Young Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu is using the recent growth of fellow Chicago guard Coby White as motivation to hopefully galvanize his own development, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
With Zach LaVine sitting out and White now firmly ensconced as the club’s starting point guard, the fifth-year guard has made the most of his extended opportunity. Since LaVine first sat on November 30, White has been averaging 25.6 PPG on .493/.494/.811 shooting splits, 6.5 APG, 6.3 RPG, and 0.9 SPG. Chicago has gone 5-3 in that span. The team will play tonight against the Sixers, and White is no doubt looking to have another big game.
“It’s motivation because I understand what he went through his second, third, fourth year,” Dosunmu said. “Me seeing that front-hand, that gives me motivation to keep going, gives me motivation to rise to the occasion. We push each other to be great. When I see him doing what he’s doing now, it’s nothing but giving me excitement.”
Dosunmu and White both inked new deals over the summer to remain with Chicago. In 25 games per season, the third-year Dosunmu is averaging 7.0 PPG on a .479/.354/.708 slash line, along with 2.0 RPG and 1.9 APG.
There’s more out of Chicago:
- Bulls All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan is excited for the positive direction his club has taken of late, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. DeRozan particularly remains high on his head coach, Billy Donovan. “I tell a lot of the young players that you don’t really know what you have,” DeRozan said. “To have such a great personable coach, hard-working coach in Billy, don’t ever take that for granted because it’s not always greener on the other side.” It’s encouraging for Bulls fans that DeRozan is this enthused. He’s extension-eligible this season, though if he and Chicago can’t reach an agreement, the 34-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- Veteran reserve Chicago forward Torrey Craig is missing tonight’s road contest against the Sixers with a sore right heel, per Johnson (Twitter link). Donovan has indicated that Bulls medical staffers will examine the heel when the team returns home.
- Recently extended Bulls center Nikola Vucevic has also improved of late with LaVine out, but Cowley writes in another piece that the team could begin to look quite different after January 15, when several players inked to offseason deals will become trade-eligible. That is a fact of which Vucevic is keenly aware. At 10-17, the club is currently out of the play-in picture. “We’ve got to start doing this,” Vucevic said. “The last few weeks, yes, it feels like we’re back on track for something positive, but it has to continue. We know we have possibly a limited time, but we’re aware of it. Maybe that awareness is what’s been changing things, too.’’
So everyone is getting better with Lavine out of the lineup, interesting.
2 1st rounders for Vuc.. yikes
If it’s a contending team, the 1sts would be mid- to late rounders. Not a bad price for him. His contract is pretty reasonable.
A part of me wishes DeMar won’t get traded, it is nice having a veteran who is level headed-team first mindset. As for Lavine- I wouldn’t mind him being traded, although I am not sure well get what the front office is hoping for. So we maybe stuck with Lavine. Vuc-I wouldn’t mind keeping him till next year, we really don’t have much bigs on the roster. They can do sign and trades next season with Vuc if an offer rises.
They can leave Vooch as that veteran… If they’re going to move Lavine, I hope they’ll trade Derozan too… He’s a blackhole and he makes their offense stagnant that hinders Donovan’s system to be more potent (which thrives on ball movement and transition)…
Nice win for Bulls tonight.
DeM >>>> to Knicks.
“Since DeRozan is on an expiring contract and would hit the market as an unrestricted free agent next summer, it might be in the Bulls’ best interest to gain some assets that fit their timeline better while offering DeRozan a chance to compete on a contender.“
Just the reality of the situation. …..
Lakers, Knicks, Heat, Sixers all could benefit from a DeRozan trade.
No.
The Bulls are proving LaVine is not someone they need.
Colby White’s leap has shown the Bulls can win without LaVine and LaVine is a negative to the team.
DeMar should be traded along with Vooch and let Coby, Ayo, and Williams play out the season at PG, SG, SF while AD plays Center and AC off the Bench while trying to obtain a true PF for the team and draft assets that could help the team down the road.
I have to admit that had the Bulls kept Lauri, Carter, and Gafford they might be in better shape than what they have now.
They should have moved LaVine two years ago and gained picks for him but now he is a negative contract that they will have a harder time moving.
Actually, Vooch is one of the reason why they’re having a revival lately… They’re finally running some plays for him instead of just relegating him as a kickout receiver stretch 5… Him being the facilitator on offense promotes more ball movement unlike the predictable ISO plays they tend to set for Demar and Zach…
Plus they’re thriving off of his rebounding. Vuc is just outside the top 10 in defensive rebounding percentage, and the team has gotten a lot of good movement off the o-rebounds he does grab (29th in percentage, but he does play more way minutes than half the people ahead of him, and a lot of those guys are getting a lot of putback attempts, which isn’t a focus for Vuc).
Lavine is just overrated… He was sent away from Minny and they figured it out eventually. Now he’s out and Bulls have figured it out.