3 players the Chicago Bulls should be building around
1. Zach LaVine, Shooting Guard
As far as pure talent and production goes right now, the Bulls aren’t going to do much better than LaVine. His star is likely still on the rise, and his physical tools and ceiling aren’t matched by many other players 25 and under in the Central Division. To top it all off, LaVine is on a very team-friendly deal for the remainder of the two years of his current contract.
And LaVine had a durable season with the Bulls, where he played in 60 games (and started in all of them). He averaged 25.5 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks. LaVine shot 45.0 percent from the field, 38.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.2 percent from the free-throw line. That amounted to a solid 52.6 effective field goal percentage and 56.8 true shooting percentage.
LaVine also posted a 2.5 box plus/minus rating, 2.4 value over replacement player rating, .092 win shares per 48 minutes, 4.0 total win shares, a 19.5 player efficiency rating, and a 106 offensive rating/110 defensive rating. And he had the highest player impact estimate (per NBA stats) at 13.1 on the Bulls. Although it was just the 68th highest in the NBA.
Next. 4 possible Bulls draftees, and one that should be considered. dark
The Bulls need LaVine to continue to improve at the same rate that he did over the course of the last two seasons, heading into the 2020-21 campaign. He’s developing at a pace where he could become a secondary star at the very least on a good playoff team in the East. But we’ll see where he can go from here.