Happy New Year! The Bulls have dropped back-to-back games to the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks to start 2024. It looks like they miss Nikola Vucevic, or maybe Zach LaVine, or the ghost of John Salmons, I don’t know anymore. They miss offense.
Every team goes through injuries, and for the most part the Bulls have weathered the storm. They’ve been an above .500 team since LaVine went down, but not so good without Vucevic and Torrey Craig (out for a while with a severe foot injury).
The good news, LaVine is back in the lineup tonight against the Charlotte Hornets. The bad news, so is Vucevic.
How is that bad news? The Mid Three reunited!
Well, the Mid Three has been simply BAD together. If you don’t believe me look up their 3 man lineup plus/minus for the last three seasons. It’s ugly.
DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic cannot spend extended time on the floor together. I know this has been one of my shouting points this season, but The Big 3 experiment has run it’s course with this set of players. Billy Donovan has to change his rotation and keep them separated.
Let’s be honest, it’s put up or shut up time for the Chicago Bulls and Zach LaVine. If this roster is going to work, they have to do it NOW. LaVine has to play within the system, he has to make good decisions with the basketball when it’s in his hands, and the rest of the team can’t just sit around and wait for LaVine or DeRozan to bail them out. This means Coby White has to continue playing the role he seized in Zach’s absence as lead ball handler and offense initiator. DeRozan has to continue being the playmaker. Patrick Williams has to continue his 13 points a night outburst. Ayo Dosunmu needs to contribute more consistently. Vucevic has to be that high post hub. And everybody needs to play defense and shoot/hit 3’s.
There has been a lot said about LaVine over the past couple months (some of it by me), about his ability to play “winning basketball.” Now, Zach has a great opportunity to do just that and change some of the haters into believers.
The Bulls have one of the easiest second half of the season schedules ahead of them, compared to the rest of the league. They need to take advantage of that fact. If they can successfully incorporate LaVine into the style of basketball they’ve been playing, they should be able to get back to .500 and the playoffs… Or just make it easier to trade LaVine after January 15th.
As fans, it’s always important to be careful what we wish for. These could very easily be some of the last games we see of Zach LaVine in a Bulls jersey. If he is traded, don’t expect anyone to contribute the points and efficiency LaVine has added to the team. He is a 2 time All-Star for a reason. We will miss LaVine if/when he leaves.
It’s been pretty annoying seeing the negative press LaVine has received from out of town stupids. No, Zach is not a basketball Messiah, but he is one of the best scorers in the league, and has been for several seasons now. His defense is passable. He could make a playoff team a contender with his shot making, especially if he joins a team with a couple other offensive options on it.
Having watched the majority of LaVine’s career with the Bulls, I think it’s pretty dumb for people to believe he is not a winning player. Most of the time LaVine has been with the Bulls they were either Tanking, Retooling, or he was playing through injury. The one season he was healthy and the Bulls were trying, they made the playoffs. There are very few players in the league that could replace LaVine’s value to the Bulls, and none of them are coming back in any trade that happens for him.
The best the Bulls can hope for in return for trading Zach would be a player, or players, that fit better next to DeRozan and Vucevic, maybe someone like Tobias Harris on the Philadelphia ’76ers.
Having watched the Bulls struggle the last couple weeks, I believe the reason they’ve been winning isn’t because LaVine has been absent, it’s because players have played the way we expect/hope them to. Coby White is a three level scoring threat and playmaker, so is DeRozan. Patrick Williams sometimes looks like a starting NBA wing. Ayo Dosunmu has pushed the pace off the bench. Vucevic has been able to showoff his passing skills. All of it can happen with Zach in the lineup, the Bulls just need to do it.
Until they do, thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, and GO BULLS!
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