For Zach LaVine, the incident is closed. The rear / winger reacted badly in front of the microphones on Friday, following a frustrating defeat conceded by Chicago against Orlando (107-108). At 1/14 shooting that night, he had prematurely joined the bench in the last four minutes of the game.
More thoughtful yesterday after training, the former Wolves player returned to this beginning of “bad buzz” that he hopes to quickly forget, with a big performance against Boston tonight for example.
“I just told him that I felt I had earned the right to go out there and try to play despite a bad game.”he explained. “His decision was to try to do the best thing for the team, which I respect. If we had won, I would have been delighted. We lost, so I wasn’t.
His intervention was above all intended to temper what looked like the beginning of tension, especially since the course of the match proved his coach right, the substitutes having been essential in particular to return to the score and really not far from snatching victory.
“I had a horrible game. There’s only one game left, but I don’t want it to get out of proportion to the point of talking about this defeat, when we’ve lost other games this season and there’s a lot left. Everything is fine. He understands where I’m coming from and I understand the decisions he has to make as a coach are tough, even if your players don’t agree with them.” added Zach LaVine.
The dialogue is not broken
Confirmed in his decision by these statements, Billy Donovan also wanted to calm things down. Tensions and frustrations are part of life in a locker room and it is important for everyone to move on.
“I fully understand his competitive spirit, his desire to win and to be on the field. He has to. I think all the great players want to be able to do that.” he slipped. “I felt that at that time it was best for the team. And I think he knows that I will always try to put the team first and do what’s best for them. I also respect his point of view (…). Whenever you are in a very competitive environment, there will always be frustrations, disappointments or annoyances. But I still feel like I can tell Zach anything and I think he can tell me anything.”
That was also the purpose of this clarification exercise: to ensure that there was no frying on the line. Zach LaVine therefore drove the point home by ensuring that the dialogue was never broken with his coach.
“We have a good relationship with Billy. We talk all the time. I think he understands, we are adults, this is an adult business. There will be difficult days. As in any sport or any business, we cannot agree on every decision made. So we talk about it, we move on while accepting the other side’s point of view. he concludes to definitively turn the page.
| Zach LaVine | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2014-15 | MIN | 77 | 25 | 42.2 | 34.1 | 84.2 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 0.1 | 10.1 |
| 2015-16 | MIN | 82 | 28 | 45.2 | 38.9 | 79.3 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 14.0 |
| 2016-17 | MIN | 47 | 37 | 45.9 | 38.7 | 83.6 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 18.9 |
| 2017-18 | CHI | 24 | 27 | 38.3 | 34.1 | 81.3 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 16.7 |
| 2018-19 | CHI | 63 | 35 | 46.7 | 37.4 | 83.2 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 23.7 |
| 2019-20 | CHI | 60 | 35 | 45.0 | 38.0 | 80.2 | 0.7 | 4.1 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 25.5 |
| 2020-21 | CHI | 58 | 35 | 50.7 | 41.9 | 84.9 | 0.6 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 27.4 |
| 2021-22 | CHI | 67 | 35 | 47.6 | 38.9 | 85.3 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 24.4 |
| 2022-23 | CHI | 12 | 33 | 41.5 | 36.2 | 84.0 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 20.7 |
| Total | 490 | 32 | 46.0 | 38.5 | 83.0 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 19.8 | |
