Coby White is the Bulls’ first first-round pick from North Carolina since 1984.
Michael Jordan worked out pretty well.
White has met the Hall of Famer, whose statue sits inside the atrium of the arena where White will now work, only once.
“All I did was get a handshake. I was kind of scared to have a conversation with him or anything like that,” White said, drawing laughter. “I remember me and Naz (Nassir Little) was like, ‘Should we tell him that we’re going to North Carolina?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not because I don’t want to mess anything up or anything.’ “
Executive vice president John Paxson, who was one of Jordan’s favorite teammates, interrupted.
“I can get you in touch with him if you want,” Paxson said.
White smiled.
“I would love to if you can,” he said.
Free-for-all
The Bulls plan to extend a qualifying offer to Ryan Arcidiacono, making him a restricted free agent. They won’t do the same with Wayne Selden Jr., making him unrestricted.
The Bulls are targeting big-man depth, shooting and a veteran point guard with their roughly $23 million of salary cap space when free agency begins late on June 30. Ricky Rubio and George Hill are among the point guard possibilities.
“We’re in the process of evaluating the talent that’s out there. (General manager) Gar (Forman) is on the phone constantly,” Paxson said. “It’s what the market will be — there’s a lot of money out on the market this summer, and a lot of teams are going to be out there spending.
“There’ll be a tier that goes, and then there will be some fallbacks. But we have a very good idea of what we want. We know we need to add some veterans.”
Dotted-line time
Coach Jim Boylen confirmed that negotiations on his extension began April 24, two weeks after the season ended. An agreement on terms occurred the next day.
“I’m very pleased,” Boylen said. “Obviously, it’s exciting for me to be the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. The process went very smoothly. Again, I go back to the relationship with John and Jerry and Michael (Reinsdorf) and Gar and our ability to talk things out. I kind of gave my vision of what I thought we could be and what I thought were the important things for me as the head coach.
“It just all fell into place. It’s been a very easy process and just a very open and transparent process, which I liked. It was direct and honest, which I like to say a lot, which I believe in.”
