The Chicago Bulls saw their season come to an end in disappointing fashion on Friday as they failed to outlast the Miami Heat in the play-in finale in the Eastern Conference.
With what’s expected to be a busy offseason for the Bulls, the future of the current roster could be up in the air, which includes the duo of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.
But, despite speculation that the fit with the two All-Star’s might not make sense for a team trying to contend, both DeRozan and LaVine are ‘confident’ in their pairing going forward.
“Me and DeMar as a duo, I haven’t been more confident with anybody in my life,” LaVine said on Saturday during exit interviews.
“Being able to play with DeMar these last two seasons has been great. He’s one of my best friends on and off the court, LaVine said. “Learning different things from him and him learning different things from me, it’s been fun playing off each other.”
For DeRozan, he feels the same way, as he’s ‘never played with’ a player as talented as LaVine.
“I’ve never played with such a talented gifted player at the wing position as Zach,” DeRozan said. “It was so many days, so many nights, so many times being in the gym that he wowed me with his capability. With the experience I have of just trying to help him hone into his talent on a whole other level, that has helped me be a better leader, a better vocal guy. Having somebody with such a talent bring so much out of me because I see so much in him that he don’t even realize.”
LaVine just completed the first-year of his five-year, $215 max extension that he signed last summer. For DeRozan, he’ll be on the last year on his three-year, $81 million deal next season, which could make him more of a trade candidate this summer.
But despite the speculation coming from the outside, the duo don’t pay attention to the noise.
“I honestly don’t pay no mind to it because the conversations me and him have on a daily basis of how we can be better, how we can make the team better is genuine and it’s big,” DeRozan said. “So with that, no one on the outside can question what our fit is because it’s all about us. How can we not make just two guys work but make five guys on the court work?”
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