School: North Carolina
Year: Freshman
Height/Weight: 6’5, 185 lbs.
Strengths:
Coby White is a quick point guard who has a knack for scoring. His elite scoring is what makes him an elite NBA prospect. White’s progression as a “true point guard” in Chapel Hill has been the most intriguing story so far from the Goldsboro native’s season. White is a shifty player with a quick first step, and still has another gear of his game that he has yet to shift towards.
White naturally has done a great job of finding his teammates in transition this season. But, as the season has progressed, he’s shown the ability to make keen decisions earlier in the shot clock to create positive plays for his teammates.
Adjusting to the pace of Roy’s up-tempo offense is a big jump for any player going into his freshman year, but White has handled it considerably well given that fact.
The starting point guard for the Heels is one of the best scoring guards in the country. His ability to score at every level, mixed with his strength makes him almost unguardable when he is really feeling it.
Just go look at his performance against the Longhorns when he dropped 33 points in a losing effort as a good reference. White tried his best to will the Heels to a win shooting 10/17 from the field and knocking down five of his six free throws in that game. He spots up, creates off the screen well, and can even do it off the dribble. Think it’s safe to say he can put the ball in the bucket.
His strength makes up for what he lacks in athleticism. He has shown that he can finish at the rim and has a nice pull-up game in transition. He fights through the screens well defensively, as he adds some sneaky length to go with his frame. White has impressive lateral quickness, which I believe can lead to him averaging two steals a game with his improved IQ as the season goes on.
Weaknesses:
Coby White’s lightning fast quickness can sometimes be a blessing and a curse. In the half-court set he can tend to throw inaccurate passes when he tries to move a little faster than the play has developed. The scoring guard takes a lot of risk not only passing but even trying to fit himself in tight gaps which often results in unforced turnovers. He is still honing in on his playmaking abilities and is in the perfect situation to continue become a better playmaker.
White is in a tough predicament in his first year in college; he was asked to score in High School, finishing with a 30 point per game average his senior season. He even broke the scoring record for any high school player in North Carolina history in 2018. However, when White arrived at Chapel Hill, he was expected to be a distributing guard with senior scoring all around in the starting lineup. It’s a tough adjustment for any freshman.
White had more free range to create a shot by attempting to catch the defender off balance. Because of that, his stagnant ball handling has slowed down UNC tempo at times and there are only a few moments where he has shown flashes of correcting that mistake. He’s a great scorer, but has an extremely low release point so he can struggle sometimes to get his shot over taller defenders as well.
Future Outlook:
Coby White has an amazing scoring ability, with improving point guard skills that will grow and make him a future first round lock for the 2020 NBA draft. If he can learn to hone his quickness and develop his point guard skills there could be rumbling of him becoming a late first round pick this season also. It remains to be seen what he’ll decide to do, but if he does decide to enter the NBA Draft following this college year, than his production the rest of the season will determine where he lands.
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