Bulls guard Zach LaVine admitted he still has some dunks left in his arsenal.
What he needs to decide, however, is whether he will showcase them anywhere outside of a practice gym.
If Saturday was any indication of his desire to try to recapture his throne at the dunk contest during All-Star Weekend in February, he left it up in the air. In doing so, however, he looked and sounded like he had just swallowed the canary.
‘‘I’ve still been thinking about it, man,’’ LaVine said. ‘‘Everybody . . . my girlfriend just asked me the same thing [Saturday] morning. I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I would be more inclined to do it if I’m playing in the game, but I feel like I should do something during All-Star Weekend — if it’s the game, three-point contest, dunk contest, something.
‘‘I know I’ve still got some dunks left, and my legs have been feeling good. Maybe I’ll have to go practice, but I don’t know yet. I’ll probably have to let the NBA know soon.’’
LaVine is a two-time dunk champion, winning the contest in 2015 and 2016. It was the ’16 contest that moved him into legendary status. His head-to-head battle against Aaron Gordon was one for the ages.
He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee shortly before the 2017 contest and hasn’t participated since. But with a handful of young challengers around the NBA and All-Star Weekend taking place in Chicago, the stage is set for LaVine’s return.
Teammate Lauri Markkanen hinted in the preseason that LaVine had been revving up during the summer to recapture what was his, and LaVine said Saturday he and a buddy from the G League threw down some dunks together on a practice court about a month ago.
‘‘He was helping me out on a couple of dunks probably a month ago,’’ LaVine said. ‘‘Didn’t go very well, but there’s always a second try.’’
Juggling Jim
Coach Jim Boylen is all for the NBA’s 82-game schedule. He made that clear before the Bulls’ 116-81 victory against the Hawks.
‘‘It’s a test of your toughness, competitiveness, character,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘I love what it does to a team. I think it’s really important. Obviously, I don’t make those decisions, and I’ll support whatever [commissioner Adam Silver] wants to do, but I love the 82-game schedule.’’
What Boylen hasn’t embraced this season is the elimination of some of the back-to-back games. That means more games are being played every other day, which has wreaked havoc on the practice schedule throughout the league.
‘‘I think the league’s heart was in the right place with less back-to-backs,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘The unintended consequence is, what do you do now with 10 less built-in days off? If you played 22 or 24 back-to-backs in a season and now you play 12 or 14, as you know, after a back-to-back you usually take a day off. So now you’ve got to find maybe five, six or 10 more days in there where you can get your guys off their feet, rest their minds, rest their bodies, while developing a young team and not overpracticing them. It’s a difficult mix, I’ll just tell you.’’
Boylen said he talks daily with the Bulls’ training staff. They go over the usage of each player, keeping track of movement in games, practices and walkthroughs.
‘‘I like to practice,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘I think young teams need to practice, but it’s a puzzle.’’
