Don’t Care If LaVine Gets Hurt Again? What the Heck?

If you look at the ranks of two-way players in today’s NBA, you’ll find some impressive names at the top of the list. Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic all come to mind. These are players you build your team around. The Bulls might even be contenders for Chicago native Davis when he hits the market in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Zach LaVine is on pace for his first full season in Chicago and has scored often while doing it. His 25.6 points a game have put him among the top 10 scoring leaders in the NBA thanks in no small part to the high number of shots he’s taken both from the field and the free-throw line. At 36.1 minutes a game, he also has logged more time on the court than most players. But as Ryan Piers of Hoops Habit mentioned in our recent round table, LaVine’s defensive skills leave a little to be desired.

With all this in mind, LaVine remains the Bulls’ best player at the moment only because we haven’t seen Lauri Markkanen yet. LaVine certainly will cede that title when Markkanen returns soon. The Bulls are 5–17, and this should indicate LaVine wouldn’t be more than a key supporting player on a championship team. He could be your second-best guy, but most likely, your third.

Unfortunately, LaVine’s porous defense has brought out the worst in some people. They see LaVine as a one-dimensional and inefficient player who’s a threat to the Bulls’ future. Particularly, they see him pushing the Bulls back into basketball hell in a much more effective way than Nikola Mirotic or Sean Kilpatrick ever could have hoped to last season. These are the people firmly entrenched in the title-or-tank mindset.

I know this because last week, I encountered one of these people. I won’t name names, but this person took it one step further and heavily implied it wouldn’t be heartbreaking if LaVine suffered another devastating injury because it would make the Bulls a lot worse and improve their chances of landing the top pick in June. Not believing what I was hearing, I had to ask for clarification once or twice. All the person did was double down on the stance.

While I understand the desire to do whatever it takes to raise another world championship banner to the United Center rafters, there comes a point where it gets out of hand. People treat the players on their team like commodities that they only see as good as their future on that team. If they’re not absolutely sold on a certain player, they want him gone, and they don’t care how. Even if he’s just coming off an ACL tear, like LaVine is, may woe be inflicted upon him.

This mindset is absolutely disgusting, especially when it comes to players who just traveled a long road to get back to where they were. These are human beings with dreams and families like the rest of us. It’s no different than our own workplaces. We might have co-workers we don’t care for, but would you really wish for cancer or another serious illness to get them out because you find them detrimental to your company?

If there’s one thing we know about professional sports today, it’s that players are tighter with each other than ever. If joining forces on a winning team doesn’t convince you of that, social media does. How many times have we seen them offering prayers and support on Twitter when one of their own suffers a serious injury? It shows these players are people, not dogs or racehorses you euthanize when they’re not bringing in the hardware.

Going back to the “bad defense” angle of this for a moment, LaVine won’t be 24 until March 10. How do you know he’s maxed out on his defensive capabilities? He’s got a few more years until he reaches his ceiling as an NBA player. By then, the Bulls will know how much of that $52 million contract he’s earned, but it’s too soon to write off someone with his talent.

I hope I’m mostly preaching to the choir here, and I’m confident I am. But sometimes, the others who claim they’re real fans need to be called out. It boggles my mind that anyone wouldn’t care if a player was injured because they were so focused on the big picture. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

The Bulls are the youngest team in the league, and they’re losing plenty of games already, though that can be chalked up to the injuries as much as anything else. I’m not sure what more anyone wants. Even with the revamped draft lottery, the Bulls will be right there to grab their next building block. It’s no use freaking out over every win.

I don’t know whether LaVine will be around when and if the Bulls are ready to compete again, regardless if he’s a two-way player by then. What I do know is whatever tiny bit of success the Bulls have right now means the young roster is improving, and that’s a sign that the rebuild is progressing. After all, don’t you want to see at least some of the current Bulls prove they deserve to stick around here for awhile? LaVine is one of them for me, and if you’re not one of those people who would rather see him in street clothes than a uniform, he likely is one for you, too.