Bulls guard Zach LaVine wants to be the closer. He never has been one to shy away from that.
Heck, he has had more than a few instances the last two seasons in which he has delivered in crunch time.
But it hasn’t happened often enough, especially against the NBA’s upper-echelon teams, considering the Bulls are 1-13 this season against opponents .500 or better.
The Bulls’ home loss Thursday to the Jazz was only the latest failure in LaVine’s attempt to play the hero.
But coach Jim Boylen isn’t looking to find a new closer. He will continue calling on LaVine late in games and wants him to finish them.
‘‘Yeah, I think he’s done it,’’ Boylen said when he was asked whether LaVine has the DNA to be an NBA finisher. ‘‘He’s done it before. He made the play in Washington where he dropped it off for the layup. He made the and-one against the Clippers [at the United Center] to win the game. He’s done it, and we’re going to keep putting him in those situations. We’re going to keep believing in him.’’
If only the numbers backed that up.
The only quarter in which LaVine’s shooting percentage is lower than 40 percent is the fourth, where it’s 39.5 percent. That’s not including his 1-for-7 in overtime.
He also is shooting 38.6 percent when the game is within five points, as opposed to 45 percent when it’s between six and 10 points and 47.3 percent when the difference is more than 10 points.
When there’s less than three minutes left in a quarter, LaVine is shooting 39 percent, as opposed to 45.3 percent in the three- to six-minute range and 42 percent when there are more than six minutes left in a quarter.
Those numbers are natural for most of the NBA population, considering defensive intensity picks up late in quarters and in tight games. But they also don’t scream ‘‘elite NBA finisher.’’
Compare some of LaVine’s numbers to those of former Bulls star Jimmy Butler. When a game is within five points, Butler is shooting 43.5 percent overall and 36.1 percent from three-point range. When the difference is 10 points or more, Butler is shooting 38.1 percent overall and 25 percent from behind the arc.
Again, stats might not tell the whole story, but they show something.
LaVine, however, is Boylen’s best option right now, and the coach won’t be looking to pull the plug on that anytime soon.
That’s not the only plug he’s not pulling, either. While many in the organization were talking about the playoffs at the start of the season, Boylen was quick to emphasize development first, with the hope that winning would join in along the way. He’s still selling that and the priorities he’s trying to get accomplished.
So any ideas of a switch in the offensive philosophy or of Boylen going to the front office and asking for different personnel, well, that’s not happening.
‘‘We are laying the foundation and the building blocks for this,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘We’re in a new system with a new team and a new coach, and I wanted to be a defensive team. We are. We needed to improve our rebounding, needed to improve our defending without fouling and needed to improve offensively. Those are the things I’m going to work on, and I’m not going to be deterred from that mission. I’m not.
‘‘I like this group of men. They work and they care. They try and represent the city and play hard, and we’re going to keep working at it.’’
