Maybe it’s time to stop Zach LaVine trading opportunities and focus on the right complementary actions to extend him this off-season.
Maybe it’s time to stop concentrating on Zach LaVine’s mistakes and appreciate his strengths.
Maybe it’s time to stop talking about how he never appeared in the playoffs and realize that his work ethic and dedication to the right game can be a part of winning basketball.
LaVine’s 39-point, 7-rebound, 4-assist performance in the Bulls’ 118-92 Magic relegation added the growing amount of evidence that his game continues to evolve. That it happened one night after he focused on accepting the defensive attention and putting off more than scoring before showing the Magic for 24 points in the fourth quarter in Friday’s loss showed his whole package .
You’ll miss LaVine when he’s gone.
“Man, he’s really special,” Denzel Valentine said.
LaVine has hosted its ninth game this season or 30 points or more. If the 89 percent free-kick shooter had not typically missed three of five, he would have pocketed his second game with 40 points.
But scoring is what LaVine has always done, and sometimes makes it seem effortless. The fact that he achieved an average of 5.3 assistants, far above his previous career best of 4.5, is indicative of his maturity and recognition.
However, that dynamic can also be reversed. With his comments on reporters on Friday, LaVine warned reporters the Magic that he would come out more aggressive on Saturday night. With Lauri Markkanen, Otto Porter jr. And Wendell Carter jr. Due to injuries, he scored 11 halftime points in the first quarter and 22.
“He does something new every night that I just sit there,” Damn. “He’s really, really, really good,” Valentine said. “He’s definitely an All-Star superstar player. So I am blessed to be his teammate. And he’s a good guy too. So you root for him. ”
LaVine’s teammates see his care factor. Those who were with him in Minnesota saw him rehabilitate without a complaint and with simple focus from a torn left ACL. Those with him now see a player looking inward to try to improve his shortcomings – indifferent turnover, defense off the ball – because he is sick of losing.
‘He’s had trials during his career. Go to Minnesota and then come here, get off an ACL and be thrown into the fire like, “Okay, the Chicago Bulls are yours.” “Trying to be the best player in a top three market team at 23 is very stressful,” said Valentine. “I think he got better every year, and it’s amazing to see.”
In a recent article on Bleacher Report, Eric Pincus, a longtime expert on the salary cap, outlined an interesting scenario in which the Bulls were able to utilize a portion of their projected ceiling space to expand LaVine. The cost would be significant – to aim for about $ 14 million for a $ 151 million four-year deal. But LaVine’s play makes such discussions intriguing.
The Bulls are obviously not obligated to do so, as LaVine is under contract until 2022. However, the choice of a track on LaVine’s future with the franchise has landed Arturas Karnišovasa to-do list almost immediately after appointing the executive vice president of basketball operations.
As a coach, Billy Donovan’s focus for now is on the more micro-variety. And he is delighted with LaVine’s coaching and the desire to become more of a two-way player influencing winning.
‘He’s a great guy and he’s a great teammate and he wants to win. He did not. He wants to take that step. And sometimes, when you want to take the plunge, you think, ‘OK, maybe I should get my teammates more involved. So let me try to facilitate. Okay, this is not going well. Now I have to go score, ” Donovan said. “He has to play an identity of what our team needs from him, and he has to be a two-way player.
‘And I agree that it’s a lot to ask him, and he has incredible endurance and endurance. But to win, I set the rules. The game determines the rules. It’s hard to win … He’s really trying to figure those things out. And he also wants to be a good teammate. He wants to be an unselfish player. He wants to make the people around him better. ”
It happens.
When answering questions on his Zoom call on Saturday night, LaVine laughed at the question of whether his aggressive performance did not need the Bulls in light of so many injuries.
“I did it,” he said.
And he still has to be in a Bulls uniform for years. Or he will be missed.
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