Zach Lavine: Offered 4/80 from Kings update p26 Bulls Matched

[RedBulls23]

I do question if he can be a number 1 option, but I didn't see anything wrong with what Zach said.

[MrFortune3]

The more talent the better. The more competition for the #1 spot, the more the players develop and that in turn makes everyone a better player.
Parker pushes LaVine, LaVine pushes Lauri, Lauri pushes Carter Jr, Carter Jr pushes Dunn, everyone else tries to come up to their level.

Not sure how on earth you get a "God help us" moment out of that.

I agree with this take, you want players wanting to be the best.

There are two sides to being a young team, without a clear hierarchy, and we kind of dealt with it slightly during the Gordon, Deng era. In one aspect, it drives competition, and it motivates all the players and they want to one-up each other. The flip side is that it creates confusion as to who should be leading, it creates jealousy among players etc.

We're going to know quickly whether the team respects each other, and enjoys playing with each other once the season starts. And now whether they are pushing and challenging each other behind closed doors though, I'm all for it.

There has to be an alpha, the issue with the Deng, Gordon and Hinrich years was that Deng was the most complete player but not a superstar, Gordon was the main scorer but thrived as a 6th man, Hinrich was solid but nothing really special.

Someone from this group has to become the lead and make everyone fall in line behind them.
The more chemistry they have, the more open competition and the more each one strives to push the other...the better the team will become.

Look at last season. Bobby and Niko had issues brewing for some time, then Niko got paid and his teammates were not really feeling that. Bobby knocked him out and all you heard was Bobby was a good person, great teammate and etc.
Jabari and Zach will command respect from their teammates initially due to having been successful as scorers in the NBA.
They will have to help put wins on the board and help make their teammates better for it to have a lasting impact. That will be the true test.

[Hold That]

Well, Lauri or Carter would never give that same answer. But if they did, people wouldn't like it anymore than they did Zach saying that.

Perhaps we should let them get a little more experience in the league before we start proclaiming what they would and would never say.....

And again, I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that if either of them (especially Laurie) made that comment today, the backlash would be minimal. Like, if he said something like “I feel that I took some great strides offensively last yet and I think that I am ready to be the focal point that this team needs me to be” people would be chanting his name as loud as ever. But WTH do I know??

Correct answer (from the PR101 handbook) :

" I feel like I've put in a lot of work and can be one of this teams top scoring options if not the #1 option. However, everybody in this lineup can score. As a team we need to take advantage of what the defense gives us. Move the ball to the open man, read the mismatches. I've been playing this game long enough, Vincent, to realize that nobody can outrun the ball"

Honestly ask yourself. Would the 23 year old version of yourself would have answered that so eloquently with the media?

We quickly forget how young these YOUNG men are and expect them to be well seasoned veteran politicians with the media.

Nothing Zach said was wrong but could he have said it better? Absolutely. But this kid came from Minnesota as a 3rd option, there media isn’t as aggressive as ours. So he’ll get better with the cameras in his face constantly. Take exception if he acted as if it would be comical that anyone else could be considered #1 option but him. Don’t take exception for him saying and claiming to be the #1 option. I would hope he feels this way, we just paid him 80mil and he’s the more tenured out of the young core.

Him saying he wants to be the #1 option doesn’t automatically mean he will be it in the long run. He’s going to have to prove it, and earn it. Just like majority of our #1 options have in the past. Otherwise they get traded Lavine would be no different.

[MrFortune3]

Perhaps we should let them get a little more experience in the league before we start proclaiming what they would and would never say.....

And again, I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that if either of them (especially Laurie) made that comment today, the backlash would be minimal. Like, if he said something like “I feel that I took some great strides offensively last yet and I think that I am ready to be the focal point that this team needs me to be” people would be chanting his name as loud as ever. But WTH do I know??

