Tag Archives: Zach LaVine

NBA, Shows

Triple Zeros: Rick Camp Part 2

Triple Zeros: Rick Camp Returns to Talk Some Bulls

Rick Camp, host of the Chicago Bulls radio postgame show, was gracious enough to join me once again on Triple Zeros. We got into Zach LaVine‘s surprising development, projected Coby White‘s ceiling, and so much more. Follow Rick on Twitter (@RickCCamp) and be sure to listen to him after every Bulls game on 670 The Score. Also check out the ‘I’m Fat’ and ‘Basketball Camp’ podcasts, available everywhere!

Anchor

Bill Zimmerman – Triple Zeros

Happy to be joined by Bill Zimmerman; the executive producer of Mad Dog Sports Radio show on Sirius XM, a contributor to Windy City Gridiron, and host of the Bears Banter podcast. We got into all things Chicago Bears, covering what Bill's assessment of their offseason up to this point, why the Bears are so bad at PR, and how they still have a path to Russell Wilson. All that and more on this episode of Triple Zeros! Be sure to follow Bill on Twitter (@ZimmermanSXM), tune into Mad Dog Sports Radio, and listen to the Bears Banter podcast! 10 Worst Top-10 NFL Draft Picks of the Last Decade Boston Celtics Fans Have to Wonder, “What’s the Point?” Chicago Bulls Numbers That Count: LaVine’s growth on full display Follow on Twitter and Facebook (@ JoshGBuck/@3ZerosPod/@ClockerSports) and visit ClockerSports.com today! — This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/triplezeros/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/triplezeros/support
  1. Bill Zimmerman
  2. He was "Seeing Ghosts"…
  3. "Best of the Best of the Best, Sir"
  4. "All the MVPs Going Down"
  5. "That? That's Desperation…"

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Triple Zeros. This is content to help reach the green light. Tis is content to help reach the green light. Ths is content to help reach the green light. Thi is content to help reach the green light. his is content to help reach the green light. Tis is content to help reach the green light. Ths is content to help reach the green light. Thi is content to help reach the green light. his is content to help reach the green light. Tis is content to help reach the green light. Ths is content to help reach the green light. Thi is content to help reach the green light. Triple Zeros

NBA

Well-Deserved 2021 NBA All-Star Nominations and Snubs

When the NBA All-Star reserves were announced on Tuesday, there was a lot to talk about. There were a couple of first-timers who have ground in anonymity for some time but are finally getting their due. Some are putting together quality and even breakout seasons but find themselves on the outside looking in.

You’ll never satisfy everyone. Some fan bases say their guy was snubbed. Others get indignant at the thought their guy doesn’t belong. It’s almost as if the league does this on purpose to keep the conversation going. By the way, this is all in the East. We can address why the West got it right next time.

Best 2021 NBA All-Star Game Selections and Snubs in the Eastern Conference

The Noobs

Zach LaVine – G – Chicago Bulls

It’s been a tumultuous career for Zach LaVine. Since entering the league in 2014. He had four different head coaches over his first four seasons in the NBA. Then he dealt with Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylen; back-to-back! They tried turning him into point guard as a rookie. But he’s turned himself into one of the best scorers in the NBA. This season he’s averaging a career-high 28.6 points per game.

But while we’ve known LaVine could score for some time, his efficiency has taken him to another level. A career .438 shooter, he’s up to .518 this season. He’s extended that beyond the arc, too. LaVine’s canning threes at a .434 clip; also a career-high. Many felt he was snubbed last season when the game was in Chicago. There is no such controversy this time around.

Julius Randle – F – New York Knicks

The New York area has done well with reclamation projects from the Los Angeles Lakers. First, it was the Nets and D’Angelo Russell. We see where they are now. But now the New York Knicks are making waves in the East with one Julius Randle at the forefront. Randle is averaging 23.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 5.5 assists.

He’s one of just three players this season averaging at least 20 points, 10 boards, and five assists; Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic are the others. Randle has been a 20-point-per-game scorer so he’ll likely miss out on winning the Most Improved Player award, but he and the Knicks are rolling towards their first playoff appearance since the 2012-13 season.

The Snubs

Trey Young – G – Atlanta Hawks

How does one go from starting the All-Star game one year to being completely left off the roster the next? One word: regression. Last season, Young averaged 29.6 points on .434/.361/.860 shooting. His effective field goal percentage has also taken a hit this season, dipping to .498 after being .519 a year ago. This despite his increased playmaking and a better record for Atlanta.

You also have Kyrie Irving back healthy and Bradley Beal who led all Eastern Conference backcourt players in all voting categories. For Young personally, he’s seen his average ranking between the three votes go from second to about seventh. His largest dip? In player voting. His peers have a lesser opinion of what he’s done this season than last. That’s pretty damning.

Jerami Grant – F – Detroit Pistons

This one stings as someone who has been rooting for Jerami Grant since he entered the league with Philadelphia. He’s the current betting favorite to win Most Improved Player this season, but he wasn’t good enough to make the All-Star roster? It’s actually very on-brand that Grant, despite the breakout campaign that’s seen him double his points per game and more than double his assists, remains an All-Star hopeful.

Just as it was with LaVine before him (and Beal before him), voters obviously need to see it done consistently to not write it off as an anomaly. LaVine had to improve his efficiency before being selected as a reserve this season. Beal had to prove he could be a primary scorer, when teams would know he was getting the ball, before earning his nod. Grant will have his time, eventually.

