Zach LaVine is one of the most exciting players in the NBA at the moment. However, he’s never played a single playoff game in his five-year career. Levine is desperate to start winning and is tired of losing.
“I’m tired of being done in April,” LaVine said. “I haven’t been in a meaningful playoff game in my career. And I feel like that’s what I’m looking forward to, getting out there and trying to build this thing up to having a winning culture.”
Zach LaVine on this season: "I’m good, I’m healthy, I’m ready to start the season. I wanna play more than 82, I don’t wanna go home in April. I’ve had some big nights in the NBA, but I haven’t played in a playoff game. I’m looking forward to trying to compete for those."
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) September 16, 2019
Although a part of a talented Minnesota Timberwolves team for the first three years of his NBA career, LaVine couldn’t make the playoffs. Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and LaVine were excellent on the floor, but that wasn’t enough to make the top eight teams in the Western Conference. LaVine got more freedom since his move to the Chicago Bulls, where he is undisputed No. 1 player. The results were evident already in his second year with the team — he averaged career-highs in points 23.7, rebounds 4.7, assists 4.5, steals 1.0, and field-goal percentage .467 in the 2018-19 campaign.
Even though the two-time NBA slam-dunk champion was happy with his improvement, he wasn’t satisfied with the Bulls 22-60 record.
“Just like every season, you don’t want to say trials and tribulations and ups and downs, but we fought through it,” LaVine said. “Our record didn’t speak for how we played. I feel like we were a lot more competitive than our record showed. We were in a lot of games, and building on that and learning how to win in the NBA is one of the hardest things.”
LaVine is convinced that Jim Boylen’s first full season as head coach in Chicago will be a success and that the young Bulls will benefit in the 2019-20 campaign.
“I feel like now that we actually have it,” LaVine said, “I think that we all have the same vision and can go and move along with a different concept of offense and defense. Because when you have two, three different coaches in that same amount of years, it’s tough for the players.”
