Chicago Bulls: 3 players that will be affected by Lonzo Ball

Zach LaVine is going to be very good when he plays with Lonzo Ball on the Chicago Bulls.

Zach LaVine, the Bulls franchise piece and poster boy will thoroughly enjoy Ball’s presence on both sides of the floor. LaVine will be able to work off-ball well more in the offense than he is used to next season. In the past, LaVine was needed to handle the ball and score with the ball in his hands on offense.

LaVine’s percent of two-pointers that were assisted last season was 35.5 percent of field goals. Clearly, LaVine does most of the work himself on offense when he has the ball. With Ball, LaVine can use his athleticism to work off-ball and allow the offense to get more creative.

The first thing that comes to mind is that LaVine will be an effective lob threat, transition threat, and offensive decoy off-ball. All these things point to the fact that the Bulls’ offense is about to get well more creative and versatile with Ball running the show at point.

On the other side of the floor, LaVine is not the best defender. He has never held a positive defensive box plus/minus in any season of his seven-year career. Ball, on the other hand, has never had a negative defensive box plus/minus in his four-year career. Most importantly, Ball is most effective guarding the guard positions. His presence will take the defensive pressure off of LaVine in the backcourt next season.