HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT
Normally discreet LaVine isn’t hiding his joy about Donovan coming to Bulls
Rocking the rim?
That’s in Zach LaVine’s wheelhouse any time he takes to the air with a basketball in hand. Rocking the boat?
The Bulls guard has made a career of staying away from that. His unhappy moments with former coach Jim Boylen were many, but LaVine kept them as private as he could over the last two seasons.
He admitted last week that he called Boylen after his Aug. 14 firing and had a conversation with him.
“I’ve been through a lot of coaches,” LaVine said. “It’s just part of the business of basketball. Players get traded. Friends get traded. Coaches get fired. It’s just something that happens. I look at myself as someone who is extremely professional.
“I reached out to him, gave him a thank you and told him I hope he lands on his feet. He responded. Everything was good on the phone. At the end of the day, regardless of whatever the media narrative is, it’s tough when people get fired because this is their livelihood. I definitely just wanted to reach out to him and say a few words.”
LaVine also had a few words to say about the hiring of new Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “Hallelujah” could have been the first.
“I was extremely happy,” LaVine said. “Somebody with his track record, not just in the NBA but in college as well, and a whole ton of players who are proven saying how great of a guy he is and how good of a coach he is as well . . . People like me, when you want to be great, you want to be coached extremely well. So I’m happy. I gave him a text right when I heard the news. And I told him, ‘Hurry to get after it.’ I’m extremely excited. I think the whole organization is.”
LaVine in particular should be. He’ll be entering his seventh NBA season and has yet to experience a playoff game. His career winning percentage is a little over 30%. That doesn’t exactly scream “foundation player to build around.” But as he and teammates discussed when the news of Donovan’s hiring broke, the hope is that with this coach, he can start rewriting his legacy.
The Bulls are now in the scrimmaging phase of voluntary minicamp, which the NBA allowed the eight teams that were left out of the Orlando playoff bubble. While Donovan won’t be there, he has been the big topic of conversation.
“[His hiring] was unexpected,” LaVine said. “It was something that I think a lot of people didn’t see coming. I think it just shows what [vice president of basketball operations] Arturas [Karnisovas] and [general manager] Marc [Eversley] are bringing to the table on uplifting the franchise right now.
“[Players] haven’t seen each other or talked to each other for a while. So definitely [we like] being a little competitive [at camp], being able to talk and play a little bit. Also, having those conversations of being ready ... for next year and really having something to go after.’’
But what if there’s still more underachieving? If that happens, LaVine said the finger-pointing should start with him and stay in the locker room.
“Coaches put us in position to get us better and help us win games,” LaVine said. “But the players are out there. It’s a collective unit, but as a player, you always have to look at yourself first.”