Zach LaVine currently has the lowest plus/minus this season, at -212.
He is also the highest paid player on the Kings, earning around 500k for every game.
DeRozan is not far behind him, sitting at 4th in lowest plus/minus.
If 2 months ago you told me 2025 Russell Westbrook playing as a power forward wasn’t gonna be in the top 5 biggest problems with this Kings roster, I probably would’ve believed you. But it’s still insane.
Powerbrook is actually pretty good though, he’s been fun to watch on the kings. Honestly one of their best players lol
Muscle Chestbrook
He does look good in that purple
Russ is a King
Hustle Flexbrook
Its funny because as time goes on people are starting to notice boxing out was never the reason Westbrook got his rebounds hes just an excellent rebounder lol. If he can play the 4 and still get 14/7/6 a game at this stage of his career maybe, just maybe, hes just good at that aspect of the game lol.
Dude has crazy court vision and it applies to rebounding as well as passing. The only comparison I can really think of is Rodman, they just know exactly what the ball is gonna do and where it’s going to be
My favorite part of Russ getting traded so much is watching the fanbase of every team he plays for (except the Lakers) start to outwardly appreciate his talents
He’s also just an extremely fun player to watch, even now
Westbrenaissance
That narrative never even made sense, just straight haterism
You can find like 5 clips of adams not grabbing a board so russ can grab it, and in all of them it results in a fastbreak score bc as it turns out westbrook going downfield with the ball is more effective than adams kicking an outlet
The discourse around Russ has been unnecessarily heated for ages now sadly
Turns out having an insane motor and vertical equals a lot of rebounds?
“honestly one of their best players” the bar is in hell, it wouldnt take much to be one of the best players on the kings
It is basketball hell after all
As a bulls fan, I feel your pain
You’re correct but he’s GOOD good. He’s banging threes like a meth dealer
😂😂😂 Ok that was worth the comment to let you know I’m dying
If anyone is smart enough to play 4 at that height it’s a Seattle Supersonics draftee.
Russ puts out so much damn effort no matter the time and place that I don’t think he can really be the “worst” problem and I don’t think he even was with the Lakers when everyone was ragging him.
I mean he’s not good any more but hard to fault a guy who goes 110% even when put into some roles that are absolutely not compatible with his skill set. In the right spot, given his effort, I actually think he could still play for a bit longer. I do not understand anyone who would hate on the guy when he’s so positive and gives amazing effort.
Totally agree. I think most of the hate comes from Lakers fans who literally don’t want him to be good for anyone else, because that spoils the narrative that he’s horrible now. Won’t you please think of the poor, misunderstood Lakers fans?
Gotta love the Kings as another small market brother and for keeping my GOAT hella relevant.
Russell Westbrook is playing minutes at the 4????
He was early in the season when Keegan was out.
Keegan was thr 4?
Keegan has started at the 4 for the past two years.
almost exclusively
D 4 O 1
People have started slotting players by d position.
Russ still probably rebounds better than most 4’s lol.
What happened with Sabonis? Wasn’t he top 10 in MVP voting not too long ago? Did everyone just turn on him when he got exposed in the playoffs?
Tbh he’s the same player, but his size/lack of defense looks worse on this roster. The lack of shooters also makes his offense look worse since there’s less space to be a discount Jokic
it’s true the fit is worse this year, but kings fans who watch games (and see injury reports) can tell you that he is injured and should probably not be playing. he is clearly not in the form he was in last year or the year before, where he had 61 and 77 double doubles respectively.
In the 10 or so games he played this year he shot like ass
People are gonna argue with me, but the true fact is that he is the empty stats guy. It’s true.
He’s an offense only center who struggles to break 20 ppg.
He’s a touted passer who can’t carry an offense to elite status.
He’s an elite individual rebounder who can’t make his team an elite rebounding team and who has gotten outrebounded in every single playoff series he’s ever played in (seriously, look it up).
When you look at his individual numbers he looks like a borderline all-nba guy, but his impact on winning is miniscule.
