The starting point guard the Phoenix Suns might target: Coby White

If the Phoenix Suns fall out of the Ja Morant sweepstakes, they might find a diamond in the rough starting point guard in North Carolina’s Coby White.

Coby White was the spark plug point guard for the North Carolina Tar Heels in his one season at the university.

Known for his speed, Coby flew up and down the court as the key cog in his teams’ up-tempo attack this season.

But beyond the clear athletic gifts, what does Coby’s stats tell us about his NBA potential and what he could potentially bring to the Phoenix Suns?

Coby’s game was clearly based on speed and using that he not only used to attack the basket, but also to create open shots for himself as well as utilize speed-related openings as defenses collapse to pass to now wide-open teammates.

Phoenix Suns

One thing that sticks out for Coby in 2018-19 was his uptick in stats in conference play.

Coby clearly became more comfortable against stronger competition and took his game up a notch as the season went on and more was needed from him. Offensively, his points per game increased from 16ppg to 19ppg from all games to just Conference games.

Additionally, Coby increased his eFG% (51.5 to 55.5), TS% (55.5 to 58.8), assist rate (24.4 to 25.9), FT% (80 to 82.3), 2FG% (49.8 to 52.7), and 3PT% (35.3 to 38.5) – these stats are hard to ignore when you take into account players around him who started out the year strong again non-conference opponents, but then saw their stats come back down to earth as their competition improved.

Coby’s numbers above display his ability to use his speed to score as well as create for others but most importantly to bring his game up to another level when it was most needed.

On top of that, we see a player with good efficiency numbers and encouraging shooting numbers posting 82.3% free throw percentage and 38.5% 3-point percentage, again, in conference play.

He clearly has the tools and skills to contribute as a playmaker at the next level, although there are questions about his ability to play under control.

Coby also posted a season-long turnover rate of 18.8 which unfortunately increased to 19.9 in conference. Coby’s tendency to play a little out of control is worrisome for someone whose primary position in college has been PG – and where the Phoenix Suns will need him to play if they draft him.

Beyond these numbers though, Coby doesn’t jump off the page good or bad when it comes to all in one metrics like PER, win score, or BPM. Given how good UNC was this year, that in and of itself could be slightly worrisome – although not enough to tank his value or draft stock.

Ultimately, Coby White is an athletic PG who can score efficiently and distribute the ball well, and the numbers display this.

The biggest question about him in his future NBA career is whether he can be the primary ball handler in an offense, or if will need to spell another ball-handler and share duties.