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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Jack Simone

Coby White discusses underlying Bulls defensive problem

For the past few years, the Chicago Bulls’ offense has been pretty one-dimensional. They’ve been a mid-range-heavy team thanks, in part, to the play of DeMar DeRozan. However, last season, they managed to earn a place as the fifth-best defense in the league. This year, they rank 20th, and since the All-Star break, the Bulls are the fifth-worst defense in the league.

As of now, the Bulls are almost certainly going to play the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the Play-In Tournament. Since that’s the case, they’ll need to lock in on defense. That said, Coby White doesn’t see their entire defense as the issue but rather a niche part of their defense.

He recently noted that while the Bulls have been playing good first-shot defense, it’s been their inability to close out possessions that’s giving them problems. (H/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune)

“Our first-shot defense has been good,” White said. “It’s just the offensive rebounds, which lead to the kick-out 3s and wide-open 3s and defensive breakdowns. We’ve just got to limit them to one shot.”

Chicago needs to do a better job at ending possessions with a rebound.

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