If you want to call him empty stats it’s probably not a good idea to back up your argument with 2⁄3 points essentially saying that his stats weren’t high enough.
If he added a little bit more to his offense, he’d be so much better as a player. I’m talking a reliable middy and a bit more aggressiveness to take it when his defender is sagging off him.
He’s just terrified to take a shot with any range, defenses just sag off him and clog up the paint.
Yep. OKC tried to make him a PF because they knew he was an empty stats type center. Problem was it became obvious he was never going to be a good shooter.
Sabonis also knew this and thus demanded to play center knowing there were teams that just looked at numbers
Sabonis is not worth that contract if you don’t have shooters who are a threat to providing spacing for Sabonis to operate effectively. There are not a lot of permiter defenders to lock down guards or defenders to rotate for switching and off switching. No good shot blocker to protect the rim or help side rotation. He is still a good player if your team lacks rebounding and lacks primary or secondary playmaker, and you have players on the team that can cover defense weakness and shooting weakness.
Knee injured right now
Westbrook at the 5 might be the thing that really makes him less unplayable.
Just focus on defense, screening, cutting, and rebounding.
He’d be a horrific rim protector, but at least he’s not taking the ball down the court, not shooting, and not doing much of anything else. So it really mitigates his downside.
The Kings have no playmaker at all. They need the ball in Russ hand
He needs to play like a small Draymond at this point of his career.
i can’t believe I’m saying this, but i wish mavs signed Westbrook instead of D’Lo
what baffles me the most in you have to be really really negative defender to be seen as this bad when you are a great scorer in the modern nba
Part of the problem is he’s absurdly inconsistent on offense. I’ve watched plenty of Kings games and sometimes he’s just kind of there not trying to get open.
I’ve watched plenty of Kings games
Damn bro you got some punishment kink?
Sac Fetish
He’s a Sac King
Statements like this in public are what might earn you season tickets to kings games. Compliments of the club.
I wish
Wonder if he’s dealing with some issue or just lost the spark for the game.
This is who he has always been. Empty calories and lack of effort.
Ask Bulls fans.
I never understood why people said he’d be much better second or third option role. He is absolutely horrible in that. He doesn’t do shit off the ball and is absolutely slow in processing the play when the ball does swing his way. He would be absolutely lost in a role that asks him to make quick cuts or quick decisions with the ball on close outs
He’s a black hole. Multiple 30 point games with < 3 assist
“People can talk about my defense all they want to. I’ve always been one of the best on-ball defenders. One-on-one situations, there’s not a lot of people that are going to get by me.”
Zach Lavine, 2022
The funny part is he has the physical attributes to back that statement up, and shows flashes of being able to clamp. Then the next 10 possessions he remembers he’s getting paid over 500k a game whether he’s trying or not so goes back to not giving a fuck lmao
Defense is the hardest and most taxing part of basketball.
Usually the best defenders in the NBA have very strong mindsets and a kind of fuck you attitude.
Losing defensively should trigger your ego to push harder on that side, but for a lot of players it just means they try to outscore the opponent instead….. And sure, sometimes “the best defense is actually offense”, but I do not know how true that really is in the NBA.
I think Zach has all the physical tools to be that guy, but personality wise… nah, not really.
Send to Dagestan Steph Curry conditioning camp two months and forget, bratha
6 months one time you can call iso
Yea as a Bulls fan I’ve seen it. Dude can play defense when he wants to but he never wants to. He knows he can be a really good defender, we know too, bro just doesn’t care to. He’ll have random moments of wanting to try on defense it’s weird. Or his last year with the Bulls he bought in to playing defense just to fit in with the group and try to get traded lol
Team context really matters i think. Wiggins was similar, but when he got to the Warriors, he turned himself into one of the best (imo he was the best at the time) onball defenders in the league, containing Luka and Tatum effectively in that 2022 run. It came to the point Tatum was losing his handle just seeing Wiggins in front of him lol
From the games I watched of that run Wiggins looked a very good defender when Draymond was on the bench but looked like an all-nba defender when he was playing with Dray.
