Guard Zach LaVine can contort his body in the lane in tough situations, and he’s also adept at wriggling his way around difficult queries, especially when they deal with the Bulls’ ‘‘core three.’’
LaVine thinks that he, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn have to figure out a pecking order for the Bulls’ offense to prosper. But he won’t divulge what that pecking order should be.
“I think it’s just for a pecking order as in, like — how can I say this without saying it the wrong way? — we know who each [other] is on the court,’’ LaVine said Thursday. “If somebody has it going . . . you know I’ve been on the court more than everybody this year, and [Markkanen and Dunn] are just coming back, and then I got injured, and I’m just coming back, so you have to understand your role on the team at that moment and moving forward with that. . . . If that sounds politically correct.’’
Not really, but it does shed some light on where LaVine, Markkanen and Dunn stand: smack dab in no-man’s land.
That predicament was apparent in the Bulls’ one-sided 119-94 loss Wednesday against the Timberwolves. LaVine came off the bench in his first game back from his ankle injury and was able to play only his 15th game with Markkanen and Dunn.
Think about that for a second. The three were acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade in June 2017 and only have played 15 games together because of injuries.
RELATED
• Familiar chants of ‘M-V-P’ fill UC as Derrick Rose returns to beat Bulls
• Bulls coach Jim Boylen not worried about the Tom Thibodeau comparisons
The latest test drive didn’t go well. In the first seven-plus minutes together, they were outscored 20-6 and shot 3-for-14 from the field.
“What I talk about is when Kris Dunn has the ball, that means two of our more talented guys, Zach and Lauri, don’t,’’ coach Jim Boylen said. “So when they don’t have the ball, they have to honor their assignments off the ball. Maybe it’s running the lane. Maybe it’s screening. Maybe it’s spacing appropriately. Maybe it’s forceful cutting. Maybe it’s making an open three on penetration when his man helps.
“That also applies to when [Dunn] is off the ball. I just talk to them about their obligation to the team and to each other when they don’t possess it. And when they do possess it, it’s about decision-making, creating situations. Each of them has to be a creator at times and a receiver at times. That’s where we have to grow. That’s what we have to do better as a group — understand that role at that time and execute. And that’s what I’ve talked to them about. And we’ll see how we do. We’ll see where it grows.’’
A big part of the Bulls’ rebuild is predicated on that. No one is more aware of that than LaVine.
“We just have to understand each other’s games, what we’re good at and where we have to help each other on the court,’’ LaVine said. “We’re all cool and everything like that. It’s just that you gotta get it together on the court. In a perfect world, we’re all really good friends, so everything should be real easy. But nothing is made that way; you gotta work at it. . . . But we have to get it done regardless because you start evaluating things like that eventually.
“I think eventually we will; it’s just about when.’’
