drosestruts wrote:Ice Man wrote:I doubt that Zach's reputation has suffered much outside of Chicago. He has pretty much always been on bad teams, which has happened because he has rarely had strong teammates, and he's not good enough to carry a team on his back by himself. So after a while the fans turn on him.
Players of a similar ability are Bradley Beal, KAT, Kristaps Porzingis, Wemby (this year's version), Cade (ditto), Kyrie Irving. If those guys are your team's best player, forget about it. You suck. And eventually your fans will call you a loser, and maybe some outside fans too. But every other team wants that guy on its roster, if the price is right. Such is Zach.
Well said.
I think it's very true and relevant that Zach's never been on that good of a team.
I also think it's relevant that the league as a whole is more talented than we've seen in decades.
A team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis is a .500 team
It is funny, because at least on this board, Zach’s fans have always viewed him as a complementary player on a good team, not the driver. Even more than that, for Zach to really help a team, he needs to be in a very specific role, first or second scorer and on-ball defender, but only secondary ball handler. A finisher, not a creator, and certainly not an offense (or defense) runner/controller.
The problem for the Bulls is that when Lonzo went down, they lost their primary ball handler, and primary ball handling responsibilities suddenly had to get distributed.
They brought in DDR, where San Antonio DDR’s secondary playmaking and secondary scoring would have been a good fit (and adding a FT drawing dimension the team lacked), but with Lonzo and LaVine out DDR went on his DeJordan run… and suddenly you are back to Toronto DDR - a guy whose best role is… first or second scorer, maybe a bit of on-ball defending (when he is trying), only secondary ball handler. Same exact role that Zach needs to be in, and really only room for one of those on the court at once (especially when your center needs shots). Worse for Zach, Derozan is a smarter ball handler and better in the clutch - so without a primary ball handler, DDR is better at that role than Zach. (With a primary ball handler, Zach is better due to creating better spacing because of his better shooting from range.). Anyway, what resulted was some sort of subconscious ego pissing match between DDR and LaVine, and the my-turn, your-turn that turned off teammates and sunk the offense. Or to mention less effort on defense by both, in particular DDR (until this season, but the foot may have something to do with it).
And, despite Coby improving, I’m still not sure that he is a primary ball handler as much as just another guy in the LaVine/TO DDR role, it better at offense running than the other two, less consistent as a scorer.