Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine only played in 24 games in his first season with the team, as he was recovering from an ACL tear.
While LaVine showed flashes of being an All-Star-caliber player last season, there were still questions about his game, so much so that a lot of Bulls fans questioned Chicago's decision to match the Sacramento Kings' four-year, $78 million offer sheet for the high-flyer.
LaVine shut all those critics up with his play this season. The 24-year-old appeared in 63 games and averaged 23.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists.
The Bulls didn't win a lot of games, but LaVine says he still had a strong year:
Zach LaVine: "I think I put together a really, really good year, especially for my position as a guard. But I didn’t get the accolades I want as an All-Star or All-NBA. You’re not on a winning basketball team. And those things come from that. So you have to put winning first."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 6, 2019
The next step for LaVine is to lead the Bulls to the playoffs. After Chicago acquired Otto Porter Jr. from the Washington Wizards, the team was much more fun to watch and showed they are capable of being a playoff team.
LaVine had three games this season where he scored over 40 points. He established himself as one of the top young scorers this league has to offer.
It wasn't always pretty, as LaVine and head coach Jim Boylen didn't see eye-to-eye at the beginning of Boylen's tenure as coach. But as the season moved along, the two started to understand each other better.
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