Zach LaVine Demands Your Attention
LaVine first put the world on notice with his leaping ability in the 2015 slam dunk contest. Now to shed those diminutive labels, he needs to make it back to the place where he first made his name.
The natural tendency for most sports fans, is to immortalize “Player X” as they existed when we were first introduced to them.
Blake Griffin arrived on the scene with the ability to leap over a Kia in a single bound. So, he was immediately branded as a “dunker.” The hasty characterization remained immune to his fervent playmaking and burgeoning shooting ability, long past its best by date. Even as Griffin evolved into a rare high volume, high-efficiency breed of three-pointer shooter, the residual effects of our fascination with his high-flying antics lingered.
So, when the shiny new sports car arrived on the scene, in the form of 6’5 Zach LaVine, the public was quick to throw more labels at the wall.
Offensively, the label has read: LaVine is a ball-stopper. He’s inefficient. He’s a superb athlete, but not much else.
If one took a peek under the hood, LaVine was proving to be quite the chameleon. He was adapting to the NBA game and rewarding his squad with improved raw stats, playmaking and efficiency, on an annual basis.
In 2018–19, LaVine outdid himself. Putting together the kind of season that all young guards dream of, while simultaneously becoming a beacon of hope for the Chicago Bulls faithful the world over. However, in a lost season for his 22-win organization, tales of his exploits rarely made it past the walls of the United Center.
It is safe to assume LaVine’s wants that to change.
With a re-tooled cast around him and Chicago hosting the NBA All-Star festivities this upcoming season, a return to the All-Star Weekend as an actual member of the main event may be the perfect stage to have his national moment.
On the other hand, there happens to be nothing particularly sexy about Otto Porter’s game. He doesn’t have the explosiveness of LaVine, the unicorn potential of Lauri Markkanen, or the unmistakable scruff of curls that have already made rookie point guard Coby White a fan favorite.
In fact, Porter’s game is more about absence. It stands out more for a dearth of miscues than it does for any loud counting stats. He knows his role and is consistent in its execution.
Amid a 15-game test run to end last season, Porter showed the Bulls higher-ups the immediate benefits of having a player like him.
Ownership then followed up Porter’s run with the addition of a few high level “glue guys” this offseason: Thaddeus Young from Indiana and Porter’s former teammate Tomas Satoransky from Washington.
While neither player elevates their squad to a championship ceiling, they do raise your floor significantly with their savvy and overall feel. The work they do with floor IQ may be dwarfed by their prodigious work with emotional IQ.
Young has proven adept at being a culture setter and has already voiced his intentions of doing just that with his new squad.
Telling the Chicago Sun-Times, “It starts in the locker room… building that camaraderie, building that brotherhood with one another, and then it translates out to the court.” This has to be music to the ears of an organization besot with its own share of internal drama last season.
The competent and together team Young aspires to be, is also the kind of team that catches its opponents by surprise and one that often exceeds its win-loss expectations.
Bringing things full circle, these factors make Zach LaVine’s All-Star case too good to ignore.
It was a photo seen around the world.
Back in 2014, a very young and jubilant Kyrie Irving hoisting the All-Star MVP trophy high above his head, as his fellow NBA stars practically morphed into a golf gallery.
There was something in Irving’s manner that said the gravity of the moment wasn’t lost on him. Up to that point in his young career, he had never even logged a single minute in a playoff game. Yet here he was, oozing with talent and confidently inserting himself into the national consciousness.
Making the All-Star Game at the age of 21 was tough enough as it is. Making the All-Star Game on the back of a 33–49 Cleveland Cavaliers season was a significantly steeper hill to climb.
Irving’s exploits were so singularly great, that they were able to rise above the stench of a losing season.
In recent memory, the feat has only been accomplished by a select few individuals, and rarely as young as Irving. However, Zach LaVine, whose numbers from last season compare favorably to Irving’s that year, has a real chance to join that group.
A statistical profile that is in any way apace with a six-time All-Star is certainly good company to be in. Concurrently, having a scoring average that puts you in the Top 20 scorers in the NBA in a given season, is just an embarrassment of riches.
Yet both milestones find themselves at the feet of the Chicago Bulls guard.
His improvement and body of work show a man who has worked hard to put himself in a position to be deserving of an All-Star berth and the cultural cache that comes with it.
Marry that with the fact that injury, free agency, and roster construction have hindered or eliminated his greatest inter-conference threats at his position and its clear this season marks the best shot LaVine has ever had to hear his name called come February.
If he can make it there, all that remains is to let his advanced offensive game, take center stage.
The stars have aligned: It’s time for Zach LaVine to reintroduce himself.