Statement tracks. Ive been watching dude for nearly 10 years. Hes legitimately is a solid on ball defender but complete dogshit off the ball, like one of the worst ive ever seen. Its like he has no feel for the game when the ball isnt immediately in his or his defender’s hands, its insane given his talent
It’s not just that. Dudes a turnover machine and can’t pass lol
I can’t explain it, but all his passes look like he’s trying to get rid of the ball rather than setting up his teammate.
That’s his iso scoring mentality right there. When he has the ball, he is immediately thinking of trying to score. I kind of get it, he’s a natural scorer.
However, he puts himself in bad situations time and time again and will have to make a pass that he should’ve made 2-5 seconds ago.
That’s a perfect way to phrase it
pretty much when he has to make a pass in a half court offense its like hes sharting himself
Mfer just wants to score and doesn’t have that intention or sense of urgency on defense. In other words he used to losing now.
As I understand it, that’s ALL he wants to do, score and that’s it.
the modern day melo
I feel like Melo at least wanted to be The Guy, whereas LaVine just wants to shoot the ball and doesn’t care about anything else. But I don’t really follow him so maybe I’m talking out my ass about Zach
No that’s correct, he’s never butted heads with DeMar or ever been like “no it should be ME who always gets the last possession shot” (once it was clear that DeMar was the go to end game closer over Zach)
He did complain that Billy benched him in a game where he was 1-15, that was bad lmao “I earned that” is what he said iirc (to getting to stay on court and work out his game💀)
plus, melo was at least a decent rebounder.
Obligatory melo rebounding audio
FUCKOUTTAHEREIGOTTHIS
Its not even really that crazy when you realize he’s not trying in a league with the best basketball players in the world lol. Of course he’s getting torched running around out there like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. Dudes lack of effort is unbelievably obvious lately
He plays like everyone thinks they would when they get traded somewhere that has no hope but most people have enough self respect that when they actually get there they still do what they can
Dudes been in the league for 11 years and has won a grand total of 1 playoff game that entire time.
I decided to dig into this because it sounded insane and it’s actually even WORSE.
This is Lavine’s 12th year in the league. Unless a miracle turnaround occurs, the Kings will have a losing record and miss the playoffs.
That means that Zach will have played 12 seasons and had a winning record in exactly ONE of those seasons where they won a whopping 46 games and lost in the 1st round 4-1.
I know one guy can’t be expected to carry a team, but if 11⁄12 seasons are duds with some of them being 20 win trash years, then maybe Zach just isn’t a winner and never will be and any team signing him is making a mistake.
that surprise win in Milwaukee was followed up by getting absolutely smoked at the United Center. Pretty sure game 3 of that series is the worst home playoff loss in Bulls history. Follow up by another 20+ point loss in a home elimination game.
lets be fair he was on the timberwolves and the bulls as an, at best, a 2nd option with dunk moves. neither team was making deep runs due to injuries and overall lack of talent and experience. he just got traded from the bulls when theyre finally “good” and stuck on the kings, a team everyone makes fun of and is truly cobbled together and disjointed.
respectfully i understand if zach lavine is mentally gone and forcing a trade so he can finally contend. in his eyes he probably put in max work to get real trade value and ended up in a dumpster. its no excuse to play like this but when you have guaranteed money and the team doesnt have a shot anyway, i would imagine you check out. might get anthony davis out of this
You sound like the next guy ‘ready to fix him’
Zach is a difficult guy, he’s at his happyest when he has the ball and is undisputed number 1… but he’s not nearly good enough to win as a heliocentric offensive player.
In theory, his skill set is great for him to be off ball, catch and shoot, attack in the flow of the offense… maybe go nuclear for a quarter… but when you take him off the ball he becomes disinterested and goes cold very easily.
So yeah, it’s hard to make him work, the skills are definitely there, but some pieces are missing.
“his skill set is great for him to be off ball, catch and shoot, attack in the flow of the offense… maybe go nuclear for a quarter…“
Like Aaron Gordon! That’s the role he should be doing and thriving in
I do still remember during that one good Bulls season, we got so many posts about how Zach is and always was better than Booker and Beal. One season later he’s back to being a negative asset and has been since. Brutal.
