Bulls guard Zach LaVine is optimistic about his health heading into the season, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes. LaVine was being held out of several early back-to-backs last season, including the season opener against the Heat.
Outside of Lonzo Ball, this might be the healthiest the Bulls have been since Arturas Karnisovas assembled the core of the roster in 2021, Cowley writes. Now, LaVine and others are aiming for an improved season.
“I’m in shape; I’m not rehabbing, so you’re not second-guessing things,” LaVine said. “I feel like myself, like I did from December on. I had a full offseason. It’s always good to come into camp in shape and not have any extra ailments.”
LaVine averaged 26 points on 50.7% shooting after December 2 compared to 20.9 points on 40.9% shooting before that point last season, as Cowley notes.
Cowley also writes the Bulls are still experimenting with what works for them in head coach Billy Donovan‘s new-look offense, including potential lineups. All indications are Coby White won the starting point guard position over Ayo Dosunmu and Jevon Carter, Cowley adds.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Pistons coach Monty Williams faces several difficult decisions as the season draws near, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic writes. Edwards predicts the starting lineup to be Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren, with Jaden Ivey notably coming off the bench. Edwards points out Ivey hasn’t started in the preseason yet and Thompson has impressed on the defensive end, which has been an emphasis for Detroit.
- Rookie guard Marcus Sasser is pushing for a rotation spot with his play in the preseason, per Edwards and Omari Sankofa II of Detroit Free Press. Sasser had 17 points and eight assists in an October 12 preseason game against the Thunder. “He’s a guy that plays with a great edge,” Williams said. “He competes every single day, in practice. He understands with me that if you compete and defend, you’ll find yourself on the floor. That’s what you’re seeing with him.“
- Pacers rookie Ben Sheppard is making an impact in the preseason and saw run with the second unit in the team’s Monday preseason game against the Hawks, Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar details. “Sheppard is playing a mature game for a rookie,” head coach Rick Carlisle said. “He is older. He did play four years [of college basketball at Belmont] and it shows. But he understands what we need of him. … He’s a little bit like Buddy [Hield]. He’s doing a lot of good things.” Dopirak also notes Jalen Smith and T.J. McConnell are standing out and pushing for rotation spots.
Idk, I thought Jevon Carter would have been a very solid and stable consistent starting PG for the Bulls.
White has made progress with his vision and play-making skills though, so let’s just see…
Meanwhile, everybody seems to get mentioned except Monte Morris when you read articles about the Pistons, and playing time.
A healthy Morris would make a serious run at being the starter for the Bulls at PG. Coby White can be the spark off the bench. Find minutes for Jevon Carter. Ayo out of the rotation.
Probably because Monte Morris plays for the Detroit Pistons, not the Chicago Bulls.
What I mean is that trying to work out a trade for the Bulls to get him, at this point, would be just setting loose the fox among the chickens. All it would do is create problems for the Bulls rotation. And their backcourt minutes are already chaotic.
Also, while Morris is a better defender than White, it’s by very little. And White still has the superior build and physical abilities for a defender. I don’t think it’s worth trying to try and mess with anything else right this second. Re-evaluate in-house first, then look for outside options. They can make a trade easily if they do have an issue.
Thirdly, the Pistons probably aren’t really interested in trading Morris at this moment. Killian Hayes has pretty well played himself out of their rotation, and someone needs to handle the backup guard minutes.
Morris is on par, and on many days better than either Coby White or Jevon Carter. Adding Morris would give the Bulls a solid trio at PG. Caruso can roam the 2, 3 and 4 slots off the bench.
A strong trio of point guards is the best way to attack the fact that you don’t have a bona fide difference-maker at the position. Since the Bulls have decided to not rebuild, and to try and be some type of good team.
He definitely could if the Bulls would make a run for him.
They really need a quick, passing PG that’s a solid perimeter defender, and one that can occasionally hit the open 3. That was Lonzo, and he fit this team perfectly. Without Ball the giant hole he’s left has been quite obvioud.
Jevon Carter fills those same roles and cost no assets to obtain, just money. That they look set to go with Coby White is either due to foolishness or a genuine improvement on White’s part.
@EonADS That’s pretty much exactly what I was thinking.
I mean Coach Donovan is not a bad evaluator of talent, so I’d have to imagine if they’re going with Colby White over J.Carter it’s due to White showing growth over the off-season.
My big thing with White has always been his court vision and lack of consistency. I personally thought Carter could provide more stability for the Bulls starting unit, and then they could let White continue to have his ups and downs as a scoring option off the bench where his ebbs and flows won’t quite matter or effect the team as much.
White has looked very good in preseason. He also seems to be developing chemistry with Lavine. Carter and Craig have been rabid defense digs off the bench.
White even had a couple steals in the last game, his hands have been active. I think they should give him a chance, Mo Cheeks has trained him well.
White has always been able to look really good in flashes, I just have to see more consistency out of him.
That second unit would be a defensive nightmare though with Ayo, Carter, Craig, Caruso, and then with Drummond cleaning up the boards. Offense would likely be difficult to come by, so they’d probably have to always rotate in one of LaVine or DeRozan, but there’s no doubt their bench mob is going to play with alot of high intensity effort on the defensive end of the court…Especially if that’s how their rotations end up playing out.
LaVine is the only AS quality guard maybe on the trade block right?
This has to be who Morey I guess could be targeting. 2 FRPs from the Clippers + expiring deals to land LaVine?
Why would the bulls do that ?
If they are barely a play-in team at the deadline…
The guy who can make this Bulls team legit. Is Siakam……. He fits Zach, Vucevic nicely. Bulls, Raptors, Knicks can do a three way. DeM DeR to Knicks …….
I’m sure we can work it out. Raptors like Bulls can use a PG of the future. IQ is ready. With Jalen in NY. IQ will never get his real chance. He’s going to be moved.
Ok brother you make it happen by repeating your mantra…
I would actually really like a starting five of J.Carter/C.White, Z.LaVine, P.Williams, P.Siakam, and then N.Vucevic…
In my opinion, they’d actually fit alongside much better as a starting group rather than with D.DeRozan…
Make it happen!! lol