Chicago Bulls: 3 players wildly disrespected in ESPN rankings

Zach LaVine is still overlooked

It’s mind-boggling at this point, but Zach LaVine continues to be underrated and overlooked. ESPN has LaVine ranked no. 56 overall after a season where he very well could have played in an All Star Game, but came up just short.

Last season, LaVine posted a line of 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting the three ball at a 38 percent clip. If that doesn’t scream top-40, I’m not sure what does, then.

A few select players ahead of LaVine include:

55. Center Christian Wood of the Detroit Pistons (13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds)

54. Point guard Lonzo Ball of the New Orleans Pelicans (11.8 points, 7.0 assists, 6.1 rebounds)

51. Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets (9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds)

Arguably the most insulting player ranked ahead of LaVine is a fellow NBA Central guard, Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers.

Oladipo comes in at no. 47 overall, and he’s a guy who needs to focus on staying healthy above all else, before he’s taken seriously in any national rankings. Last year, Oladipo averaged a mediocre line of 14.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He also shot worse from outside than LaVine by nearly seven percentage points.

The fact LaVine is still so disrespected should fuel him even more. Hopefully, he uses this as motivation to prove to the NBA world he’s deserving of the type of respect stars receive around this league in 2021.