The Bulls selected North Carolina guard Coby White with the No. 7 overall pick, finally nabbing one of the point guard prospects they had been coveting coming into Thursday night’s draft. And while White was backstage fulfilling his media obligations, he got word that his former Tar Heel running mate Cameron Johnson was selected by the Phoenix Suns at No. 11, a pick that caught most of the basketball world off guard.
“Wooooow. Wooow bro that’s crazy....that’s so love bro”, said a shocked and excited White.
“You don’t know how hard Cam worked and....it’s a lot of people that doubted him.”
White got lots of help on and off the court, adjusting to Chapel Hill from Johnson, a senior who played two seasons at North Carolina after transferring from Pittsburgh. Johnson shot 41.1 from 3-point range over his 62 games at UNC, functioning mostly as a solid wing on the fastbreak and a great catch-and-shoot option in halfcourt sets.
Johnson was expected to be drafted on Thursday night, but it was hard-to-impossible to find a mock draft that had Johnson anywhere near the lottery. White is excited to join a young Bulls team full of potential but he seemed just as excited for his teammates to get selected in the lottery.
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“I’m getting chills up here,'' said a smiling White. Tonight was a great night for the Bulls because White fills a need as a point guard with some elite shooting ability, but Thursday night, he showed off how big of a positive his attitude and overall locker room presence will be as a teammate.