NEW YORK – Billy Donovan has a slightly different path of how to prepare this team for the future.
And it’s a stance that the Bulls coach will not compromise.
“I think at some point you gotta be able to talk about winning,” Donovan said. “The loss of DeMar (DeRozan), and Alex (Caruso), and Zach (LaVine) in terms of the scoring and how great those guys are as players, losing those types of guys makes it challenging. But there is a responsibility for the guys that are playing, how can they find a way to do things to impact the outcome of the game? You’ve got to be accountable to those things.”
That was his message to the entire locker room coming out of the All-Star Break, and that was the standard they played to on Thursday, taking the Knicks to overtime at the Garden before losing 113-111.
Tanking and losing games on purpose with 26 remaining? Not on Donovan’s watch.
“They’ve got to understand how they impact winning,” Donovan said. “If we don’t do a good enough job collectively, players and coaches, in maximizing what goes into winning, how can you possibly be preparing for the future?”
No one understood that more than Coby White.
For the last six years, White operated with sort of a buffer. Whether it was DeRozan or LaVine, White was usually the second option in the backcourt, and that’s how teams played him. As he’s been learning since LaVine was traded earlier in the month, those days are done.
So with 8.1 second left and the Bulls (22-34) down two in the extra stanza, of course Donovan called White’s number.
The guard got the handoff from Nikola Vucevic, got the switch he wanted when New York big man Precious Achiuwa jumped to him, but never really shook Achiuwa to get some room. Then as the clock was ticking down, White lobbed it to Vucevic atop the free throw line, leaving the Bulls center no choice but to throw up a turnaround prayer that fell short.
“I was going to try and step back but he recovered well,” White said of the play. “And then by the time I shot-faked, stepped through, I looked at the clock. I probably should have shot it. I put Vooch in a tough position. Looking back on it, replaying it in my mind, I should have just taken the shot no matter what.”
It’s a brand new world for White. He is atop the game plan for opposing teams.
“They were mixing up coverages,” White said of the defense he saw against the Knicks. “They were blitzing and then not coming back, so for me I was just trying not to force it and let the game come to me. (Josh) Giddey had it going, Zo (Lonzo Ball) had it going, Vooch had it going, so take advantage of those moments. If that’s how they’re going to play me then I have to be more of a play-maker, screening, those types of things.
“It’s definitely been a difference but it’s something you’ve got to get adjusted to.”
White’s not the only one, either.
The LaVine Effect was also being felt by Giddey, and with LaVine now in Sacramento, he’s also seeing different game plans thrown at him. Luckily for Giddey there was very little going wrong with his game in New York, finishing with 27 points, going 4-of-6 from three, and then grabbing a team-high 16 rebounds.
It was 11 fourth-quarter points from Giddey that keyed a Bulls comeback.
“I thought we did the right things,” Giddey said of the comeback to get the game into overtime. “We defended the way we needed to, we made some shots. It just has to be a consistent effort, and for those last five minutes (in overtime) it wasn’t.”