Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine needs better than this team

A true star looks to be emerging with the Chicago Bulls with the way that shooting guard Zach LaVine is leading this offense of late.

There’s an ora around this Chicago Bulls team that there is not an offensive star to shoulder the load. I’ve been a past naysayer in the 24-year-old shooting guard Zach LaVine, but he’s playing like an All-Star of late.

In the latest NBA All-Star voting that was released later on last week, LaVine was the leader for the Bulls and looked like he is bound to be a reserve player for the Eastern Conference. That potential All-Star nod would be well deserved for LaVine, especially since 2020 All-Star Weekend will be hosted at the United Center in Chicago.

After a solid outing in a win over the Central Division foe Detroit Pistons, by the final score of 108-99 on the road on Jan. 11, LaVine found himself averaging around 24.5 points per game. He’s also adding in roughly five rebounds and four assists per game.

What really gained LaVine a bigger national spotlight was his 43 point breakthrough in a tough loss to the divisional foe Indiana Pacers on Jan. 10. The fact that LaVine put up 43 points on a very efficient night where he went 14-of-23 from the field and 8-of-13 shooting from three-point range, and the Bulls still lost, is a testament to how bad this team can be under the direction of head coach Jim Boylen.

But LaVine is keeping this team afloat in a number of games this season. His 68-points combined in the back-to-back games over the weekend against the Pacers and Pistons is a good example of how well he’s played for this team on the offensive end of the floor of late.

LaVine is truly one of the hottest scorers in the East over the course of the last two months.

LaVine hasn’t been held under 19 points in any game in the Bulls last dozen. He also hasn’t been held to single-digits scoring in any game since a Nov. 20 win over the Pistons.

What’s different this season compared to the last two or three for LaVine is that he’s more efficient and productive on both ends of the floor while putting up big scoring numbers. He’s shooting around 44 percent from the field and just shy of 40 percent from beyond the arc this season.

His turnover rate has also dropped by just under two percent while his usage rate went up by one percent. The steal and block rates are also sitting at career best percentages for LaVine.

To round it all out for LaVine’s production so far this season, his number of win shares per 48 minutes is sitting at a career high .105. He already has three win shares on the season. The only other player on this Bulls roster that has at least three win shares on the season is second-year center Wendell Carter Jr. But WCJ is set to miss around the next four or six weeks with an ankle sprain that he suffered against the Dallas Mavericks earlier this month.

There’s no doubt in my mind that LaVine deserves to get a nod for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game to represent the Bulls and the Eastern Conference. He’s setting this division and conference on firing with his scoring trends of late and he doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon.

It’s just a shame that he’s not getting more positive attention since this supporting cast isn’t very good this season.