Chicago Bulls: 3 ways Zach LaVine is changing people’s opinion of him

1. Zach LaVine is a scoring machine

At 27.7 points a night (easily a career-high), LaVine is the fourth highest scorer in the entire NBA at the moment. In a recent loss against the L.A. Clippers, he went toe-to-toe with Kawhi Leonard, trading baskets against one of the seven best players in the league. LaVine did not look out of his depth, and he hit a ridiculous 10 3-pointers on his way to scoring 45 points as well.

LaVine is somehow still only 25, and you have to believe his best days are still in front of him. If he was in the position of Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics for example, how differently would he be viewed? Even as things stand, however, there is now clearly more reason to take note of LaVine and what he is doing.

His scoring prowess alone should be enough to see the Bulls hang around and look to get into the play-in tournament for the postseason (if we get that far), and because of LaVine, and pretty much LaVine only, the Bulls rank 15th in offensive rating right now (107.9). Defensively we are all aware of the drawbacks, but if LaVine can become even average on that end, it would be huge.

All of which is to say, much like Vucevic in the past, LaVine now has a clearly defined role on this roster, and his scoring output, in particular, is suddenly valued hugely. The next highest scorer on the roster is White with 17.7 (Markkanen is also averaging 17.7 a night, but has appeared in only four games). After that, the drop off to Carter Jr. is substantial (12.8 points).

Scoring at a high level consistently is one of the hardest things to do in the league, and a byproduct of that is that it excites fans and sells tickets and jerseys. To that end, LaVine is actually doing a lot to keep the Chicago Bulls in the minds of fans eager to see another young team emerge.

All he had to do to achieve this, is exactly what he has done throughout his career to this point. Zach LaVine may finally be in a position that suits his style of play. All that is left to do is routinely put up 30, only this time he won’t be getting ridiculed for it.