Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine poised for first All-Star season

LaVine’s 2019-20 Season Preview

LaVine set a career-high shooting the ball 1,135 times last season, making a career-high 530 (46.7%) and that number will likely increase if he is healthy enough to play more than 63 games. LaVine missed 19 games in 2018-19 because of an ankle injury, Markkanen missed 30 because of an elbow injury, and Carter missed 38 due to a thumb injury.

So Chicago went out and added quality talent this offseason via the NBA Draft and Free Agency to add bench depth behind LaVine and the supporting cast.

LaVine played a career-high in minutes so the Bulls signed Tomáš Satoranský to sure up Chicago’s backcourt as well as draft Coby White seventh overall. Both could arguably end up being the starting point guard alleviating Kris Dunn from his role, but both – if not all three – at this point in their careers, would be suited to relieve LaVine of minutes.

Satoranský played a career-high 80 games and started in 54 of them for the Washington Wizards as John Wall’s replacement last season and played 73 and started in 30 in 2017-18. For the past two seasons, Satoranský has backed up and replaced Wall, something he will most likely be asked to do for LaVine. White hit 82 threes at North Carolina and showed promise in the summer league averaging a team-high 15 points per game and 4.8 assists per game in 30.8 minutes per contest.

Chicago also acquired former Timberwolves teammate Thaddeus Young to a three-year, $42 million deal in free agency. LaVine and Young played together in 2014-15 during LaVine’s rookie season. The two played 48 games together before Young was traded to the Brooklyn Nets before the deadline in 2015.

In addition to Young, Chicago signed former New York Knicks center Luke Kornet and drafted Daniel Gafford out of Arkansas for more bodies down low. The supporting cast is the best LaVine has had in Chicago since being traded on draft night in 2017. You won’t hear me commend Gar Forman and John Paxson for their trades too often, but this was the best deal they’ve made in the past 10 years.

Building around a young supporting cast starting with LaVine (24), Markannen (22), and Carter (20) sounds enticing and exciting. Adding players like White (19), Gafford (20), and veterans such as Otto Porter Jr. (26) via trade last year, Santoransky (27) and Young (31) in free agency accelerated the Bulls timeline in the rebuild.

In 2019-20 we’ll see glimpses of what can be further down the line, but we know what to expect from LaVine coming off his best season yet and I expect to see him on an All-Star team in Chicago in 2020.