DeAaron Fox is similar
8 years in the league, 3 total Playoff games won lmfao
Making the playoffs at least once in 8 years playing for the Kings should count as an accomplishment.
Lauri Markkanen is in his 8th season, has been an All Star and has played ZERO Playoff games.
He’s such a good player, no disrespect, but I hate that he’s been stuck on your tanking teams
I know, it’s a shame because not only is he a great players he’s a cool guy as well. Really embraced living in Utah.
The first half of his career was with Zach.
He got great as soon as he stopped playing next to Zach. Just like Coby White, just like Josh Giddey.
Notice a pattern.
The reason Lauri is different to me is the type of player he is. A 7 footer who doesn’t have the wingspan to be a rim protector, or the agility to be a good perimeter defender. Lavine on the other hand has no excuses for his consistent losing streak. To Lauri’s credit he had to achieve a very high threshold of offensive talent to make up for his physical limitations and he did that. During moments when he hadn’t reach that point, he played his role, did his job. Lavine on the other hand acted like a superstar from the moment he arrived in Chicago and never even tried to acklowedge the improvement his game needed
Does Fox have an effort problem. Doesn’t really seem like it to me
He checked out on Sacramento for a while there. Crazy they traded the guy that wanted to stay (Hali) there over a guy who’d already apparently wanted out, but who knows all the details.
That made me quit SAC after 40 years. They’ve only just reached 40yrs in DAC this year
yeah on the kings he did. instead of actually playing to his strength which is attacking the basket, dude suddenly thought he was prime curry and would jack 10+ 3s a game only making like 1-2 of them. hes got bad bbiq, not braindead like zach but never forget fox fouling on a 3 point shot to TIE THE GAME which ended up being an and1 and a 1 point loss. after that, he gave up on the team, our coach got fired, and our 1 year of enjoyment all came unraveling apart. then he forced his way out by saying “trade me to the spurs or i walk for free in FA”
fox was a great player, but he should’ve been moved years ago. we shoud’ve chose luka over him. we shoud’ve chosen hali over him. instead we have dennis schroder now.
This was from one of the sacramento radio hosts when shit was falling apart https://np.reddit.com/r/kings/comments/1hntzqz/deaaron_fox_rant/ and dude was speaking facts
I was at that game lmao. Demar went nuclear and the Bucks just let him for some reason.
It’s not entirely his fault, this team is a fucking abomination of roster construction with a bunch of high usage dudes who can’t shoot and don’t play defense. The Kings literally were starting 4 non-shooters the first like 20 games of the season
With that being said, he certainly isn’t helping things. There’s a reason Zach has the lowest winning percentage of any player with 500+ games.
Vivek is so lucky guys like Nico Harrison, Jerry Jones and Mat Ishbia exist in bigger markets with much more media attention. his last 12 months are worthy of the alltime lolcow sports team owner list.
No one cares about the Kings except to say lol kangz. I would be elated if Vivek sold man.
Can’t sell till you guys fumble Keon Ellis first
It won’t be to the Lakers, I can assure you lol
!Remind me 6 months
Yeah but it’s nothing outside of the ordinary for the kings. Outside of the beam year, the past 20 years have been nothing but misery and despair for the kings.
I genuinely won’t put Ishbia there, he did lot of blunders last seasons but he has started learning from his mistakes, be it the hiring of Jordan Ott and the emphasis of athleticism.
The suns made some good moves and hires lately.
lolcow?
A person whose sole design is to be mocked.
wow. im getting old
Probably the opposite tbh, I suspect you’re entirely too young if you don’t recognize the term, I’m sorry to say. It used to be very common during the mid 2000s
Or just wasn’t in certain corners of the internet during that time period.
Yeah, cuz they were playing Timon & Pumbaa’s Jungle Games
Kings need to address the elephant in the room and trade for a PG. They need a young pass first PG who can play defense and score when needed.
Someone like Tyrese Haliburton? Or maybe Deaaron Fox? Idk
The elephant in the room is they need to blow up the roster.
