Bulls get Coby White’s offensive game back in the mix, and his voice

HOUSTON – Of course the scoring, play-making and outside shooting was missed in Coby White’s three-game absence with a right hip injury.

But what the Bulls were also missing from their guard was that quick-talking North Carolina voice of his.

“For sure we felt it,” teammate Nikola Vucevic said of not having White’s voice on the floor the last week. “He’s become much more comfortable being that vocal guy for us, especially being the point guard and leading the team offensively, that’s been a huge part.”

The good news was he was finally back, coming off the bench for Thursday’s game against Rockets so that coach Billy Donovan had better control of his minutes for the time being.

And while there was some definite rust in his game with the time he missed, he was at least in full throat. Not that he didn’t keep in practice in that department, according to coach Billy Donovan.

“Because he has been on the bench that’s helped in timeouts,” Donovan said. “He’s still stayed pretty active and pretty vocal, but I think he’s at a point and time in his career where he’s not afraid to speak up. It’s always about the team. It’s not about criticizing guys on what they should be doing. It’s more a good, positive vibe, but he’s even tried to do that while he’s been out these three games. But on the court that’s where you miss some of that, where he can talk some.”

As far as the rust in White’s game, no one was worried about that. He’s a tireless worker and didn’t miss enough time where his rhythm was that far off.

The Bulls will likely get a practice in on Friday, and then there’s a Saturday shootaround for White to continue building.

“His presence on the court, what he brings for us has also been missed,” Vucevic added. “It’s more than just his scoring, we all know he can do that, but creating for himself and others, making the defense have to focus on him so much, we definitely missed that a lot.

“He’s taken huge steps in every aspect of his game – the skill part, his understanding, the IQ of the game, the vocal part, he’s been much more comfortable with that. And he knows when to use it and when not to, which has been fun to see.”

Crowded bench

The Bulls bench might need some extra chairs come the first week of April.

According to Donovan, injured players Lonzo Ball (left knee), Patrick Williams (foot surgery) and Zach LaVine (foot surgery) were all expected to join the team that week in Chicago, just to check in and spend some time with the group.

LaVine might be the only one that changes his plans, however.

“Obviously (LaVine) having the baby – happy for him and his wife – but I think the plan was provided his rehab goes well that he would be back the first week of April,” Donovan said.

Ball and LaVine sat on the bench when the Bulls were in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Hold the madness

Despite Donovan’s roots coming from the college game, he admittedly has very little time to enjoy March Madness.

That includes looking at potential draft-ready players until after the season.

“Not right now,” Donovan said, when asked if the front office gives him tape on college players to watch. “In the summertime when we kind of get into the draft stuff, there’s a period of time where they’ll give me a handful of guys and say, ‘Hey listen, can you make some calls, can you watch this, here’s what we’ve seen, here’s the information on him.’ “