Chicago Bulls: 2017-18 player grades for Zach LaVine

Was Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine able to successfully bounce back from an ACL injury that sidelined him for nearly a year? Here is a look back at his 2017-18 season.

Prior to this season, the Chicago Bulls had reached the playoffs eight times during a 10-year span. That’s the good news.

The other side of the story is they had advanced to the conference finals just once and were eliminated in the first round six times. In other words, the Bulls were good, but not nearly good enough to be considered a championship-caliber team.

So after suffering through a few years of basketball purgatory, the Bulls decided it was time to fully commit to a rebuild. They started the process last offseason with a draft-night trade that sent three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler and the No. 16 pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick, which turned out to be Lauri Markkanen.

Out of the three players the Bulls acquired, LaVine was considered the centerpiece of that trade. Yes, LaVine had established himself as one of the more athletic guards in the league.

However, he also sustained an ACL injury that limited him to just 47 appearances with Minnesota last season.

With that mind, one of the biggest questions for the Bulls was whether or not LaVine would be able to play at all this season, which was a valid concern, considering what happened with former MVP Derrick Rose.

The second question was: How much would LaVine be able to contribute and would he be able to regain the form that helped him average a shade under 19 points per outing while shooting 38.7 percent from downtown in 2016-17?

To answer these questions, let’s take a look back at LaVine’s 2017-18 campaign.