The roster is built around a center that can’t shoot or play defense. And then they surround him with more players that can’t shoot or play defense.
Haha, it’s a funny joke because they traded both of those guys!!
TBF fox lowkey demanded a trade
I can’t imagine why
Even Davion Mitchell would do.
WE GOT DENNIS SCHRODER!!!!!!!!!!!
You Kings fans truly are the most positive people. Bulls fan here - Lavine was an absolute cancer and a turnstile defender. Even during his contract year he mailed it in.
Oh I hate Zach Lavine and always have. I hate everything about his game and some Kings fans wanted to trade for him for years and I pushed against it.
I’m not a positive fan, I’m a realistic one lol, I know that this roster construction is dog shit. I also know that Lavine isn’t a winning player.
Even during his contract year he mailed it in
What? His contract year was the year we we had the best record in the league halfway through the season and he was averaging 30 ppg until Lonzo tore his meniscus and Zach injured his knee the exact same night against the Warriors.
He played through his knee injury the rest of the season despite clearly being hobbled and got surgery as soon as the offseason hit. In what world did he “mail it in” that year?
this sub decided lavine is the punch bag of the month. hes a flawed player but people here are legit just making shit up half the time they talk about him. somehow everyone has been watching the bulls & kings for the last decade, and knows every aspect of lavine’s game.
Thoughts on Doug Christie as a coach so far? I just watched a full replay of the Suns-Kings game, and that first quarter was possibly the worst performance I’ve seen from a team this season. What is the defensive scheme?
I think Doug is a solid assistant but probably not a good head coach.
He has the worst roster construction in the league probably of any team trying to win. It’s hard to gauge his coaching ability when you have a bunch of dudes who are worthless without the ball and poor defenders and you have no positional size except Keegan who is literally the only playable forward on the team.
honnestly think he would thrive with a young hungry roster of dudes just trying to make it over the current retirement home he has. Theres times with the third string lineup that you can see what they’re actually trying to do as a team. however, it is absolutely dougs fault for trying to teach an old dog new tricks as opposed to actually trying to make the mess he has work. ultimately I don’t think he’s going to survive the teardown, even if he was completely set up to fail.
Bulls fans said the same exact thing about how the “roster construction” was ass and we didn’t have any shooters. But we did have people that can spread the floor and so do you
The problem in “roster construction” happens with every team that has ever had on derozan on it. That’s because in order to score his mid-range jumpers the teams offense basically supokos itself every time he touches the ball. Instantly the play is dead, no ball movement or off-ball movement. The bulls were and the kings are bottom of the league in pace/3pt shots/perimeter defense while also being the league leader in 2pt attempts.
The issue with the roster is that Derozan is the primary ball-handler, and that is guaranteed to make your offense historically, biblically trash. Add his permiter defense next to lavines also ass defense and youre trading mid-range jumpers at a slower pace than the other teams WIDE OPEN THREES literally all season long
Zach was still on our team with our new fast pace and our offense was night and day. He can spread the floor and play quickly. Derozan absolutely can not, he can’t catch and shoot and he has the least amount of off-ball cuts in the entire league. The roster construction would be instantly fixed if you waived this one player
It is pretty remarkable how much better LaVine looks in an offense that plays faster, has an actual PG running the offense, and doesn’t have DeRozan on it. DeRozan amplifies every one of LaVine’s biggest flaws while also kind of negating his strengths on offense. Just wildly opposite players who do not mesh well.
It is not remarkable it is actually very depressing to watch. This is what I’m trying to stress, it’s not lavine being the opposite player to Derozan. It is Demar being the worst possible nba player another guard can play alongside of.
it doesn’t matter if it’s lavine, steph, lebron, whoever. Putting Derozan next to them will impact his fellow guards production. Cause the mfer doesn’t pass, cut, or try to get open to shoot open 3s. The least complimentary wing player in nba history
Never quite understood how ultra athletic 6’6 guy could be such a porous defender. I know, a huge part of defense is basic effort, but still.
You get it with a guy like Trae, but damn.
