Bulls Notes: LaVine, Ball, Williams, Donovan

Although Bulls swingman Zach LaVine is in the midst of a career year, the two-time All-Star’s teammates feel he is getting short shrift from national media and fans, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.

“I don’t understand it,” guard Lonzo Ball said. “(He’s) definitely a top-three shooting guard in the NBA right now. I don’t understand why people talk down on him. He’s a true professional.”

Bulls guard Coby White, LaVine’s longest-tenured Chicago teammate, believes LaVine’s excellence has been under-appreciated for the entirety of their partnership.

“He’s been overlooked since I’ve been here,” White told Poe.

LaVine is shooting with remarkable efficiency, as the top scorer on the 18-23 Bulls. Through 36 games, the 29-year-old is averaging 23.8 points on a .516/.455/.807 slash line. He’s also chipping in 4.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 0.9 steals a night.

Poe notes that Chicago has had just three games on national television this year, which could be partly to blame for why he has been somewhat unheralded in 2024/25.

“Unfortunately, sometimes it’s out of sight, out of mind,” head coach Billy Donovan said. “When guys are not necessarily out there all the time, it’s hard. You’re not really watching them or seeing them or thinking about them.”

There’s more out of the Central Division:

• Lonzo Ball, meanwhile, has been impressive in his first season healthy for Chicago since 2021/22, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Following three surgeries to repair a pesky meniscus tear, he is finally back in action for Chicago, on a minutes limit. Cowley notes, however, that Ball is now consistently playing more minutes off the bench. “I didn’t know what to expect [of Ball] because a lot of the workouts that I watched were one-on-one, and I didn’t see him play five-on-five,’’ Donovan said of Ball’s gradual return ahead of the season. ‘‘I got pretty optimistic when training camp started. I was able to see he was running and doing the things he was doing. He [just] needed to get his timing back.”
• Bulls starting forward Patrick Williams has been only sporadically available to Billy Donovan this season. When he does hit the floor, the head coach wants to see steadier production from the fifth-year wing out of Florida, Cowley notes in another piece. “My expectations for him, even in my conversations with him, is, and this is going to be kind of a broad statement, but you got to feel him out there,” Donovan said. “That’s not necessarily scoring. He’s shot the ball pretty well. You gotta feel him on the glass, feel him in transition, feel him with the activity with his hands, feel him at the rim. That. I think he’s capable of doing that. That’s really been the message more than anything else, of him getting his body size, physicality into the game.”
• Williams inked a five-year, $90MM deal as a restricted free agent to stay with Chicago long-term over the summer. On Wednesday, that agreement became trade-eligible.