For Zach Lavine, his season with the Chicago Bulls ended as one of the best ever.
The six-foot-five small forward/shooting guard averaged 25.5 points per game before the 2019-2020 season of the National Basketball Association came to an abrupt halt last March following the postponement of games.
The Bulls were 11th in the Central Division with their 22-43 win-loss record.
But, unfortunately, they won’t be among that squads that will be back in action when the season restart this July 22.
This was after the NBA Board of Governors approved a competitive format, and named a list of teams which can return.
And the Board’s approval is the first formal step among many required to resume the season.
“It sucks. You’ve got to understand it. It’s a weird time, especially with everything that’s going on right now, but it’s upsetting too,” said Lavine in an audio interview of a Zoom video conference that was forwarded by NBA Philippines.
And because he was able to shoot 45% on field goals, 38% on three pointers and 80.2% on his free throws, observers believe that he is close to being part of the so called 50-40-90 club in the NBA.
The 50-40-90 club is all about a small batch of players who can do 50 percent from the field goal range, 40 percent from 3-point area, and 90 percent from the free-throw line in one season.
The players who can do this are Larry Bird, Malcolm Brogdon, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Stephen Curry, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, Mark Price and Steve Nash.
“We weren’t even good enough to get to the play-in game, so it’s upsetting and it just shows that we’ve got to do a lot of things differently to get ourselves that recognition to get to that spot. For me, it’s twofold. Obviously, I wanted to play. I wanted to be a part of it,” said Lavine. Peter Atencio
The Bulls are currently in a rebuilding mode as their organization fired their longtime general manager Gar Forman, reassigned John Paxson to senior advisor role, hired ArtÅ«ras Karnišovas as executive vice president of basketball operations, and brought in Marc Eversley as general manager.
And there’s even rumors about possible replacements for Bulls coach Jim Boylen.
Still, Lavine said he reserves judgment on how the Bulls’ season went with Boylen.
“It’s not for me to judge somebody. I think he goes out there and does his best. I don’t think anybody in any organization in the NBA goes out there and tries to fail. Sometimes it’s out of your power on win-loss record or what happens during the game. I know for a fact he’s tried and done his best, and that’s all you can ask for sometimes. As a player, I just go out there and follow the lead and go out there and do my job,” said Lavine.