Cowley: Zach says his knee is not 100% and doesn't know if he will require surgery

[MalagaBulls]

This worries me, Cowley says he is going to play through the pain and Zach says even at 70-80% he is still one of the top players in the league.
Translation: Klutch is spinning this in the background still angling for at least the max.

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[PrimzyBulls81]

Of course.. Next is DeMar with shoulder injury

[coldfish]

Not really surprising. Zach noticeably hasn't been right for a while.

[weneeda2guard]

If I'm Donovan I remove lavine from any ball handling duties eliminate iso situations with him and play lavine off 2-3 screens and make him more a catch and shoot player

BTW I think he would be lethal in that role.

[Wingy]

I’ve remained in the top 1% of positivity on this team’s ceiling through the injuries knowing we’d get our guys back.

But this. This is the straw that breaks our puncher’s chance.

Not shocked after the fake-sounding, glowing pre-All Star reports.

All I can say is. I get that he needs playoff experience, but they better be right that they’re not risking a catastrophic-level injury here.

Also could be the real reason we didn’t make a big swing at the deadline.

This sucks.

Still...go Bulls. Let’s still win a first round series, and give someone hell in round 2. We still have that in us.

[madvillian]

I mean what could be wrong with his knee? The dreaded "lose bodies"? Not great. And yea, I knew as soon as it finally came out that he got the cortisone shot that it wasn't great. Of course it felt better after the cortisone shot, FFS Andre Agassi almost permanently **** his back using them to play threw serious disc issues that allowed him to play through pain so bad he couldn't even sit in a car.

[HomoSapien]

This one hurts and he hasn’t looked himself in awhile. I wonder what exactly is going on and if just rest for a few weeks would do anything.

[Ctownbulls]

He's a warrior. Give the guy credit. If it was me, or probably most in the NBA, they would shut it down for the season being on the bring of a max contract.

[jacoby1us]

Not sure if I would have leaked this although many posters on this forum already questioned his health weeks ago. This is not good heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

[FriedRise]

How similar is this to Kawhi’s injury? Is Zach going to miss the entire season next year?

[jacoby1us]

How similar is this to Kawhi’s injury? Is Zach going to miss the entire season next year?

If it’s an ACL or MCL he is done for the year, not to mention this is the same knee that he tore his ACL on before. This totally will throw a wrench into the Bulls negotiations with him for his new contract. I highly doubt the Bulls management will let him continue to play on a torn ACL or MCL.

All I can see is Derrick Rose all over again, Bulls leadership will most certainly operate with extreme caution if this is the case.

[Michael Jackson]

tis not good news for Zach or the Bulls. I am not to worried about long term but he better not mack it worse just to make sure he gets a Max this year. It is what it is.

[The Force.]

::Unpopular opinion::

I’m not convinced that Zach LaVine at 70% is better than no Zach LaVine. He’s turnover prone, doesn’t play defense, and has a low bball IQ. The Bulls are a top 5 offense and bottom 20 defense. We need smart defensive-minded players on the court with DeMar and Vuc.

Without his god given scoring abilities, I’m not sure Zach will do more good than harm, particularly in the playoffs. Not to mention there’s always a risk of the injury turning into something far worse.

IMO the front office should consider shutting him down for the season.


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[jacoby1us]

::Unpopular opinion::

I’m not convinced that Zach LaVine at 70% is better than no Zach LaVine. He’s turnover prone, doesn’t play defense, and has a low bball IQ. The Bulls are a top 5 offense and bottom 20 defense. We need smart defensive-minded players on the court with DeMar and Vuc.

Without his god given scoring abilities, I’m not sure Zach will do more good than harm, particularly in the playoffs. Not to mention there’s always a risk of the injury turning into something far worse.

IMO the front office should consider shutting him down for the season.


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Agreed.
At this point the Bulls really need to make the right decision and shut him down and actually invest in sending him to knee specialist for the best option available longterm. This team was not built for a championship run this season anyway.

[HomoSapien]

::Unpopular opinion::

I’m not convinced that Zach LaVine at 70% is better than no Zach LaVine. He’s turnover prone, doesn’t play defense, and has a low bball IQ. The Bulls are a top 5 offense and bottom 20 defense. We need smart defensive-minded players on the court with DeMar and Vuc.

Without his god given scoring abilities, I’m not sure Zach will do more good than harm, particularly in the playoffs. Not to mention there’s always a risk of the injury turning into something far worse.

IMO the front office should consider shutting him down for the season.


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I think you can make that argument when Caruso and Ball are back, but without Zach that means a ton of Troy Brown Jr. and Matt Thomas and that's not a good thing.

[The Force.]

::Unpopular opinion::

I’m not convinced that Zach LaVine at 70% is better than no Zach LaVine. He’s turnover prone, doesn’t play defense, and has a low bball IQ. The Bulls are a top 5 offense and bottom 20 defense. We need smart defensive-minded players on the court with DeMar and Vuc.

Without his god given scoring abilities, I’m not sure Zach will do more good than harm, particularly in the playoffs. Not to mention there’s always a risk of the injury turning into something far worse.

IMO the front office should consider shutting him down for the season.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

I think you can make that argument when Caruso and Ball are back, but without Zach that means a ton of Troy Brown Jr. and Matt Thomas and that's not a good thing.

I’m good with waiting until Zo and Caruso get back to shut him down.


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[Repeat 3-peat]

If the MRI came back clean what would the issue be with his knee if there was a need for surgery? a simple cleanup??

[WindyCityBorn]

How similar is this to Kawhi’s injury? Is Zach going to miss the entire season next year?

If it’s an ACL or MCL he is done for the year, not to mention this is the same knee that he tore his ACL on before. This totally will throw a wrench into the Bulls negotiations with him for his new contract. I highly doubt the Bulls management will let him continue to play on a torn ACL or MCL.

All I can see is Derrick Rose all over again, Bulls leadership will most certainly operate with extreme caution if this is the case.

There is no way he he playing through an ACL or MCL tear. It’s likely something that hurts, but can’t be further damaged just like thumb injury.

[WindyCityBorn]

It has been he isn’t healthy. Now we can seriously forget about any type of championship run. A first round win would be great now.

[nekorajo]

Thats kind of scary. I hope he doesn't make the same mistake Grant Hill made. Live to fight another day if you must.