(670 The Score) After signing a five-year, $215-million maximum contract in the offseason, Bulls star guard Zach LaVine will be counted on to elevate his game to another level.
So how exactly can he do that? By being healthy – which he is now after a cleanup surgery on his left knee in May – and then with a two-way focus, coach Billy Donovan said.
"I have such respect and admiration for Zach," Donovan said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Tuesday morning. "Because I think when people hear that he's dealing with a knee (injury) or he's dealing with his thumb, he really battled through a lot of things to get himself on the court (last season). Certainly being in the playoffs, it was disappointing when he got COVID and missed the last game. He was never really quite healthy, but he tried to push through it and work through it as best he can. I think for Zach, I've loved being around him and loved working with him because one, he's a really good team guy. He's an incredible person. And he has incrementally gotten better and better since I've been around him. And I think that can be the case for his entire career. Zach's got the ability to be a really, really outstanding two-way player. I think he's focused very much on his defense. I think there were things that inhibited him last year from really being the kind of two-way player that we all believe he can be. But I think the biggest thing for Zach going in is being that two-way player, being who he is. I think he plays with the right intentions. I think for any player … when you're seeing a player trying to get out there and play through these kinds of injuries and working through it, it's tough to watch. But that's the competitiveness in Zach. I do think him getting back to being a guy that's playing both sides of the ball will be important. It looked, when I saw him this summer, he's gotten his explosiveness back. I thought he lost some of that last year playing on his (ailing) knee. Again, there was no issue with him playing last year, him putting himself in harm's way. He was able to play. It was more just about how he could deal with the pain. And there were certain games he couldn't play. But him getting back to being who he's been on both sides of the ball will be important."
LaVine, 27, averaged 24.4 points. 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting 47.6% overall and 38.9% on 3-pointers last season, when he was named an All-Star for the second time.
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