Getty Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine is a Chicago Bulls fan-favorite.
His teamates dig him too!
“I feel like we play off each other,” Coby White told Mark Carman on Fansided’s Da Windy City while on a promotional run for Zenni Blokz’s initiative in both the Chicago Park District and Eastern Wayne Middle School in North Carolina.
The face of the Bulls, LaVine got snubbed in NBA All Star voting this season despite the UCLA product averaging 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per contest .
“By the end of the season, once we get team success, everybody is going to think about that,” LaVine told me before the NBA All Star break in February.
“I believe in myself on the court, I know who I am and I know what I bring…It’s a little upsetting yeah, you think you could be in there, you know you want to play in the game obviously but it’s not going to deter from who I think I am every night and you know, I’ll get there eventually.”
Coby White was the team’s third leading scorer in first year with the Bulls. The former North Carolina Tar Heel and seventh pick in the 2019 NBA draft shot 35.4% from downtown in his rookie season. He also averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists per game in that campaign.
While White stayed healthy this season, injuries weren’t kind to the young Bulls roster overall.
“Those last ten games, we were really difficult to guard out there,” White tells Fansided.
“We [also] didn’t get to add Lauri [Markkanen] and Wendell [Carter] to the mix.”
While speaking to Mark Carman, White also shared that he’s excited to see what a healthy Lauri Markkanen can do for a young Bulls squad. White insists that the Finnish star is “going to get back to” playing at his old level.
“Everyone knows how talented he is,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bulls are still looking for a new head coach after firing Jim Boylen earlier this summer. Boylen accepted the coaching job December 2018 and compiled a 39-84 record. The Bulls completing the 2019-20 season with a 22-43 record and eleventh place finish in the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings.
Word in the Windy City is that Denver Nuggets assistant coach, Wes Unseld, Jr. is currently a favorite in their coaching search.
“It’d be hard not to hire him,” a Bulls source shared last week.
“He’s been around a long time.”
A native of Catonsville, MD, Unseld Jr. has done tours of duties as an NBA assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards.
Other coaching names believed to be considered for the job include former Brooklyn Nets head coach, Kenny Atkinson, current Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham, Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin and Minnesota Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool.