn to Lillard's scoring ability — a pretty rare thing for point guards to have. Since high school, White was in awe of Lillard's capacity to score in bunches — through lay-ups, perimeter shots, and 3-pointers from way downtown.
Now that he's in the NBA, White sees Lillard as nothing but a rival. The fanboy days are over.
Bulls' Coby White looks forward to the challenge of Dame Lillard. He was a fan growing up and admired his ability to score as a PG. "That's who I was trying to be in high school," he said. Now, it's no fandom.
"Playing against really high level guys bring the best out of you."
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) January 5, 2021
In their first regular-season duel, White matched up with Lillard and showed up. In 39 minutes, White had 21 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. He shot 8-of-19 from the field, 2-of-7 from deep, and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Lillard had a better output with 24 points, five rebounds, and nine assists. But in the end, it was the Bulls who won 111-108. Safe to say that White got the best out of his former idol.
From the looks of it, White has the makings of a high-scoring point guard like Lillard. So far in the young season, he's averaging 15.7 points per game. A rise in his average could be expected since there are many more games left to play.
Last year, his first season in the NBA, White had several 25-30-point outputs which pretty much reveal that he has that scoring mentality. And let's not forget how he drained seven 3-pointers in just one quarter — which is now the Bulls rookie record. This is just two short of the most 3-pointers in the quarter held by Klay Thompson.
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