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Chicago Bulls: Time to ease Zach LaVine’s burden

By Kyle Williams

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 05: Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on November5, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 05: Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on November5, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Bulls
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 05: Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on November5, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Zach LaVine has had a heavy burden offensively for the Chicago Bulls. His recent knee sprain should put his health in perspective.

The Chicago Bulls are hoping that Zach LaVine will be one of the cornerstones of this recent rebuild. Well, LaVine can’t do that if he’s injured so it’s time the Chicago Bulls scale back on his workload.

The Chicago Bulls should know a thing or two about injuries. The Derrick Rose-era was supposed to be a decade of dominance culminating in a championship. A hop step and a torn ACL in the final minute of a game that got decided which ended those aspirations.

Luol Deng almost died because of a misdiagnosis of his injury. Injuries and the Bulls are synonymous with each other. With 12 games left in the season, the Bulls need to be smart about how they manage LaVine and contemplate scaling back his workload.

The Los Angeles Lakers have recently scaled back on how they’re going to manage LeBron James’ minutes due to them being out of the playoff picture. With LBJ’s load that he’s carried the past five years, there’s no reason for him to keep playing the 9th-highest MPG in the NBA for a team headed to the lottery.

Kawhi Leonard has played the same amount of games – 50 – as LeBron because of his recovery from his Quad injury. With the number of minutes and injuries that LaVine has racked up this year, It might be smart that the Bulls look to scale back his workload. Take yesterday’s game for example. Last night, the Bulls played LaVine played 38 minutes against the LA Clippers.

Here’s a deeper look into what the Chicago Bulls should do with the rising star shooting guard Zach LaVine and how his situation best serves the franchise moving forward.

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