All of the star power that the Los Angeles Lakers had while the new Chicago Bulls point guard Alex Caruso played there was something that likely helped to ignite his career. And the Lakers still have a ton of star power heading into next season. Trading for star point guard Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards likely made the Lakers even stronger than the last two seasons.
Caruso grew accustomed to playing with superstars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the Lakers during his four years in LA. And that makes sense since that’s where he made a name for himself.
One of the aspects of Caruso’s game that was more fun to watch in the past four years with the Lakers was all of the lobs he gave to LeBron and AD. And maybe this is an aspect of his game that he can take to Chicago.
Chicago Bulls could have new lob city duo between Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine
Alex Caruso said he’ll never take experience of playing with LeBron James for granted. And that he’ll miss throwing him lobs.
— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) August 13, 2021
“Hopefully me and Zach (LaVine) get on the same page.”
Caruso reportedly (per Rob Shaefer on Twitter on Aug. 13) is hoping to “get on the same page” with the Bulls star shooting guard Zach LaVine when it comes to getting lobs up to him. LaVine definitely has even more capability as an insane in-game dunker even compared to LeBron and AD.
Just how often LaVine can get open to get above the rim for someone like Caruso to find him net season compared to LeBron and AD will show how much the former Lakers guard can get alley-oops his way.
During his time with the Lakers, Caruso wasn’t the best primary facilitator in the mix.
According to NBA advanced stats, Caruso was one of five Lakers players last season that assisted at least 15 of the field goals made by LeBron (at least during the regular season when the stat was tracked). And LeBron made five alley-oops during the regular season.
Meanwhile, AD converted on 19 alley-oops on 22 attempts last season. And he had 19 of his tracked field goals made during the regular season assisted by Caruso.
The NBA didn’t track who assisted the lobs on these particular alley-oops. But it’s clear that Caruso was one of the main facilitators off the bench for AD and LeBron last season.
Caruso does have a potential lob threat that he can work with next season in LaVine. Forward Patrick Williams could also be a lob threat for Caruso to find next season. He’s certainly got the physical tools to do so.
LaVine did convert on all five of the alley-oop attempts he had tracked last season. He just didn’t have many guards capable of getting the ball up to him in this situation. The Bulls now have the likes of Caruso and point guard Lonzo Ball to get to more effective lobs up to him.
It’s exciting to think about the potential for the Bulls with Caruso and Lonzo now in the fold to play alongside LaVine. This offense will be even more potent with star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan in the starting unit.
The Bulls have a rotation that is worthy of breaking this postseason drought that has now extended to four years. Adding some of the free agents that they did such as Caruso, Lonzo, DeRozan, etc. will help this team reach those heights.