Chicago Bulls: Three reasons for optimism in the second half of the season

1. Zach LaVine’s continued ascent as a star for the Chicago Bulls

After three-and-a-half seasons, it has finally happened: Zach LaVine will represent the Bulls as an All-Star.

As far as scoring goes, not much has changed for the former UCLA Bruin: he ranks eighth in points per 100 (37.9) and 14th among qualified players in true shooting percentage (64.9 percent). However, few expected him to make the jump he did as a playmaker.

Prior to this year, LaVine earned a reputation for doing two things when the time came to pass to a teammate: make a poor read for an easy steal or a bad pass for the same result. But thanks to Billy Donovan’s streamlined offense, the reads are easier, and to LaVine’s credit, he’s making defenses pay for any openings they present, as his 23.5 percent assist rate shows.

Most impressive, however, is his improved defense. Stephen Noh recently went into painstaking detail discussing LaVine’s improvements as a defender, specifically noting his heightened engagement as a help defender and in rotating, which were his weakest areas on that end of the floor.

Consequently, LaVine has become negligible on defense; his -0.5 Defensive EPM is nothing to gush over in the macro, but the 41st percentile sounds a lot better than “one of the worst perimeter defenders in the NBA”.

Add that together, and you have someone who has become a legitimate franchise centerpiece, and it will be fun watching LaVine continue on that trajectory in the second half of the season.