Fresh off the Bulls officially matching the Kings’ fully guaranteed, four-year $78MM offer sheet to Zach LaVine, the 23-year-old combo guard says he is ready to prove all of the doubters wrong who wonder whether he is worth the nearly $80MM in guaranteed money that he will earn from the Bulls, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.
“I’m my hardest critic,” LaVine said Sunday during the Bulls’ summer league game against the Lakers in Las Vegas. “There’s nothing that any of you guys can say to me that I [don’t] take harder upon myself. I go back and critique my game every year. I’m used to people sleeping on me, and I’m also used to waking them up as well. I’m happy that I have this contract, and I’m happy that I have a little extra motivation to go out there and prove it to some people that don’t believe in me.”
“At the end of the day, I believe in myself, I believe in my work, and I’m going to show the city of Chicago it’s a good choice and I’m here to stay. I’m going to be their guy, and I’m ready to do whatever to help this team get back to that spot.”
And despite saying publicly that he was disappointed the Bulls hadn’t done more to lock him in as a restricted free agent when the free-agency period opened, LaVine backtracked from those comments after the deal with the Bulls became official, saying that he simply meant he never wanted to sign an offer sheet because he wanted to stay in Chicago so badly.
“I think a lot of that got taken out of context,” LaVine said. “The main thing that I wanted to get my point across was I wanted to just deal with Chicago. I never wanted to get [to] a point of [having to sign] an offer sheet. Regardless of whatever happened, I’m going to put that behind us. I’m happy as hell that I’m going to be able to play for the team that I want to play for.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers found unexpected success this past season and the front office deserves credit for avoiding complacency, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com opines. Indiana brought in Kyle O’Quinn, Tyreke Evans, and Doug McDermott on mid-sized deals, all moves designed to help them compete in a now-weakened Eastern Conference.
- The Cavaliers, who are still searching for another assistant coach on head coach Tyronn Lue‘s bench, interviewed Warriors assistant coach Willie Green and Sixers assistant coach John Bryant recently, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Green has since re-upped with Golden State.
- Because he signed a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, Jose Calderon likely could have chosen to play wherever he wanted to this upcoming season, opines Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. But he ended up picking the Pistons simply because he believes they can be a good team. And although he’ll likely slot in behind Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith on the depth chart, it’s possible new coach Dwane Casey could play two point guards at the same time, thereby opening up playing time for Calderon.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
McDermott is a waste.
Why? Not sure what he offers in terms of defense but he can flat out shoot and stretch the floor. What don’t you like? Just curious.
I don’t like the term (three years seems like one year too long), but I don’t mind McDermott as a Pacers fan.
I like all the moves Indiana made. They’ll challenge for #2 in the East.
No way, Celtics are gonna be 1, 76ers are 2, and if the raptors don’t blow it up their 3. Not a chance of anything higher than a 4 seed for the pacers
No chance they get higher than 3. But there is at least some chance of getting a 3 or 4 seed.
Smart shoppers!
Yes, it’s a good idea to get Calderon on the court when you can.
At this point in his career he knows what he can and can’t do. So you don’t see him trying to do something he can’t. He almost always makes the correct pass, play and he knows where to go on D even though his one on one D is no longer useful.
Indiana isn’t gonna be a top 4 as they will be taken by Philly, Milwaukee, Boston & Washington, from there will depend on how much better they can be & how much worse other teams are gonna be, like Toronto, Cleveland & Miami probably are gonna drop. Tyreke was a brilliant signing for them, or any team, KOQ is a good move, though I am not so sure is the best for Indiana with other 2 centers ahead of him, McDermott doesn’t count for anything, as useless as it gets. I thought they would improve the PG position, but I suppose Tyreke can help with creating.
I like when when people say their comments were taken out of context and then in the following sentence confirm exactly what everyone was saying about their comments.