Chicago Bulls: 3 stats from 2019-2020 which bring hope
By Ryan Heckman
2. Zach LaVine and the number 12
There is a significance to Bulls fans and the number 12. Everybody remembers the night when Michael Jordan‘s jersey was stolen just before game time and he went out on the court wearing a blank jersey with no. 12.
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More recently, a fan favorite Kirk Hinrich wore no. 12 his entire time with the Bulls. It’s a good number, and Zach LaVine would agree.
Since coming to Chicago, LaVine has improved tremendously. He still might not be the defender we’d all hope he will become, but LaVine is now a budding star in this league. Over the 2019-2020 season, LaVine ranked pretty high amongst his peers in two major categories.
He finished 12th in the league in scoring (25.5 points per game) and 12th in the league in three-pointers made per game (3.1).
The Bulls haven’t had someone finish this high in either category, at the guard position, since Derrick Rose a while back.
To cherry-pick some stats and put a little more feel-good into LaVine’s season, he finished right behind LeBron James in points per game while shooting the three ball 4.0 percent better than James. LaVine also averaged more steals than James and shot the ball over 10 percent better from the line.
Now, LeBron is still the best player in the game. But, this is all about offering hope, and LaVine’s campaign did just that for Bulls fans.