Correct answer (from the PR101 handbook) :

" I feel like I've put in a lot of work and can be one of this teams top scoring options if not the #1 option. However, everybody in this lineup can score. As a team we need to take advantage of what the defense gives us. Move the ball to the open man, read the mismatches. I've been playing this game long enough, Vincent, to realize that nobody can outrun the ball"

Honestly ask yourself. Would the 23 year old version of yourself would have answered that so eloquently with the PR?

Nothing Zach said was wrong but could he have said it better? Absolutely. But this kid came from Minnesota as a 3rd option. Take exception if he acted as if it would be comical that anyone else could be considered #1 option but him. Don’t take exception for him saying and claiming to be the #1 option. I would hope he feels this way, we just paid him 80mil and he’s the more tenured out of the young core.

Him saying he wants to be the #1 option doesn’t automatically mean he will be it in the long run. He’s going to have to prove it, and earn it. Just like majority of our #1 options have in the past. Otherwise they get traded Lavine would be no different.

Damn eloquent. He just got paid 20 mil a year. He better want to be the #1 option.
Jabari, Zach and Lauri should want to be the #1 option. Eventually it will work itself out and someone will rise to that position but they should all want to be it.

[kulaz3000]

We quickly forget how young these YOUNG men are and expect them to be well seasoned veteran politicians with the media.

Without disecting what he said exactly, I do sometimes think people forget this. These guys are kids, and barely in their 20's and at that age, it's rare to have the maturity to fully articulate what you feel or think.

Hell, I've said some stupid things on these very boards many years ago. And though I don't regret what I said, I do chalk up certain aspects of my less than mature responses due to just that, my immaturity and my mind set back when I was that age. There are plenty things I would have said in my early 20's, that I wouldn't say now as an adult, or if I did, it would be articulated in a very different manner.

[johnnyvann840]

Honestly ask yourself. Would the 23 year old version of yourself would have answered that so eloquently with the media?

Honestly, yeah, probably. I was a punk and a jerk but I was pretty smooth as a speaker and presenter. Doesn't mean I would expect Zach to. But, he is a pro athlete and has "people" advising him. He could have come up with a better, more team friendly answer, IMO.

We quickly forget how young these YOUNG men are and expect them to be well seasoned veteran politicians with the media.

Nothing Zach said was wrong but could he have said it better? Absolutely. But this kid came from Minnesota as a 3rd option. Take exception if he acted as if it would be comical that anyone else could be considered #1 option but him. Don’t take exception for him saying and claiming to be the #1 option. I would hope he feels this way, we just paid him 80mil and he’s the more tenured out of the young core.

Him saying he wants to be the #1 option doesn’t automatically mean he will be it in the long run. He’s going to have to prove it, and earn it. Just like majority of our #1 options have in the past. Otherwise they get traded Lavine would be no different.

He should want to be the #1 option, but he also needs to think the game better and not force things like he has in the past. He might want to mention these things once in a while. This is something I would expect from a veteran NBA player with four years in the league coming into his 5th season. And injuries are no excuse for this. In fact, he's probably spent more time with the media because of them than less. He's 23 and will be 24 the last few months of this season, he's not a 16 year old or even a 19 year old rookie.

[League Circles]

I still can't get over the ocean comments. I don't know why but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over it. Unless he pulls a 180 and becomes good. Otherwise I'll just forever be astounded that we paid Lavine more money per year than almost any player in franchise history and he didn't know where about the oceans and great lakes after 3 years of being a millionaire adult travelling to 30 cities repeatedly. I still can't wrap my head around that profound lack of awareness and ignorance. I'm going to try to be positive about this guy but that will definitely be in my mind until he is either good or gone.

[dice]

I still can't get over the ocean comments. I don't know why but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over it. Unless he pulls a 180 and becomes good. Otherwise I'll just forever be astounded that we paid Lavine more money per year than almost any player in franchise history and he didn't know where about the oceans and great lakes after 3 years of being a millionaire adult travelling to 30 cities repeatedly. I still can't wrap my head around that profound lack of awareness and ignorance. I'm going to try to be positive about this guy but that will definitely be in my mind until he is either good or gone.

what did he say?

