In response to Zach LaVine’s public slamming via an unknown source within the Chicago franchise, ESPN’s NBA Today show dissected the comments and defended the former UCLA Bruin. While LaVine has struggled for the better portion of three seasons, been absent for 77 games over that time, including only playing 25 games a year ago, and is one of the highest-paid players in the league despite his one career playoff victory, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins claims there’s enough blame to go around. Recently, a Bulls’ source strongly hinted that LaVine’s top priority is himself, saying that his whole career has lacked sustained success. With only one playoff win to his name and only one appearance in the postseason, it’s hard to argue that there’s not some truth to the claim.
“No Accountability For The Bulls Front Office”
Perkins argued on ESPN that Chicago’s front-office management should receive a healthy amount of scrutiny in addition to LaVine. Mentioning how few valuable pieces they have surrounded their two-time All-Star with and how measly their draft selections have been during his tenure, fingers should be pointed at Arturas Karnisovas’s group. Many Bulls fans would happily agree with the unanimous source inside the organization and with Perkins that neither LaVine nor the franchise has been up to par in the last decade.
The most notable draft selection by Chicago since LaVine’s arrival has been Coby White, who emerged last season as a potential All-Star, placing second in the Most Improved Player award race. This was filling a void that the injured LaVine left behind. The most significant free agent signed to pair with the 29-year-old has been DeMar DeRozan, who’s over 30 years old, a primarily iso-scoring archetype, and didn’t mend well with LaVine’s play style. This summer’s trade involving Josh Giddey was the first trade in three calendar years, ending the longest drought in the sport. Does Perkins have a point?
Accountability Turning Into Action
The question that remains aside from who has been to blame for the last seven years of disappointing basketball in Chicago is when will the replacements arrive? Does Zach LaVine get traded, does Arturas Karnisovas get fired, does Billy Donovan get shipped? LaVine trade rumors have gained traction around the trade deadline for each of the last two seasons, and they again picked up this summer. Karnisovas has preached continuity within the organization and tried to force the DeRozan, LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic into cohesion for three seasons. The sign-and-trade of DeRozan to Sacramento finally signifies the ending of that failed experiment. How many more experiments do AK and the company get to perform before he’s replaced?
Bringing in 21-year-old Josh Giddey and drafting 19-year-old Matas Buzelis while seeing the departure of two players over 30, Alex Caruso and DeRozan signifies a youth movement is inbound for the Bulls. Does LaVine get a last chance with a lineup catered to his skill set, or does Karnisovas find a trade partner before the tip-off of the 2024-25 campaign?
How could this be any kind of Surprise? Reinsdorf’s minions don’t care about winning, there is no Michael Jordan pressure to actually WIN!! SELL THE TEAM JERRY!!!