Maybe it’s time to stop pondering Zach LaVine’s possibilities for negotiation and focus on the right complementary moves in order to extend it in this off-season.
Maybe it’s time to stop focusing on Zach LaVine’s shortcomings and appreciate his strengths.
Maybe it’s time to stop talking about how he never made it into the playoffs and realize that his work ethic and commitment to making the right move could be part of a basketball win.
LaVine’s performance with 39 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the 118-92 dismantling of the Bulls’ Magic added to the growing body of evidence that his game continues to evolve. That it happened one night after he focused on accepting defensive attention and delaying more than scoring before launching Magic 24 points in the fourth quarter in Friday’s defeat showed his whole package.
You would miss LaVine if he left.
“Dude, he’s really special,” said Denzel Valentine.
LaVine posted his ninth game this season or 30 points or more. If the 89 percent free-throw shooter did not unusually miss three out of five, he would have won his second game of 40 points.
But scoring is what LaVine has always done, sometimes making it look easy. The fact that he has an average of 5.3 assists, well above his previous best score of 4.5, is emblematic of his maturity and recognition.
This dynamic can cut the other side as well. With his post-game comments to reporters on Friday, LaVine basically warned Magic that he would be more aggressive on Saturday night. With Lauri Markkanen, Otto Porter Jr. and Wendell Carter Jr. eliminated due to injuries, he scored 11 points in the first quarter and 22 in the break.
“He does something new every night that I just sit around, ‘Damn’. He’s very, very, very good, ”said Valentine. “He is definitely an All-Star, superstar player. Therefore, I am blessed to be your teammate. And he’s a good guy too. So you root for him. ”
LaVine’s teammates see their care factor. Those with him in Minnesota saw him rehabilitate himself from a torn left ACL without complaint and with a singular focus. Whoever is with him now sees a player who looks inside to try to improve his shortcomings – careless moves, out-of-ball defense – because he is tired of losing.
“He has gone through trials and tribulations throughout his career. Going to Minnesota and then coming here, getting out of an ACL and being thrown into the fire like, ‘Okay, the Chicago Bulls are yours.’ Trying, at 23, to be the best player in one of the top three teams on the market, is a lot of pressure, ”said Valentine. “I think he is getting better every year and it is amazing to see.”
In a recent article in the Bleacher Report, longtime salary cap specialist Eric Pincus set out an intriguing scenario in which the Bulls could use part of their projected upper limit in this off-season to extend LaVine. The cost would be significant – setting aside about $ 14 million of projected boundary space for a $ 151 million deal in four years. But LaVine’s play is making these deliberations intriguing.
Of course, the Bulls are under no obligation to do so, as LaVine is under contract until 2022. However, choosing a path in LaVine’s future with the franchise has landed in Artūras Karnišovas‘to-do list almost immediately after taking over as executive vice president of basketball operations.
As a coach, Billy Donovan’s focus is on the most micro variety for now. And he is satisfied with LaVine’s co-ability and the desire to become a two-way player that impacts victory.
“He’s a great guy and a great teammate and he wants to win. He does not have. He wants to take that step. And sometimes, when you’re trying to take that step, you think, ‘OK, maybe I have to involve my teammates more. So, let me try to facilitate. Okay, it’s not going well. Now I need to go for the goal, ‘”said Donovan. “He has to play with the identity of what our team needs him to do, and he has to be a two-way player.
“And I agree that it’s asking him a lot to do, and he has incredible resistance and resistance. But winning sets the rules, I don’t. The game sets the rules. It is difficult to win … He is really trying to understand these things. And he also wants to be a good teammate. He wants to be a selfless player. He wants to make the people around him better. “
This is happening.
While answering questions on his call to Zoom on Saturday night, LaVine laughed when asked if his aggressive performance is what the Bulls need in view of so many injuries.
“I have done this,” he said.
And he must wear the Bulls’ uniform for many years. Or he will be missed.
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