Bulls: What the rotation could look like with Zach LaVine back in the fold
With Zach LaVine’s Bulls debut imminent, Fred Hoiberg will have some decisions to make with the Bulls lineup going forward.
It is important that Fred Hoiberg integrates Zach LaVine into the rotation in a way that will benefit both Lavine and the team. Regardless of whether LaVine will be starting or not, he will most likely be placed on a minutes-restriction for the first 15-20 games he plays this season. This plan will limit him to about 20-25 minutes a night. This will ensure that he is able to ease back into the grind of a dense schedule while keeping his body fresh and rested.
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So far this season the Bulls have mostly sported a starting lineup of Kris Dunn, Justin Holiday, Denzel Valentine, Lauri Markkanen, and Robin Lopez. LaVine will start for this team, but he might come off of the bench for his first few games in order to get used to playing NBA basketball again. When he is ready, he will most likely replace Justin Holiday in the starting lineup.
LaVine’s move to the starting lineup will add a new dimension to the Bulls’ fast paced offense and will give Justin Holiday a chance to come off bench and provide a scoring spark to the second unit.
The bench rotation will most likely be a variation of Jerian Grant, Holiday, Nwaba, Mirotić, and Portis getting some spare minutes. Players like Mirotić and Portis will provide shooting and floor spacing that will be beneficial to LaVine coming off of his injury by giving him enough room to operate and do what he does best: attack the basket.
Throughout the rest of the season, Fred Hoiberg will have to experiment by switching Holiday and Valentine with each other the starting lineup to see what is the most fluid and what compliments LaVine the best. Both are hovering around 35-37 percent from outside, so they can be interchangeable in the starting unit depending on the match-up.
The first two and a half months of this season have been pretty eventful for the Bulls organization and its fans. The lows have been low and the highs have been high, but a piece has been missing from the puzzle during all of this.
It’s time for Zach LaVine to be unleashed and it’s up to Fred Hoiberg to create lineups and rotations to make the most of LaVine’s talent once he is fully back.