Coby White attributes resurgence to arduous offseason work

White may be seeing the fruits now, but the seeds for his improvement were planted in the summer.

Lack of consistency is one knock against Coby White four years into his NBA career. Since being drafted by the Chicago Bulls seventh overall in 2019, the rookie guard has had one roller coaster of a season after another, alternating between brilliant performances and complete duds.

This season, it appears he's gotten in a groove coming off the bench for the Bulls, injecting the team with his dynamic, clutch scoring and playmaking skills. White attributes this resurgence to his work during the offseason, when he devoted himself completely to becoming a better player.

Stepping up against the Utah Jazz

After playing the role of hero in the Bulls' win over the Milwaukee Bucks, White stepped up again against the Jazz on Monday, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He made several clutch plays down the stretch, including a highlight dunk over Jazz forward and former Bull Lauri Markkanen.

He also sank a three-pointer with a little over a minute remaining that raised Chicago's lead to nine, 113-104, essentially sealing the road victory for the Bulls.

Offseason work

White may be seeing the fruits now, but the seeds were planted in the summer when he committed himself to getting better. He worked on his body, improving his strength and endurance, as well as working on his ballhandling.

"I just feel like it starts in the summer. Got to trust in my work ethic. You know, I had a quad injury but you know, when I was able to come back and shoot, oh my god, I got up a ton of shots. So just trust in my work and my teammates trust me also," said White.

White also credited trainer Johnny Stephene, known in basketball circles as "Dribble2Much." He is one of the most popular personal trainers, who has helped train some of the NBA's top players like Anthony Davis, DeMar Derozan, and Kevin Durant.

"We got it in all summer. I knew that was one thing I had to work on coming in. This whole summer, I just worked on my ballhandling, getting it tighter, and dribbling in traffic, and it's been beneficial for me," the Bulls point guard said.