Zach Lavin has been with the Chicago Bulls for four years.
From an average of 17+4+3 to an average of 24+5+5 to 26+5+4.
Step by step, to 29+5+5 this season, and recently become one of the hottest scorers in the league.
Before, everyone knew that he could dunk, and he was the most ethereal and top dunk player in history.
He has always been able to shoot, and in the Timberwolves, in the second grade, he scored 123 three-pointers at a 39% three-point rate in a single season.
Such a person who can run and jump with a basket, it is supposed to be played, right?
- This is also true.
But it is true that it is not a one-step approach.
Lavin can run and jump big, but in his early years he was a little thin and a little dodgy when playing.
The change of direction is not large, change direction, and take a big step to drill in. As long as he can rush up in a straight line, he is very sharp. Especially good at drilling into the small forbidden area, a large jump, directly looking for the basket.
In terms of the treatment after drilling in, he is actually a bit like Derrick Rose at his peak.
But the problem of playing like this is also quite clear:
The dribbling range is not large enough, the pull is not open enough; when he is touched when accelerating, the balance is gone, it is trouble; his physique cannot directly touch the foul.
So in terms of dribbling, the progress in the past four years is: it has become stronger, and the pulling range has also become larger.
His favorite routine this season is to borrow a cover, safely face the basket to dribble, adjust to a comfortable hand, take a cross step to grab the opponent's position, sideways, protect the ball with the shoulder back, and then rush in.
Last season, 37% of the offense was done by blocking and dismantling, 0.9 points per 100 rounds; this season, 43% of the offense, 1.03 points per 100 rounds.
At the same time, the basket changes.
LaVine played for the Bulls for the first time, and the shooting rhythm was like this:
The same jumper sideways shot, the day before yesterday's shot at the King, was like this.
The pace is obviously changing and smoother.
He went with the trend and added more retracted shots — 60 of the first 29 games of the season, totaling 29 of 60 shots, including 13 of 29 three-pointers — so the three-point rate went from 34 percent to 43 percent for the Bulls, and the free throw percentage went from 81 percent to 86 percent, and the all-around jump shot was a big improvement, understandable, right?
namely:
I have become stronger, I am better at using cover, I can break through the position of my opponent, and my shot is smoother.
A stronger Terminator, a better shooter.
So the personal performance soars, is understandable?
Here's the problem:
The Bulls' record is still slowly climbing, which is not to blame him: after all, the team is too young.
But Lavin's +/- value is far less good than personal data (-3.3 in the presence, -9.7 in the presence), but why?
Who would say, LaVine's defense has never been good - but if you watch him play this season, he is already trying hard, and he is almost average enough to defend.
So, why?
Mention another person.
Dunk gods, three-point swingers – who can you think of?
Vince Carter, right?
Carter had his best season with the Raptors, with 47 wins in the regular season. That was his peak season of 2000-01.
He had his best season at the New Jersey Open, with 49 wins in the regular season — and Kidd at the time.
Carter certainly went through the 59-win regular season, which was the 2009-10 season in the Magic: but then he was the team's second-leading scorer, and he didn't play well in the playoffs, and the key to the team was Dwight Howard.
Compared to AI's four scoring champions, winning the MVP, and leading the team to the Finals alone, compared to Kobe Bryant's excellence for more than a decade, compared to Maddie's two scoring kings at his peak and still having more than 50 wins in the Rockets after his peak (Yao Ming only played 48 games due to injury in the 2006-07 season, and Maddie still brought out 52 wins), Carter seems to be... Never been good at raising the lower limit of a team?
Let's think of Carter's offensive approach.
When Carter was young, such as the 2000-01 season, he was good at breaking through the center of gravity in an instant.
After the three threats of the basket jumping step to catch the ball, Carter used to first sink his shoulders and bow his head, grab the position, and take a big stride to the bottom line.
However: in addition to the world's unparalleled dunks and one-move throwing, Carter has few near-basket techniques; this move is heavy and thunderous, some are there, there are none, and they have to cut to the back of the retreat step.
