Chicago Bulls: LaVine and Vooch both brilliant tough shot makers

Tough shot-making is something that Chicago Bulls fans are well used to from star shooting guard Zach LaVine. But that feature out of the game of star center Nikola Vucevic is still rather new to Bulls fans. It is also rather new for the Bulls to have two true stars that can make their own tough shots on this team at the same time.

Getting Vooch from the Orlando Magic at the trade deadline was something that gave LaVine a true star running mate with the Bulls. That’s not really a factor that he had in his prior seasons with Bulls since getting traded here from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Vooch was good for the Bulls right away, it was just unfortunate that first-year head coach Billy Donovan saw both him and LaVine deal with separate injury issues (in a way) down the stretch. LaVine missed a good bit of time down the stretch during the regular season due to a violation of the league’s health and safety protocol. Vooch also missed a few games thanks to an adductor injury.

Yet, next season should see the duo of LaVine and Vooch come to the forefront for Donovan and the Bulls.

What Donovan can rely on moving forward for the Bulls is the tough-shot-making ability of both LaVine and Vooch. That can give him a more dynamic offense that has more options when it gets late in the shot clock. It should also open up more room for the rest of the Bulls in the rotation to have more space to get good looks from the field.

Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic proving their tough-shot-making ability for the Chicago Bulls

Last season, Vooch really improved his numbers in terms of contested shot-making. He converted at a 57 percent clip from the field when a defender was within two feet of contesting his shot. He was also roughly shooting at a 36 percent clip from beyond the arc last season when a defender was within 1-6 feet from him contesting.

Considering that roughly 61 percent of Vooch’s two-point field goals were assisted, making more than 53 percent of his two-point field goal attempts that were contested by someone within three feet of him is very impressive. That shows he can be an outlet for the Bulls when other options are failing on offense.

The Bulls should try and get Vooch open looks as much as they can, but it’s nice to see the versatility in his game and creating ability.

Moreover, most Bulls fans know what LaVine can do in terms of creating and tough-shot-making ability when he’s hot. He shot a career-best 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc during the 2020-21 regular season.

Although the efficiency from deep during the regular season when LaVine was contested (shot around 33 percent from beyond the arc when contested within four feet) wasn’t what it usually is, he was still good by most considerations. And LaVine posted a stellar 58 effective field goal percentage with “tight defense” on him (defender contesting within 2-4 feet) during the regular season.

That is pretty insane considering LaVine took the bulk of his shots with a defender contesting from no further than four feet away. Most of his field goal attempts in the season that was came with very tight defense being played on him.

It is not all that surprising, though, that LaVine had so many contested field goal attempts. Donovan likely trusts his tough-shot-making ability. He was also by far the highest usage Bulls player in each of the last three seasons.

Of LaVine’s 569 field goals last season in total, roughly 40 percent of them were assisted. He is very adept at creating his own looks, which often results in tight defense being played on him. And for someone that is not as high of usage of a player as LaVine, Vooch creates a good portion of his own looks too.

In general, it is rare to get a type of pick-and-roll star duo that is as efficient shooting from the field and from deep as LaVine and Vooch. They both shot at least 40 percent from downtown in the season that was, and they combined for a true shooting percentage north of 60.

The Bulls finished up the 2020-21 regular season with a record of 31-41 under Donovan’s direction. That resulted in the Bulls missing the postseason for the fourth straight year. But with the duo of LaVine and Vooch leading the way for the Bulls heading into next season, that drought could end in 2022.