Zach LaVine knows what his reputation is.
The Bulls guard also knows that no matter what improvements he makes to his game those perceptions might not change in the minds of some people.
And he still sleeps fine at night.
So where does the drive come from going into Year 7 of his NBA career? The guy in LaVine’s mirror reminds him frequently.
“I hear a lot of stuff … I let a lot of things drive me,’’ LaVine said, as the Bulls are days away from their first preseason game. “I’m one of the hardest working guys, but if you want to be a great player you have to lead your team to wins and I want to do that.
“I’ll take credibility for that and, you know, they say empty stats or whatever it is, look, I’m gonna go out there and play my game regardless. I’m a team player, I’ll do whatever I gotta do to win. If that’s going out there and I have to try to go get 30 or if I gotta go try and defend the best player or get 10 assists or whatever it is, at the end of the day I want to win, so I want to continue to prove that.
“But, you know, I know what I bring to the table. I know around the league, I know where I rank at least, and I just want to keep climbing that ladder.’’
The hope is it’s a ladder with a few more rungs.
Scoring has rarely been an issue for LaVine throughout his career. He’s gone up in that category every season, minus the 2017-18 campaign in which he was returning from surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament.
That included an All-Star caliber 2019-20 season, in which LaVine averaged a career-high 25.5 points per game, while shooting 38 percent from three-point range.
What did it get the 25-year-old? Twenty-two wins and another postseason sitting at home.
That’s where new coach Billy Donovan comes in.
LaVine has never made the playoffs, while Donovan has never missed them.
There’s no debating that LaVine is the face of the franchise for now, but unless he starts embracing winning basketball, that status he currently holds is fragile.
“He’s obviously very gifted and talented,’’ Donovan said of his impressions of LaVine. “He’s had a challenging career. I think I’m his sixth coach he’s had since he’s been in the NBA. That’s an awful lot to deal with for a player … but he’s always kept a positive outlook and very, very open-minded about things.
“He cares deeply, I think about the organization, his teammates, and wanting to play well, and finding ways within himself in which he can help the group win and be better.’’
Yes, LaVine will have to solve a new offense in which the pieces move frequently and the goal is to get the best shots possible. His or for his teammates.
An all too familiar storyline, however, is getting LaVine to understand that his elite athleticism has to translate in him being a better defender.
If he can just become average on that side of the ball, LaVine will benefit, but more importantly, so will the Bulls.
Jim Boylen’s constant blitzing-style of defense on pick-and-rolls is gone with the former coach, and Donovan feels that LaVine is an underrated on-the-ball defender. So while he wants LaVine to compete at a higher level on that end, the common thread in the multiple coverages Donovan is teaching is help defense is a staple.
“I think there is just a lot more built in help to where if there is somebody beat they are not just on an island,’’ LaVine said. “The main thing we’ve been talking about in practice and coming into training camp is competitiveness and making sure you get after it and take care of your own first, so I’ve been happy with that.’’
No matter what the outsiders think.
