ATLANTA – Zach LaVine continues to operate from a place that is soundproof.
The volume on the trade rumors and speculation about his future haven’t gone away since the start of the season, but according to coach Billy Donovan, LaVine has kept the main thing the main thing, and that’s Bulls basketball.
The two-time All-Star came out on media day back in September and insisted that he wouldn’t discuss outside noise, and he has more than stuck to that.
“With everything I’ve learned there’s times where you need to speak and times you don’t,” LaVine said in late September. “Whenever there’s something that needs to be said it will come from Zach LaVine or my representation. There were a lot of thoughts and rumors and opinions about me, about the organization, so just know that whenever it needs to come from me or them, you’ll know it will be from them. Everything else you can take with a grain of salt with false narratives or whatever it may be.”
That mentality hasn’t changed.
“I feel like whatever he said, he said at media day,” Donovan said on Saturday. “I felt in September when he came back, he was all in. I felt like when training camp started, he’s been all in, committed to trying to play the way we need to play.
“In terms of his attitude, all the stuff that may be out there, I have not had a conversation with him about that. Everything that we’ve talked about has been about the season, the team, and what we need from him, how can he lead.”
Playing games helps, so Donovan and the rest of the staff were glad to have LaVine back on the court against the Hawks after he missed three straight games with a strained adductor. But besides being all business, what’s also impressed Donovan about LaVine is there is a renewed interest to try and improve defensively, despite being in Year 11.
Not that LaVine will make anyone forget Alex Caruso, but there’s at least effort.
“I give him credit,” Donovan said of LaVine. “Because of Alex being that defender and even when Lonzo was healthy he was the other guy, but (LaVine has) taken on matchups to the best of his ability, and he’s done a really, really good job. He’s been all in on everything we asked him to do.”
Bigger picture for the franchise, however, is will the rest of the league take notice of what LaVine has been doing, especially with a three-year, $138-million price tag on him? While the Sun-Times has reported that all remains quiet on the trade front for LaVine, the front office remains committed to trading him.
Sweating it out
Backup forward Torrey Craig missed the Hawks game, staying back in the team hotel in Atlanta, before heading over late to catch the team flight out.
Craig was dealing with chills and a fever on Thursday, leaving the Timberwolves game at halftime. He felt better on Friday and took the flight to Atlanta, but according to Donovan, whatever was ailing him returned.
Not Josh-ing
Josh Giddey came into the game with the Hawks shooting a career-best 40.6% from three-point range so far this season, but also taking an average of 3.6 threes per game – the most since his rookie year (3.9).
“We’ve encouraged him to do that,” Donovan said of Giddey’s play so far. “To me if you make shots that’s great, but that comes and goes. He’s going to have nights where he doesn’t shoot it well and what are the things he can do that he knows he can rely on night in and night out to impact the outcome of the game.”