One part poor effort and one part low BBIQ. Lavine has just always played constantly out of position on defense - he doesn’t see anything coming.
I just don’t get how players go their whole career like that. I get early on, maybe they didn’t really need to place defense or think because of Supreme talent and athleticism, but by year 3 or 4? Like wtf have you worked on, just more scoring and stepbacks?
It’s very simple. Guys like Lavine coast off athleticism and physical size for years and years growing up. They just never have to learn to play proper defense so they pick up all sorts of bad habits and lazy tendencies. Can’t just undo those things.
Defense isn’t something you just learn in a year or two. It’s something you start learning at 10 years old and constantly work hard on as you grow. By the time you reach the NBA you either have good defensive instincts and IQ, or you are chock full of bad habits that are almost impossible to correct. Very very rarely does a player enter the NBA clueless on defense and become even an average defender.
Yeah, I hear you, and if those same types of players ar drafted by subpar orgs and coaches, they’ll never get right. I still feel like guys enter young enough to get right defensively, but starting out on the timberwolves back then doesn’t really lend yourself to that, hence why I’m still watching KAT do the same dumb shit at year 10 lol…
there are different types of athleticism, some guys who are 0.1% vertical or straightline athletes arent good at moving laterally. obi toppin is another good example
He’s not bad on-ball, he’s just genuinely horrendous off-ball and I think it’s a matter of just having negative bball IQ
I always figured BBIQ, especially on defense, was a dynamic trait to be improved upon. But guys like Lavine and KAT make me think otherwise…
Defense is BBIQ and effort, it’s why subpar athletes (by NBA standards) like Marc Gasol can still be elite defensively. He reads the offence ahead of time and positions himself in the right places ahead of time.
Lavine always gave off the vibe that he’s too good to play defense and hustle, almost like he’s above it. Look at his rebounding numbers, how the hell does a 6’6 guy that could jump out of the gym only average 3 rebounds per game? Dude averages less rebounds than most PGs in the game that are much shorter.
its one of the most frustrating things to watch honestly, and demar does that shit too. we have 3 guys on the court that will maybe actually attempt a rebound. you’ll see demar and zach just watching the ball. even fucking westbrook at 37 years old and 6’4 will get us 10-12 easily.
That’s the thing I love about Russ. He might make some stupid plays, he’ll have lapses defensively, but he plays with effort and it shows.
With DeMar and Lavine… like bro box someone out. DeMar is 36 so I give him a slight pass but Lavine is in his prime.
Yeah he think he’s just a stubborn ass mfer.
I’m honestly impressed that there’s someone lower than everyone on the wizards lmao
lower than 2025 Khris Middleton is genuinely impressive
is it? Zach has played almost twice as many minutes
It is, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and coming off injuries on a team that fighting for lottery position again.
it’s a volume stat tho - why would anyone think Middleton would be leading at it
that blowout win did wonders for them lol
More teams should run up the score whenever possible so that they bolster their +/-
Coaches will put the bench out there in blowouts but those guys absolutely care about their stats. If anything, they care more because their next contract is dependent on garbage time stats looking good.
Can you tell JJ to do this, I am tired of this net rating talk about the Lakers.
it’s a volume stat. he’s played ~200 possessions more than those guys. if you do it per 100, carrington has the worst net rating in the league by far.
He’s about to pass Jarrett Jack for 4th worst career net +- ever
Jarrett Jack was a PROBLEM
For his own teams
Damm i thought he was a pretty solid player with the young warriors back then
that was the twilight of his career though
edit: nvm he just always looked old
Come on guys, LaVine is just one more trade away from being all nba. Surely someone will offer multiple first round picks for him again this time around? Right? Right?
He’s the walking embodiment of a Washington Wizard.
You act like he’s been traded several times lol
First time he got traded he had a torn ACL. This is the first time he’s been traded as an established player, you say this like it’s a list
500k per game to play on one side of the court.
Absolute terrorism to pair this guy with derozan.
