The Chicago Bulls are counting on improvement from their young players, and that’s what they’re getting.
When the Bulls visit the Miami Heat on Saturday, they are hoping that a pair of 23-year-olds — Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu — continue to progress.
With starting point guard Lonzo Ball out for the season due to a knee injury, White has stepped in nicely. He has started all 26 of Chicago’s games; he started a total of just 19 contests the prior two seasons.
White has also been productive as he is on pace for a career-high 17.1 scoring average while ranking second on the team in assists (4.7).
Thursday, White scored a game-high 26 points and added a game-high 11 assists as the Bulls earned a wire-to-wire 124-116 win over the host Heat.
“This dude is amazing,” Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan said of White following Thursday’s performance. “I’m just glad people are starting to see how talented he is and how competitive he is.”
The Bulls on Thursday also got a season-high 24 points from Dosunmu, a reserve who made 10-of-12 shots, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers. He also grabbed eight rebounds, but it was his speed getting to the rim that caused havoc for Miami’s defense.
White and Dosunmu are home-grown products. The Bulls drafted White in the first round (2019) and Dosunmu in the second (2021). Both received relatively modest contract extensions following last season — White for $36 million and Dosunmu for $21 million.
Now they’re helping the Bulls — who have won five of their past seven games – along with veteran stars such as DeRozan (team-high. 22.3 points, team-high. 5.3 assists) and Nikola Vucevic (16.7 points, team-high 10.6 rebounds).
The Bulls are 2-1 against Miami this season. Put another way, the Heat are 10-2 against teams below .500, but both of those losses were to the Bulls.
Chicago never trailed Thursday, much to the dismay of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
“What I would’ve liked to have seen is for us to take the lead just one time to see if that would’ve changed the dynamic,” said Spoelstra, whose team got no closer than four points in the second half.
Injuries could play a factor in Saturday’s rematch.
The Bulls are without Ball and two-time All-Star Zach LaVine. In addition, Chicago’s Alex Caruso, a first-team All-Defense selection last season, reinjured his left ankle in Thursday’s first quarter. He had just returned from a two-game absence.
The Heat are missing their top two scorers (Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo) as well as role players Haywood Highsmith and Josh Richardson.
Herro, who has missed 17 consecutive games, said he could return as early as Monday. Herro and Adebayo combine to average 45.2 points, making it quite a wonder how the Heat have been managing to stay in playoff position without them.
One reason is the steady leadership of Jimmy Butler, who is averaging 21.5 points and a team-high 4.7 assists.
But there’s also rookie reserve Jaime Jaquez Jr., who led Miami with 22 points on Thursday.
Jaquez, who turns 23 in February, was hailed as more mature than most rookies when he was drafted 18th overall this past summer, and that scouting report has proved accurate.
He is averaging 13.0 points, and he is doing it efficiently, shooting 85.4 percent on free throws, 56.7 percent on 2-pointers and 39.5 percent on 3-pointers.
– Field Level Media