City of Brotherly Snubs

The Philadelphia 76ers offer the singular best display of the depth voters actually have when picking these rosters. Ben Simmons is averaging 15.7 points, 7.9 assists, and 8.3 boards a game. The former two numbers represent drops over his previous season’s output. But Simmons’s defensive presence and playmaking are empirically vital.

Tobias Harris is averaging career-highs in points, assists, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage, and is averaging the second-most rebounds of his career. One has to believe it’s Simmons’s defensive prowess that offset and overtook what Harris has brought this season. That isn’t to diminish Harris’s contributions, just to say there’s more nuance to the voters than we give them credit for.

The East’s NBA All-Star Nominations and Snubs

All in all, the East got it right. We just may not like how they got there. But even that shows a level of depth to the voting process that we have long felt was missing. Who was your favorite NBA All-Star selection or worst snub?

NBA, NFL, Shows

Triple Zeros: Nuk the Competition

NBA: Return Date Uncertain | Dinwiddie: KD Greatest Scorer
NFL: Clowney Declines Browns | Nuk: “I know I’m the best.”
+More!
NBA

(Un)luck of the Draw

Draft Lottery Unlucky for Bulls, Fans

The 2019 NBA Draft Lottery came and went with a whoosh. But it definitely left its mark on the NBA. That mark will create ripple effects across the entire Association. For some teams, that ripple is looking like a positive. For many other teams, though, the lottery created more questions (and problems) than before.

 

Can’t Always Get What You Want

The sky is falling! No, that is not a reference to beloved fictitious character Chicken Little. It is, instead, the cries of Chicago Bulls fans everywhere in the wake of landing the number seven overall pick in the NBA Draft in last night’s Draft Lottery. ‘Landing’ is the appropriate word because you have to fall to land. And being projected for the fourth slot only to land the seventh is a fall far greater than the mere three-slot difference would suggest.

Part of the reason the results are so deflating is because the consensus is that after the top three (Duke’s Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett or Ja Morant of Murray State) there are no clear cut, must-take players. Some even say that the cutoff is the top two. That isn’t to say that the other players won’t be fine pros. It is to say that if there is a generational talent among the field from four on, it wasn’t on display while they were in college. In other words, they are more likely role players than franchise cornerstones.

The other kicker is the seventh pick represents a near-worst-case for the Bulls draft odds. The reform of the NBA’s lottery flattened out the odds for the bottom three teams to get the top pick and the results were immediately apparent. The Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies both jumped at least six spots, as did the draft’s biggest winner, the New Orleans Pelicans. Meanwhile, Horace Grant’s reaction as the Bulls name was read is representative of Bull fans everywhere.

 

What Now?

No need to cry (anymore) over spilled milk. Instead, the attention of the Chicago brain trust has certainly turned towards producing yet another surprisingly solid pick at a less than ideal draft slot. They have plenty of experience at this slot in particular, too. Both Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen (who was actually drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves) were picked in the seven-slot. And we have seen players like Donovan Mitchell (13th overall in 2017) come off the board at the end of the lottery and surprise.

So which prospects offer both the potential to exceed expectations and availability at seven? Bleacher Report currently has Chicago taking Coby White out of North Carolina, though pairing him in the backcourt with Zach Lavine would have opposing guards licking their offensive chops. Prior to the acquisition of Otto Porter, many in See Red Nation were clamoring for Duke wingman, Cam Reddish. The 6’8” forward was stifled in college playing alongside two other marquee talents, though, that’s not an issue in the Windy City.

That is the issue at hand. Even though the Bulls have a glaring need for a point guard but if it isn’t Morant there is no clear-cut answer for their lead guard. Vanderbilt’s Darius Garland (the second-ranked point guard) has questions after tearing his meniscus a mere five games into the season. The reality is beyond picks one and two, teams will be either reaching to fill needs or trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

 

Or…

The other option that has to be on the table is trading the pick. Rumors have already been swirling about the Bulls perhaps shipping the selection west to the Lakers in exchange for Lonzo Ball. The move would upgrade the point guard spot that the front office clearly doesn’t see Kris Dunn as a fit for. Outside of that, though, not many options readily present themselves. That is a credit to how the Bulls have fleshed out 3/5 of their roster. It also pigeonholes the expected return on any trade involving the draft pick. Anything other than a point guard is an unnecessary luxury.

If the Bulls feel they are really a veteran point guard away from competing in the East, a trade for the Grizzlies’ Mike Conley could be on the horizon. Trading the pick for a guard who will be 32 before the first tip of the 2019 season is…less than ideal. And that is before taking Conley’s exorbitant salary into account. The benefit to going after a vet is that it would allow Dunn to stick around and, hopefully, learn how to be a more effective floor general. That route just might not be viable through trade.

A third, and admittedly less appealing, option exists. The Bulls could trade back with another team should a player that team covets slides. That would potentially allow the Bulls to still pick a player they like, only at a more palatable slot. It also would bring in more draft capital for the future. That cannot be undervalued because, while it is not impossible, it is unlikely that they find a franchise-altering talent where they are currently slated to pick. Of course, that path would be asking for more patience from a fan base that is already clinging to fond memories of championships from 21 years ago.

 

Basketball Purgatory

Sports fans are familiar with this concept. It is often called basketball hell. When in this state, teams are neither good enough to compete for a championship nor bad enough to have a legitimate shot at the top incoming draft talent. The lottery (and its reformation) is supposed to quell tanking, but the Pelicans played their best player, Anthony Davis, 30-plus minutes once over the star big man’s final 15 games. Other than that he didn’t clear 25 minutes. News flash: they were tanking. Alas, the Bulls have gone from Ja Morant or Garland and rounding out their starting five to BPA/who knows without doing a thing. Impressive.