[RedBulls23]

I still can't get over the ocean comments. I don't know why but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over it. Unless he pulls a 180 and becomes good. Otherwise I'll just forever be astounded that we paid Lavine more money per year than almost any player in franchise history and he didn't know where about the oceans and great lakes after 3 years of being a millionaire adult travelling to 30 cities repeatedly. I still can't wrap my head around that profound lack of awareness and ignorance. I'm going to try to be positive about this guy but that will definitely be in my mind until he is either good or gone.

what did he say?

Basically that he thought lake Michigan was an Ocean.

LaVine has a youthful sense of energy and wonder – he initially thought the body of water beyond his hotel window was an ocean, not Lake Michigan

https://www.nba.com/article/2017/06/27/chicago-bulls-blockbuster-trade-blows-franchise-different-direction

[FriedRise]

I don’t see anything wrong with Zach’s comment in that Goodwill interview.. what else was he supposed to say? “First option?? Nooo I prefer to always defer to my teammates and let them be the man.” I didn’t get a “this is my team now” vibe here.

But if that somehow becomes an issue, it’ll be interesting to see how this group functions with multiple guys who theoretically has the tool to be the first option. It’d go against what Pax had in mind when they put together this roster, but I think that’s a good problem to have.

“There’s always some type of pecking order, but that doesn’t mean one guy,” he said at a recent news conference. “I played with Michael (Jordan). He’s the greatest player of all time. So he was naturally the guy. But it’s not like that on every team. It’s the responsibility of our all our guys. They have to be themselves and play within the team concept.

“You can’t get caught up in terms of this guy is your finisher. That’s not what team basketball is about. What you want is, you want great talent. You want guys who believe in each other. I can go back to all those days we won. Michael was always the greatest player, but he trusted the guys around him.”

Paxson, not to mention Steve Kerr, has an NBA Finals game-winning jumper on his resume to prove it.

“That’s the beauty of our game, is when you get a group of guys who trust each other, believe in each other,” he said. “So the game’s on the line and Kris Dunn’s open and Zach LaVine is covered, Kris Dunn is the guy. Maybe on another night, Zach’s the guy or Lauri’s the guy. Maybe it’s Bobby Portis.

“I don’t get caught up at all in who’s the so-called man. I do think that our guys, they’ll stand out by their work and how they’ll perform. When you get a group that plays together, it generally results in a group that wins games at a higher level. That’s our goal, obviously.”

Read on Twitter

[SensiBull]

Nobody said "only one."

They guy is threatening to command nearly 20% of payroll on a 15-man roster for at least the next 3 years. No one else giving 'less than desireable answers' can say that.

It's one thing to be texting on your phone in the passenger's seat. It's another to be in the driver's seat doing that. It says something about the one who handed you the keys, not just about you.

I only hope for two things.
(1) LaVine plays well enough to be a plus contributor to this basketball team
(2) LaVine plays well enough to be considered a trade piece to move up in the draft.

Exactlty.


That makes two of us.

[WindyCityBorn]

I don't mind LaVine or Parker that much, I just really don't want them stunting the offensive development of Lauri. Which is the worst case scenario of these signings. I want Lauri to be the guy.

If Lauri is the guy he will be the guy. The cream rises to the top. He does need to be babied any more than Parker or LaVine now. He's not rookie any more.

[Hangtime84]

I don’t see anything wrong with Zach’s comment in that Goodwill interview.. what else was he supposed to say? “First option?? Nooo I prefer to always defer to my teammates and let them be the man.” I didn’t get a “this is my team now” vibe here.

But if that somehow becomes an issue, it’ll be interesting to see how this group functions with multiple guys who theoretically has the tool to be the first option. It’d go against what Pax had in mind when they put together this roster, but I think that’s a good problem to have.

