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Bulls’ Coby White details journey that led to breakout season

This season has been a weird one for the Chicago Bulls. They started the year with a 5-14 record, surging toward an obvious rebuild at the trade deadline. But since then, they’ve gone 14-9, climbing up the Eastern Conference standings and into the mix for the Play-In Tournament, and they’ve done so with some key players sidelined.

Zach LaVine missed over a month from the end of November to the start of January, and Nikola Vucevic missed some games, too. Despite that, the Bulls have persevered, and fifth-year guard Coby White deserves a ton of credit for their success, as he’s taken a massive leap this season.

During a recent chat with Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, White spoke about the spiritual journey that helped lead to his breakout season.

“This summer, I took a different direction,” White told Mayberry. “Like, I always work hard on the court. But off the court, I never took the time to grow, I’ll say mentally, spiritually, those types of areas. So this summer I wanted to do things differently. So this summer I read, like, three books. And I hate reading. But just from a mental discipline standpoint. I called it a spiritual journey I went on this summer. Just trying to grow spiritually and mentally.”

So far this season, the 23-year-old is averaging 18.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists while shooting 45.2% from the field and 40.2% from behind the three-point line.

If it weren’t for White’s emergence this season, the Bulls wouldn’t be where they are right now. He’s someone they can build around moving forward.

Story originally appeared on Lonzo Wire