Zach LaVine’s career-high night shows how far Chicago Bulls are from competing

It was a career night for Zach LaVine on Saturday night for the Chicago Bulls.

After struggling in his first two games of the season, LaVine returned to form on Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons. LaVine scored a career-high 51 points on 19 of 32 shooting including 7 three-pointers.

There was only one issue, the Bulls lost to the Pistons 118-102.

Zach LaVine’s career night on Saturday highlights more issues with the Chicago Bulls’ offense.

It has been a discouraging start to the season for the Bulls. The Bulls had a players’ only meeting after being blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday and needed a heroic effort from Alex Caruso on Friday to avoid a 0-2 start on the season.

While the Bulls certainly have heard the criticism from last season that they do not take enough three-pointers, they haven’t really changed from their overall offensive strategy. The Bulls are still a team that is plagued with isolation ball with either LaVine or DeMar DeRozan and that likely was the cause for center Nikola Vucevic’s immediate frustration at the start of the season.

That was always going to be the issue with the Bulls and their preference for continuity this season. The Bulls chose to continue something that has been a complete failure since the injury to point guard Lonzo Ball two years ago. At the bare minimum, this off-season, the Bulls should have traded DeRozan and opted to move forward with an offense that runs through Vucevic.

Instead, the Bulls are a team that is dependent on hero ball. The issue with that mindset is that when DeRozan is not the one playing hero, it often results in a loss for the Bulls. That would be the reason why even with 51 points scores on Saturday night, LaVine’s efforts did little to keep the Bulls in the game with the Pistons on.