LaVine's absence adds questions to Bulls' continuity originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
This isn’t what the Chicago Bulls envisioned when they talked about continuity.
Lonzo Ball out indefinitely. And now Zach LaVine “managing” his left knee, also for an undetermined amount of time and possibly for the whole season.
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No matter how the Bulls tried to spin things on Wednesday as they opened their season with an impressive 116-108 victory over the Miami Heat, make no mistake: This is a new development and new messaging.
How else do you explain the Bulls and LaVine talking all preseason about how good he felt and then pivot to sitting him out of an opener that occurred five months after an arthroscopic procedure?
As recently as Friday, LaVine talked about how much different this preseason already was, how he felt relieved not to have to think about what his knee issues would or wouldn’t allow him to do in games. That’s what he did basically from January on through the playoffs last season.
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“Not having any aches and pains and being able to play without any limitations in my own mind is huge,” LaVine said following Friday’s practice at the Advocate Center. “Like, ‘OK, I can’t go left. Or I might not be able to dunk this play.’ You’re not supposed to be thinking that way when you’re playing basketball. And I was dealing with that a lot last year. I’m just happy I feel better.”
Coach Billy Donovan tried to chalk it up to a string of hard practices following the following exhibition---which LaVine sat out---and Wednesday’s opener. That’s fine. But in an unquestionably new development, Donovan told reporters in Miami that this is something the franchise knew it would have to monitor.
“We knew going into the year that we were going to have to basically manage him as it relates to what was best for his health. We fully expected that there would be flare-ups, discomfort, whatever word you want to use,” Donovan said. “But there was gonna be these situations where we were gonna have to make these decisions where, 'He has to sit tonight.' I think we all felt like that was part of it going into the season.”
That’s not what LaVine said after he signed his five-year, $215 million maximum contract in July. That’s not what management said on media day.
Maybe this is all forgotten by the time LaVine fully works his way into game shape, although don’t expect to see the two-time All-Star guard in both games of a back-to-back set early in the season.
That means the Bulls and LaVine almost certainly will have to pick between Friday night in Washington against the Wizards or Saturday’s home opener against the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers.
Again, this isn’t what continuity looks like.
“I think any time you have players out---not just our team but any team---it definitely hurts. The continuity is not ideal,” Donovan said. “But from a coaching perspective, we have to play to an identity.
“I thought what happened was when we got bombarded last year with all these injuries, we were trying to piece it together. Part of it was we had never really been together. The whole team was new. I thought we came in with a really good plan. Nobody knew what we would go through.
“So can we establish an identity and style of how we need to play to where you’re not going from game-to-game saying, ‘OK, we gotta change this and now we gotta implement this.’ I feel like that’s my responsibility and my job. We have to play to a certain style.”
With or without LaVine.
The impressive thing is the Bulls did that against the Heat. They played physically. Ayo Dosunmu flashed the maturity of a 10-year veteran. Goran Dragic and Andre Drummond supplied veteran depth off the bench.
And DeMar DeRozan did DeMar DeRozan things, becoming just the second player in franchise history to post a season opener with at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists. Michael Jordan did so three times.
Last season, DeRozan broke an obscure record by Wilt Chamberlain, scoring at least 35 points on 50 percent or better shooting in eight straight games. Now he’s joining Jordan.
“I was just being aggressive,” DeRozan said on the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast. “We were moving the ball. And I was getting good looks.”
And the Bulls, who struggled so mightily against the Eastern Conference elite last season, are off to a 1-0 start.
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