Help wanted: A defensive-minded Bulls guard to replace Alex Caruso

NEW ORLEANS — At some point this season, one of the Bulls' guards will have to perform with a “not under my watch” attitude. Coach Billy Donovan calls it “individual pride.”

But as Wednesday's 123-111 season-opening loss to the Pelicans showed, the search for that person continues.

When the Bulls (0-1) traded Alex Caruso to the Thunder for Josh Giddey in June, they added a long ball-handler but also created a hole on defense where Caruso was both the primary communicator and a pit bull who was on The ball was concentrated by the opposing team's best guard.

Forward Patrick Williams is considered the Bulls' best wing defender, but what about the backcourt? What about blowing up screens or simply locking a ballhandler in isolation?

“I get it – Patrick is a good defender,” Donovan said. “I think for every team there is a formula by which you have to win. We can't turn the ball over, we can't get dominated like we did (against the Pelicans) with loose balls. And the other part of it is that we have to play with a little more physicality because we're too small in some ways. Patrick can't stop five guys and we have to do it as a team. There has to be some individual pride.”

Coby White hopes the line can start behind him. Two seasons ago he showed that he was flashingly better defensively, but as his role changed last season and he became more of a scorer in a lot of minutes, he admittedly slipped a bit defensively. Over the summer, he worked hard on his conditioning to address this issue and account for Caruso's absence.

“I said to myself at the beginning of the summer, 'I want to be a two-way guy,'” White said. “And (Donovan) always challenges me to do that. He always talks about the jump I made a few years ago. Last year the usage rate and the number of minutes decreased slightly. I want to get back to being that guy on defense that you can rely on and be very detail-oriented on that side of the ball.”

White sees the Bulls as guards who can defend at a high level, but only in certain matchups. Against an athletic ballplayer, Zach LaVine is generally the best option. If it's a bigger guard, it's Giddey, and if it's a more physical guard, White wants his name called.

What about a man who can just hold on to a player, no matter what his strengths or weaknesses are? Ayo Dosunmu is a key reserve player for now, but he was down in the final minutes on Wednesday night as Donovan made a final attempt to get back into the game.

“We obviously don't have just one guy that you can say, 'He's a stopper,' like Alex Caruso was for our defense,” White said. “That is the reality. Now, do I think Ayo will be like that one day? Secure. That two-way player who can be an offensive player and be called an all-defensive player? Secure. I think Ayo can protect anyone.”

That sounded good to Dosunmu.

“It means a lot,” he said of White’s assessment. “It means he has a lot of trust in me. And yes, I think I can do it.”

Someone has to do it.

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