Zach Lavine appreciation thread

nekorajo · Post #21 » by **nekorajo** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 4:24 am

Tumbleweed. Bye Zach.

chicago paxsons · Post #22 » by **chicago paxsons** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 4:36 am

He was a an excellent scorer who didn't do much else that played on a lot of bad/disappointing/poorly constructed bulls teams. He had his flaws, but management and bad luck injuries to key players did him no favors.

The biggest thing that hindered his legacy as a player here, in my opinion, is that for every memorable highlight, he had a memorable bonehead play. It made him equally exciting and infuriating to watch.

ThisGuyFawkes · Post #23 » by **ThisGuyFawkes** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 4:47 am

chicago paxsons wrote:He was a an excellent scorer who didn't do much else that played on a lot of bad/disappointing/poorly constructed bulls teams. He had his flaws, but management and bad luck injuries to key players did him no favors.

The biggest thing that hindered his legacy as a player here, in my opinion, is that for every memorable highlight, he had a memorable bonehead play. It made him equally exciting and infuriating to watch.

Ditto this. I equally love him and hate him. Wish him the best of luck though. Always a professional and solid dude.

Stratmaster · Post #24 » by **Stratmaster** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 4:50 am

Why start now?

MisterRoy · Post #25 » by **MisterRoy** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 4:51 am

We're gonna miss him. AKME will eventually regret this.

Axolotl · Post #26 » by **Axolotl** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 6:09 am

I like LaVine. Not so much because of his basketball prowess, but because of the fluidity of his athleticism. Him doing basketball things is aesthetically pleasing, and I appreciate that.

Hangtime84 · Post #27 » by **Hangtime84** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 6:14 am

I'm sad. Congrats on the baby tho

BullChit · Post #28 » by **BullChit** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 6:54 am

kulaz3000 wrote:
aguifs wrote:Kings... poor guy... jeez

People forget, he signed the offer sheet from the Kings all those years back. He wanted to the on the Kings, so I'm guessing he is relatively happy.

I forgot about that.

When you look at it in totality we just confirmed the last 7-8 years were meaningless.

Zach went to the Kings eventually anyway
We don't have Markannen or Dunn on the team any more.
DeMar and Caruso gone.
Lonzo and Vuc should be gone next.

Will miss Zach though, loved his game and honestly when Zach was on he made the game of basketball look so so easy...

Will be Lavine fan for life now best of luck to him and his.

Post #29 » by **Ice Man** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 7:45 am

Zach was a lot of fun to watch -- a rare blend of quicks, hops, agility, handle, and shooting. He didn't have much head for the game, which is why he couldn't live up to the #1/#1A status that the Bulls asked of him, but I will remember him fondly. He gave what he could and was very entertaining in the process.

Kurt Heimlich · Post #30 » by **Kurt Heimlich** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 7:55 am

Zach is a talented guy who tried to play the superstar but he obviously just isn't when it comes to team impact in a very star driven sport. The Kings are the Bulls West, so good luck to him in the exact same situation just even less relevant than the Bulls. This team is utterly irrelevant and it is so fitting that they are the most irrelevant part of that 3 team deal.

WesPeace · Post #31 » by **WesPeace** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 8:41 am

Good luck Zach, probably the least favourite destination to go.. Kings will never be true contender!
AKME is just horrible!

Zach was always big professional,hard worker and likeable guy, great athlete,our best shooter, but not that winning player we hoped for.

GusFring · Post #32 » by **GusFring** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 9:35 am

evilboy wrote:What is there to appreciate?

8 years
1 playoff appearance
1 playoff game won

LateNight · Post #33 » by **LateNight** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 9:39 am

It was exciting from the first wink.

Always seemed to try hard. But, in the end, this was just a bad time to be a Bull.

Adriano · Post #34 » by **Adriano** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 9:50 am

LateNight wrote:It was exciting from the first wink.

Always seemed to try hard. But, in the end, this was just a bad time to be a Bull.

And It will be a bad time to be a Bull for the next half decade or so, at least.

TheGOATRises007 · Post #35 » by **TheGOATRises007** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 11:05 am

I wish him luck.

League Circles · Post #36 » by **League Circles** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 11:11 am

Always trained well and was very talented. Not much of a leader or complete player but oh well. He was our best player and we traded him for very little in return. It's sad that anyone thinks that a guy has to be a superstar yo justify keeping and paying a big contract to. Unrealistic IMO.

ChiTownHero1992 · Post #37 » by **ChiTownHero1992** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 12:50 pm

Good person, nothing against him at all but absolutely glad he is gone, one of my least favorite Bulls players of all time!

Off the court though never really had any qualms with his personallity, so I wish him luck elsewhere.

Post #38 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 12:56 pm

I liked Zach. I think he's one of the more underappreciated guys in the league and his contract become toxic more due to the CBA than anything else. If it weren't for that all these second apron teams would have been all over him.

That said, 7 years is a long time for a guy to be the #1 option on your team and have no meaningful success. I don't blame that on Zach, but sometimes it is also time to part ways, and the time for the Bulls and Zach to do that was two years ago.

Wingy · Post #39 » by **Wingy** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 1:15 pm

HomoSapien wrote:It wasn't a good era, but it also wasn't his fault. We had bad coaches and bad rosters for pretty much his entire tenure. I appreciated how professional he was. He really carried himself well and I hope he finds a team that will help him change his image.

About sums it up. His biggest crime was that he is an all star caliber player, but not the rare superstar. Yet those guys get maxed all the time and his timing just so happened to coincide with the new apron rules, shining a spotlight on his deal that was just like so many others before him.

Worst part is Sacramento. I was really hoping he’d land somewhere with a real star and be able to change the unfortunate and to me, completely unfair “loser” narrative.

Alas, he’ll have to settle for being really rich with an excellent pro career. Not a terrible consolation.

Post #40 » by **DuckIII** » Mon Feb 3, 2025 1:25 pm

I have huge appreciation for Lavine. I think he's had an incredibly unfortunate career, including landing in Chicago where he began with a large part of the fanbase very clearly rooting against him because he was included in the trade for our beloved Jimmy Butler. And many of them never let up.

Then, despite from all accounts working his ass off like no other and significantly improving his game in many ways, he remained maligned by many Bulls fans and was never really embraced by the fanbase at large. Not due to himself, but due to the organization placing him in a situation for which he is not suited - franchise player.

Zach's teammates loved him, he always seemed very friendly and interactive with fans, he was exciting to watch (mental warts at all), and he gave the Bulls everything he had to succeed. But the organization was never able to get "the guy" that Lavine needed to really play the role he's suited for. While there were a couple of "attitude" blips they were incredibly minor by "disgruntled NBA star player" standards and amounted to nothing.

And now he gets traded to the Kings. He has had a most unfortunate career so far aside from the $$$. Hopefully at some point he lands in the right situation and proves to everyone once and for all just how incredibly valuable he is as a secondary/tertiary scorer.

Much love to an all time great Bull in my book.