Bulls guard Zach LaVine is doubling down on his playoff prediction

Bulls guard Zach LaVine isn’t about to walk back his preseason opinion of his team.

Not in an Eastern Conference that’s filled with below-average teams, including the Magic, who were just a few stumbles from allowing the Bulls to grab the eighth playoff spot.

But LaVine is a realist.

He knows that the other part of the equation is his own team understanding the importance of turning this 13-21 season around sooner than later.

Like starting Thursday, when the Bulls host the Jazz.

“I mean, as important as this season is,” LaVine said Wednesday, discussing what January will mean to the franchise. “Going into the All-Star break could make or break a season. We know we have a pretty grueling schedule. But I think we’re up for the task. We had a bad showing to close out 2019.

“We understand the position we’re in. We’re 1œ games out of eighth place. I think we’ve thrown some games away. I think we should be right in that hunt. As poorly as we’ve played some nights, we can still make up for it. We just have to understand what it is.”

Not that LaVine’s glass-half-full mentality comes as a surprise.

It was LaVine who started the playoff smoke at the end of last season. It flamed up a bit in the summer and burned throughout training camp.

But it didn’t take long to be doused.

The Bulls had a tailor-made schedule for a quick start and squandered it. Now they have a brutal schedule in January with little room for error.

Still, LaVine doesn’t regret the playoff talk.

“You have to think that way,” he said. “If you don’t think that way, you’re not a competitive person or a dude who believes in yourself or the team. I believe every game that we play we’re going to win. Is it realistic? No. But if you don’t go in with that mindset, I think you already lost.

“We’re 1œ games out. Anything can happen. It’s the NBA. You can get hot, go on a run. We haven’t had that yet this year.”

There’s more than just a playoff push at stake for the organization.

Some decisions about the rebuild must be made by February, and what happens in the next four weeks will dictate the path the front office takes.

Coach Jim Boylen spent a few minutes after practice to sit with vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, but Boylen said that trade scenarios aren’t a part of their daily talks at this point.

With forward Chandler Hutchison (right shoulder) all but ready to return, the focus is on what they have on the roster rather than what they can add.

“John and I talk every day about the team, about practice, about what I think we need to work on, where we’re at,” Boylen said. “I try to give him a synopsis of the last game, where I think we can grow, what we did well. We have not had discussions about the trade deadline or our roster in that way.

“It’s coming. To be honest with you, this month is as difficult a month — with the number of games and the quality of opponent — that we’ve had in a while. We’re going to try and practice hard when we can, and we’re going to try and improve in every situation. That’s been my focus and our staff’s focus, so we’ll keep working at it.”