Chicago Bulls: Coby White sees coaching search narrowing Friday

The Chicago Bulls could take a significant step forward in their coaching search on Friday, according to guard Coby White.

When the Chicago Bulls drafted guard Coby White, they knew they were getting a great player, but they got an even better person. At his core, White is an honest, genuine kid who cares deeply about the game of basketball and those he plays with.

From the outside, most saw the Bulls’ firing of Jim Boylen as an obvious decision. It came as no surprise. But, for White, he didn’t see it that way. He’s a kid who seemingly chooses to see the positive in things; see the best in people.

White told the media Wednesday that the firing of Boylen came as a surprise to him, per Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score. While that may sound funny to the average fan, it’s simply because White is so dedicated to this team and the people within the organization.

The reality is, Chicago is headed in a different direction now. While White credits Boylen for helping him in certain areas over his rookie season, he also now realizes the Bulls have a new era upon them.

Arturas Karnisovas was hired to be the main decision-maker within the Bulls’ organization going forward. He and new general manager Marc Eversley have already made a positive impression on White.

Those guys have an important task ahead of them in choosing the team’s next head coach. There are several candidates involved at the moment, but Chicago is likely going to trim them down shortly. How soon? White thinks it could happen as soon as the weekend.

"““We haven’t talked about the new coach because it’s so spread out right now. They haven’t really narrowed it down to the people that — I think, don’t they narrow it down Friday or something like that?” (Chicago Sun-Times)"

Some of the stronger candidates to take over Boylen’s vacancy include two assistants which find themselves in the conference finals — Dan Craig of the Miami Heat and Wes Unseld Jr. of the Denver Nuggets.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Unseld is picking up steam as a Bulls front-runner. Unseld is, of course, familiar with Karnisovas from his time in Denver.

Karnisovas was the brains behind Denver drafting Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, both of whom are surging this team through some mighty playoff battles. The Nuggets have now come back from a pair of 3-1 deficits already, storming back to take out both the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers in seven games.

Many may not know, but Unseld is the mastermind behind Denver’s defense. Head coach Mike Malone has placed defensive duties in the hands of Unseld, making these seven-game series wins that much more impressive from his standpoint.

If the Bulls do cut down their candidate list on Friday, expect Unseld to be among the finalists.