“There’s always some type of pecking order, but that doesn’t mean one guy,” he said at a recent news conference. “I played with Michael (Jordan). He’s the greatest player of all time. So he was naturally the guy. But it’s not like that on every team. It’s the responsibility of our all our guys. They have to be themselves and play within the team concept.

“You can’t get caught up in terms of this guy is your finisher. That’s not what team basketball is about. What you want is, you want great talent. You want guys who believe in each other. I can go back to all those days we won. Michael was always the greatest player, but he trusted the guys around him.”

Paxson, not to mention Steve Kerr, has an NBA Finals game-winning jumper on his resume to prove it.

“That’s the beauty of our game, is when you get a group of guys who trust each other, believe in each other,” he said. “So the game’s on the line and Kris Dunn’s open and Zach LaVine is covered, Kris Dunn is the guy. Maybe on another night, Zach’s the guy or Lauri’s the guy. Maybe it’s Bobby Portis.

“I don’t get caught up at all in who’s the so-called man. I do think that our guys, they’ll stand out by their work and how they’ll perform. When you get a group that plays together, it generally results in a group that wins games at a higher level. That’s our goal, obviously.”

Read on Twitter

I'm watching this closely. I totally agree with Pax philosophy. Kerr even got through to Kevin Durant on it. Is Pax going to make sure that Fred holds Zach and "Clutch time Dunn" accountable for it.

[ThisGuyFawkes]

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/zach-lavine-dishes-free-agency-defense-and-his-plan-lead-bulls-back-glory-i-want-be-great

Says he's going to work hard to improve his defense, wants to be great on both ends.

[panthermark]

I didn't mind the interview....could it have been better? Sure...but it was far from a disaster IMO.
But I may have been biased because I read the other interview first where he talks about defense.

[bad knees]

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/zach-lavine-dishes-free-agency-defense-and-his-plan-lead-bulls-back-glory-i-want-be-great

Says he's going to work hard to improve his defense, wants to be great on both ends.

The article is from the same interview that triggered my concerns. It’s obvious now that the video clip that Goodwill first put out there was misleading. Happy to have Zach’s comments put in context. It’s almost like Goodwill read our board and decided to write something that would soften and normalize what Zach said.

Whatever. All we can do now is wait and see. I’m rooting for Zach to prove that my concerns were not justified.


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[wonderboy2]

Don’t understand why people would be upset at anything Lavine said. Everything he said was on point. Love the guys attitude and work ethic. I think he’s going to have a breakout season.

[wonderboy2]

I don't mind LaVine or Parker that much, I just really don't want them stunting the offensive development of Lauri. Which is the worst case scenario of these signings. I want Lauri to be the guy.

If Lauri is the guy he will be the guy. The cream rises to the top. He does need to be babied any more than Parker or LaVine now. He's not rookie any more.

+100. I love Markannan. I was one of the few that was high on him coming in to the league. But it’s his sophomore season now. He has talented offensive players around him now. If he shows that he is the man in camp than he will get his in the games. Parker is just as talented if not more talented offensively than Markannan. It is what is. Lavine for all of the **** he gets on here is extremely talented and was almost averaging 20 a game on good percentages before his injury. I’m actually of the opinion that Jabari and Lavine will help Markannan because they are very talented offensively. Defenders won’t be married to Markannan like they were last year because they will be trying to stop Parker and a healthy Lavine.

[Bandit King]

I find it insulting that so many are down on him when he was recovering from a serious injury and didn't get to play the whole preseason.

Zach has great work ethic and he will prove all of his doubters wrong. He can shoot, dunk, score at will, and create his own shot. Defense can always improve with a little effort. Zach is too talented and will be a league leader in scoring.

[Bandit King]

You cant judge somebody this talented on one bad season he is very young and needs some more coaching.