Zach LaVine promised that the max contract he received in the offseason wouldn’t change him, and the Bulls guard wasn’t lying.
At least in the eyes of coach Billy Donovan he wasn’t.
“Just being around Zach for two years, he to me is a really grounded guy,” Donovan said on Friday, when asked about LaVine being in a new tax bracket and how he’s been dealing with it. “His family is very important. I have not seen a change in him as it relates to as a person. He always takes great responsibility to want to perform at a high level. He’s worked very hard to get to this point.”
And the reward was a large one, as the Bulls gave LaVine a five-year, $215 million deal that includes a player option at $48.9 million in the final season.
He was asked about the pressures of that deal when he first signed it, and then again at the start of this training camp, and has been very consistent with his response.
“I put the highest expectations on myself more than anybody, and I keep developing my game like I have the last nine years of my career,” LaVine said recently. “I think I’ve gotten better each and every year. I’m going to continue to do that. I don’t think a contract is going to give me any extra motivation for that because I already have enough myself.”
That doesn’t mean the expectations haven’t changed.
Donovan said he has been very hands-off as far as mentioning the deal to LaVine. Instead, he’s taken the approach of, “you don’t pass too much judgement of just like jumping in and saying,’ Hey Zach, you got this contract … ‘ Let’s just see how he handles himself. He’s been really good in practice and his dialogue, his communication. I have not seen anything from him as far as any personality change or anything like that.”
But the coach admitted that there was still “a lot of room for [LaVine] to improve.”
According to Donovan, LaVine was really bothered last season when his left knee issue hampered him, especially on the defensive end, and was still wearing that coming into this season.
“There’s another level he needs to get to,” Donovan added.
Numbers game
Rookie Dalen Terry continued living by the motto of “I’ll do whatever the coaches need me to do.”
Where it will get interesting is will that attitude earn him a regular rotation spot when the Bulls open the regular season in Miami on Oct. 19?
Donovan said there will be in-depth conversations about that by the coaching staff and the front office when the preseason wraps up.
“I like him a lot from the standpoint of the make-up of him as a competitor, and his motor, and his energy, those types of things,” Donovan said of Terry. “That’s what is going to be the interesting part is the decisions that are made going into that first game in Miami. Because like I’ve said before, we’re not going to be able to play everybody. Someone is going to be out of the rotation.”
Terry’s versatility might help, as he’s shown that he can not only be a wing defender and play off the ball, but can also run the point if need be. What Donovan did insist was the 18th overall pick better be ready, either way.