So at the peak of the 2000-01 season, Carter was basically:
Hold the ball, press the center of gravity to look at the opponent, and then either force the shot, or break through step by step; when it can't pass, the difficulty of stopping the jump shot.
Of course, Carter does have good hands to shoot: shoulder to shoulder, high jump, high shot, the feel can not be stopped.
In 2001, when he fought with AI, he set a record of 8 three-pointers in the half, 9 three-pointers in the whole game, and 50 points in the whole game.
Paul Pierce describes what it means to defend Carter:
You have to worry about him breaking through the dunk, and you have to worry about him shooting hot at the three-point line.
— But compare, Pierce says of other opponents:
Say Maddie is a 203 cm organizational guard, say Kobe Bryant is a serial killer, and say melons are skilled in everything.
These words were not used on Carter.
For top players, don't look at what is exaggerated, but look at what is not exaggerated.
Carter has a breakthrough, he has a basket; but at the same time, he doesn't have the skillful dribbling that Maddie has, and he doesn't have the all-round offensive moves of Kobe Bryant and Melon.
After arriving at the New Jersey Open in 2005, Carter's dribbling was progressive, and he also added the killer trick of "changing hands to jumping shots after the cross-step breakthrough".
With Kidd in charge of the plating, he can receive the ball in more comfortable areas. So go to the net for two and a half years, and show a lot of offensive means.
At that time, he felt better in his hands, but he still couldn't stop it. That said, the regular season single game 40+ record:
Ray Allen, 13 games in a lifetime.
Pierce, 21 games.
Solid as Joe Johnson, 6 games.
Dirk, who entered the industry in the same year as Carter, 20 games.
Carter, 32 games.
But behind the strong explosiveness is that Carter's playing style is still relatively good to look at:
Throw or surprise, buy and sell with a hammer, and look at emotions.
With his athletic prowess, he doesn't like hand-to-hand free throws or rub small balls in the penalty area – except for the two years he just went to the net.
From one point of view, Carter has a breakthrough, has a basket, and has a back without the ball to break through long-range shots, very comprehensive.
But from another point of view, as a small forward, he doesn't have the tough mid-range back-and-forth attacks of Pierce or Melon; as a defender, he doesn't have the flashy dribbles of Kobe and Maddie.
In 2008, Jonathan Givenney's scouting reported that Carter was "a good shooter when he was let go" and "threw too many difficult back-up jumpers."
In today's parlance:
Carter has always been a good attacker, but he has never been a system.
This is also a problem that LaVine (and other talented people in the league who score well but are not very motivated) have to face:
He can break, shoot, and work hard, but his vision, on-the-spot judgment and passing skills limit his ceiling and can't become a system.
This is his next lesson.
Of course, Lavin is trying to be a system in a different way.
Today the Bulls beat the Rockets, with LaVine shooting 7-of-14 from the field, the second-highest 21 points on the team. There were no shots in the first quarter and two in the second quarter.
It's not that he's playing badly, it's that the Rockets keep Gordon, House, and even Tucker following him. LaVine has indeed been walking without the ball to make his teammates comfortable.
The third quarter was about to take hold, LaVine took over, facing Tucker, two strong three-pointers, and another layup to score 8 points in a row, and the point difference instantly opened to double digits.
He still didn't handle the ball as smartly as the top commanders, ok, then rely on his own threat and gravity, empty the defense, let White let go of the play; when needed, he brushed a wave of takeovers.
In this way, it is also possible.
Many people always think that the flying players are geniuses, and they can come out with a little practice. But as mentioned above, LaVine, while physically gifted, is not a smart player (big picture, vision, judgment, reaction).
So his rise, in a way, is also industriousness to get rich:
There are more people who can fly and jump, but it is not so easy to practice the basket to this extent, and to practice the free throw rate from 69% in college to 86% today.
Moreover, LaVine knows his limitations very well, so his progress on the defensive end this season and the control of mistakes over the past month show that he is learning well.
It's an inspirational story for a high-IQ player who can't fly to become a superstar; but it's not a matter of course that flyers can find characters that shine outside of dunks.
In particular, LaVine is a dunk king who has torn his cruciate ligament at the age of 22.