Zach LaVine reject $90m contract extension…

July 14, 2024 Newzecho Uncategorized 0

Zach LaVine reject $90m contract extension…see more

Zach LaVine

With DeMar DeRozan no longer on the Bulls, trading Zach LaVine is the last big item on Chicago’s offseason checklist. The team has been trying to move him since last season, but there has been no interest throughout the league.

While LaVine’s market has been depressed by some criticisms that are true, many are false. The pendulum has swung way too far toward the negative with him. His production on the court speaks for itself. As for the off-court criticisms, they’re mostly bunk.

Here’s why LaVine is not as toxic as portrayed.

LaVine did have one bad moment last season. He rushed off the court, pushing away a Bulls PR employee after a comeback win when he should have been celebrating with his teammates. He apologized for that incident.

Putting that aside, if you watched the games, then you would have noticed LaVine leading the cheers from the Bulls bench while they were playing better without him.

LaVine has publicly supported his teammates throughout the years. After bad losses, he has mostly pointed the finger at himself rather than taking the easy way out and blaming others.

LaVine’s attitude hasn’t been extraordinarily poor, but it is true that he has been a difficult player to incorporate into the team’s offense. He will break off plays to hunt for his own shot, and he’s not a fast decision-maker. When you look at who he’s had to pass the ball off to, his mentality starts to make sense.

LaVine has been in some truly atrocious situations both in Chicago and Minnesota. He’s played for six different coaches in 10 years, including some of the worst of the last decade. His rosters have been mostly awful — 72 of his 101 teammates are out of the league today.

Names like Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad and Ryan Arcidiacono litter the top 10 players that he’s played the most games alongside. Try winning games when Arcidiacono leads your team in win shares (that really happened, back in the 2018-19 season while LaVine was coming back early from an ACL tear).

Through it all, LaVine has managed to be wildly productive. He’s been near the top of the league in usage and well above average in terms of efficiency despite defenses loading up on him.

This is how he has been routinely guarded while on the Bulls, who have never put good shooting around him:

Other flawed players have had high-level success by getting into better environments. LaVine was once part of a losing trio of Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Both of those Timberwolves teammates have gone deep in the playoffs by sliding into smaller roles. Lauri Markkanen went 77-144 in his time as a Bull, looking like a draft bust in the process. He made an All-Star team with the Jazz and is now one of the hottest trade names in the market on a new team.

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