LaVine’s 2018-19 Season Recap
How good was Zach LaVine last year? Let’s dive into the numbers and take a look at the supporting evidence on why he’s one of the most underrated guards and could have been an All-Star selection last season.
In 2018-19, LaVine set career-highs in games started (62), points (23.7), rebounds (4.7), assists (4.5), field goal percentage (46.7%), three-point attempts (321), total blocks (60), field goals made (530) and attempted (1135), free-throw makes (312) and attempted (375) and total points (1,492). Where does that rank in comparison to All-Star guards?
The 2019 NBA All-Star Game’s guards in alphabetical order were: Bradley Beal, Steph Curry, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, Victor Oladipo (injured), D’Angelo Russell, Ben Simmons, Klay Thompson, Dwayne Wade (honorary), Kemba Walker, and Russell Westbrook.
To compare numbers from 2018-19, LaVine averaged more points, rebounds, and assists than Thompson and outscored Russell, Simmons, Lowry, Oladipo, and Westbrook. LaVine averaged more rebounds than Lillard and Walker; while playing more minutes than Curry, Russell, Thompson, Simmons, and Lowry.
Now, LaVine doesn’t impact games quite like some of the listed players above, but he’s an efficient player from just about everywhere on the court. LaVine ranked 37th in efficiency (20.2) among the whole league and would have ranked fifth among shooting guards in PER (Player Efficiency Rating) with a mark of 18.7. He also was third in shooting guards with an EWA (Earned Wins Average) of 8.4.
If we ranked LaVine based off his efficiency rating, he ranked behind Chris Paul (20.3), Jimmy Butler (20.7), and Kemba Walker (22.5), while ahead of NBA Champion Kyle Lowry (19.6), D’Angelo Russell (19.2) and Donovan Mitchell (18.7) to get an idea of where he finished the season among guards.
The main reason why LaVine did not receive as much national attention or votes was because of the Bulls’ abysmal record and LaVine took the past three years off from the dunk contest after winning in 2015 and 2016. This season, LaVine could enter again and go for his third win in six years, which would make the All-Star Weekend in the Windy City that much better.
LaVine was recently challenged to the Dunk Contest in Chicago by Aaron Gordon, who he defeated in one of the most epic contests in NBA history. Gordon also challenged Zion Williamson and Donovan Mitchell, so if that happens, LaVine may have himself quite the working weekend.
Nonetheless, LaVine enters this year with a stronger supporting cast to alleviate his usage, minutes and pressure of being the primary scorer. Heading into 2019-20 he will likely lead the Bulls in scoring once again and I wouldn’t be surprised to see LaVine average 25 points, five rebounds, and three assists per game in another career-year as the 24-year-old is starting to enter his prime.