Jim Boylen likes to dive into the essence of a player.
The Bulls coach chooses to examine spirit and makeup with as much vigor as he puts into ball-handling and athleticism.
Heck, all that was missing from Monday’s introductory press conference for draft picks Cody White and Daniel Gafford was a breakdown of their aura colors.
(Coincidentally, White seemed to have a Tar Heel blue around him as he held up his new No. 0 Bulls jersey.)
What really matters to Bulls fans? Can these two play, and what kind of impact will they have heading into Year 3 of the rebuild?
Those answers were given as well. At least in the opinion of Boylen and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson.
“We talked about positional size a lot, we talked about speed, quickness, athleticism,’’ Boylen said. “Those are the things we thought we needed with the group of guys we had, to add to them. Whether it’s vertical spacing, speed, making defenses chase people over, all those kinds of things, we discussed. And as we went into the draft process we were hoping to find players to help us with that. Thankfully we have.’’
White was obviously the headliner at the Advocate Center on Monday, selected with the seventh overall pick on Thursday, and coming from a North Carolina program in which he showed an ability to score at will, and do so quickly.
A converted two-guard, White will be asked to play both guard positions initially, with the Bulls hoping that he settles into a point guard spot currently held by Kris Dunn. Maybe sooner than later.
“I’m just coming in ready to compete,’’ White said of the challenge that sits in front of him once training camp starts. “My whole life, I’ve been competing for everything, I’ve earned everything I’ve got. When I came into Carolina, there were questions, ‘Would I start?’ or anything like that because they had [guard] Seventh Woods in front of me. I think I competed for that spot and I earned it, so it’s not new to me.’’
Playing point guard at the NBA level, however, will be.
The knock on White was his ability to direct a team in half-court sets when the game slows down. He wasn’t great at pick-and-roll, and his decision-making needs some serious improvement.
Even Boylen acknowledged that.
“One thing that him and I have talked about that we’re going to work on is the decision-making process, when we run and when we set up and the decisions we make in the half court,’’ Boylen said. “That’s going to be part of us learning each other and growing. That was part of our meeting we had on how do we use his strengths of being able to push the ball and get the ball over the timeline as fast as anybody, I think, in the league right now.
“We’re not going to put him in this box where he just has to play this way. We’re going to use what he does well and we’re also going to add to what we think he can do.’’
The same could be said for Gafford, who proudly knows exactly what he is – a defender/rim-protector first and foremost.
Drafted in the second round [38th overall] out of Arkansas, the 6-11 athletic center wasn’t bashful in self-assessing his game.
“It’s always protect home first, offense second,’’ Gafford said. “So that’s kind of like how I base my game, defense first, offense second. I run the floor a lot. People say I run like a deer, so I’m just going to keep that in mind whenever I’m on the court.’’
