Asked why he only pulled LaVine so early on a night several starters looked flat, Boylen said: “Because I didn’t want him in the game anymore. I think he needed to come over and think about it. He had three egregious defensive mistakes that I’ve talked to him about.”
“I don’t remember seeing three egregious mistakes,” LaVine said. “I think I was supposed to show on one. And I didn’t. I told him because Jimmy doesn’t usually set screens. He slips out of them. I didn’t want to show and have him cut right to the basket. They told me to show and I didn’t show. The other two, I don’t know.
“I try to talk early, especially the one with Kendrick Nunn. I had to protect the paint. You ain’t just trying to give up a transition layup. Once you call that man, it’s going to be hard to play two people. I’ll have to look at the one with Jimmy in the corner. I think we got messed up on a switch. [Shaq Harrison] called switch and one of us didn’t respond to it. He got an open three. I think he airballed that one, right? So.”
“You have a conversation with him,” LaVine said on what’s next. “He thinks I had three egregious defensive mistakes. That’s on him. He can make his own opinion on that. I tell him how I feel. He tells me how he feels. I can’t really let that try to affect my game. I still have the rest of the game to play.”
More at the link:
https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/jim-boylen-pulls-zach-lavine-early-dispiriting-home-loss-heat
I tuned in after half-time, so maybe Boylen's subbing was justified. Still, it's not a good sign that he's starting to lose his leading scorer. I said it in another thread, but if Paxson sees Lauri and LaVine as potential franchise cogs why has he trusted their critical development with Hoiberg and Boylen? It just seems like if you care about their development, you don't hand the keys to the franchise to someone so unproven.
