If Matas Buzelis is the only Chicago Bulls representative at All-Star Weekend, I will hand-write a letter to Adam Silver requesting a suspension for all 30 NBA head coaches.
Zach LaVine deserves to be in San Francisco.
- Considering the sheer irrelevance of the Bulls this season, I’m not necessarily surprised that LaVine has struggled to rank within the Top 10 of Eastern Conference guards in fan voting. Chicago isn’t gracing the national airwaves nor sitting at the top of the League Pass rankings. People rightfully aren’t all that interested, which is why I don’t blame them for sleeping on LaVine. The head coaches – on the other hand – are as tapped in as anyone, and those are the folks responsible for selecting the All-Star reserves. If many of them don’t write LaVine down on their ballot, I will be shocked
- The East has a lot of talent – I’m not ignoring that. But LaVine has been as good as any guard in the conference, particularly since the calendar turned to 2025. He is averaging 29.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists in the New Year. This includes seven 30+ point performances in the last 11 games and a shooting percentage from the field of 54.3 percent. That’s unreal.
- Thanks in part to this scalding hot run, LaVine now sits 13th in total points scored this season. Among the players that rank in the Top 13, the two-time All-Star sits alongside multi-time MVP Nikola Jokic as the only one shooting 50+ percent from the field and 45+ percent from long range, per NBA Stats. If that doesn’t underscore how absurdly efficient LaVine has been on the offensive end this season, I don’t know what will.
- Some will try to discredit the guard by pointing toward the organization’s incompetence, suggesting he is a “good stats, bad team” player. But that’s just haters hating, in my opinion. While these numbers are ridiculous regardless of the team’s situation, LaVine is also impacting winning like never before. The Bulls score a +10.1 points per 100 possessions when he is on the floor, which ranks inside the league’s 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Their effective field goal percentage goes up +6.4 percent, which ranks in the 98th percentile! Overall, his On/Off differential is +11.8 this season, which blows his previous career-high of +4.7 in 2018-19 out of the water.
- And, yes, LaVine has done more than just score the basketball this season. His decision-making has taken a step in the right direction, as has his defensive effort. Nonetheless, that shouldn’t really matter for his All-Star when he’s posting these elite offensive numbers. His scoring power alone this year warrants a third All-Star appearance, and I’m crossing my fingers the 29 other head coaches in the league realize that.
- Speaking of Zach LaVine, Bleacher Report ranked him No. 6 on their list of top trade targets at this year’s deadline. They also suggested that the Detroit Pistons were the best landing spot, which we all remember is a team that emerged as a suitor last season. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I see that happening again this year. Do I think it would be wise to pursue a veteran star to put next to their young score? Absolutely. You need to take a step toward the playoffs eventually, and LaVine can possibly help them accomplish that as soon as this season. However, the fact this is an entirely new front office has me doubting that those rumors pop up again. We haven’t heard anything since they overhauled things this offseason and it’s unclear if they even want to make a big move.
- The Athletic gave the Chicago Bulls a C on their mid-season report card. Meanwhile, Yahoo Sports opted for a D grade. While they did overachieve to begin the year and have gotten great play from LaVine and Vucevic, I certainly side with Yahoo Sports. If we’re looking at the organization as a whole, they remain on a very problematic path. I’d be willing to upgrade this team into the C range IF they can show us they’re ready to shake things up at the deadline. Until they do that, they will continue to be one of my worst students.
- While the Chicago Bulls have some tough opponents on the upcoming schedule, they did get a bit lucky. The Golden State Warriors will be playing on the backend of a back-to-back tomorrow night and could be without Draymond Green, who is working through a calf strain. The 76ers will also be on the backend of a back-to-back when they come to the United Center on Saturday AND be without Joel Embiid. Throw in the fact that they dodged Kawhi Leonard on Monday night, and the Bulls sure feel like they catching a big break after a five-game skid.
- I have to admit, doing this at 40 is incredible …
- Zach LaVine got some golf in on this road trip!
- The latest ranking of baseball Top 100 prospects includes several Chicago Cubs. Brett give you the rundown here.
- Speaking of prospects, four of the Blackhawks’ youngsters were named finalists for college hockey’s biggest award.
- Ben Johnson is officially the head coach of the Chicago Bears. What a fun sentence!
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