But then again Lowry and derozan were called the trash bros in the playoffs when they played in Toronto, and then they got rid of derozan and we all know what happened
What? With Demar they won 4 playoff series and lost 3 in his last 3 years in Toronto. All 3 losses were to the LeBron-led Cavaliers who were stomping on the whole East for years.
Then they trade Demar and get prime Kawhi (!!!) AND pick up Gasol AND LeBron leaves the East to start building a title team in LA.
After Kawhi left, the Raptors won 1 playoff series in 6 years. So I don’t know what you are even trying to imply here? That Demar was holding them back? No proof of that. They upgraded with Kawhi and didn’t have to deal with LeBron.
They called that city “LeBronto” for a reason haha
Demar was definitely holding them back. He was objectively an awful playoff performer, as in statistically one of the worst playoff players ever for a “star”
DeMar was absolutely holding them back. We don’t have to go this far.
It helps that they got Marc Gasol and Green as well. I think the one thing that made it impossible back then is because ref’s stop calling fouls in the playoffs…and Derozan’s most elite skill is driving. It didn’t help that they had to go through Lebron, but no fouls nullified what made Derozan a threat (because he would get hacked to pieces in the paint).
I think plus minus is a dumb ass stat but idk why the Kings saw DeRozan and Lavine not work in Chicago and say hey, let’s try it here in a much more difficult conference. Just head scratching
Plus/minus within an individual game isn’t a good indicator. Plus minus and on/off over a long period time is a great correlative indicator of how good/effective a player is.
Because vivek is a psychopath
Perennial loser, always has been
He also has the worst winning percentage of any active player with 500+ games. He is a professional loser
Chicago robbed Kangz
And that clown said that he’s best on-ball defender lol
He’s played with a good point guard for about 60 games total his whole career and he’s the exact kind of player that desperately needs one
When the Bulls finally gave him a point guard in Lonzo (after years of playing next to guards like Jerian Grant and Tomas Satoransky), the Bulls were top of the East and Zach was averaging 30… then Lonzo went down on the same night Zach tweaked his knee later requiring surgery, and he spent the next 3 years taking turns iso-ing with DeMar.
We finally gave him a point guard again last year in Josh Giddey, and he was a large positive on the court for the first and only time in his career. He was actually able to play off-ball and make use of his insane scoring in the role he’s made for… and then at the deadline we sent him to go play iso-ball with DeMar and no point guard again.
He’s absolutely a flawed player but he’s been in purgatory-like situations his whole career. His skillset is made for playing off of actual superstar talent but he’s been thrust into and paid like a no. 1 option when that’s not who he is.
He’s an elite shooter and scorer with defensive limitations and I stand by my belief that he would look so much better playing off of a true no. 1 like a Giannis, Jokic, etc.
100% agreed. I think he’s serially ended up on rosters that minimize what he’s good at offensively and magnify his defensive shortcomings.
How was his defense during the good times? (This is a serious question)
Better since he had more energy to spare but still not good, it’ll never be good but it wasn’t nearly damaging enough to outweigh his scoring
Who could’ve predicted a team built around Zach and demar wouldn’t work! You certainly can’t blame Sacramento for trying something new and inventive
Thank you Kings for getting rid of two expensive problems for us lol
I know fantasy is evil. I get it. But I have Demar on my fantasy and regularly dive into his games (can only stand watching sometimes) and things are BAD.
Vivek Ranadumbass wanted him so we got him.
I haven’t been watching the Kings, but the hot dumps being taken on Zach is wild to see.
I don’t know if it’s valid or not, but he was never a problem-problem like that for us. Defensive turnstile? Yeah. But he could flat out score and seemed to always give his best effort despite us going nowhere
He’s not just “playing bad” on the Kings, he’s not trying. It’s pretty clear he never wanted to be there but when you’ve been on losing teams you’re entire career you aren’t really granted grace.
Kings saw what the bulls were going through and said “you know what, I want that, but even older versions”
I will never get over the Kings seeing the Bulls get nowhere with Darozan and Lavine and saying “I NEED THAT!”
nico deservedly got crucified for the trade, but the kings front office honestly deserves even more hate for pairing lavine and derozan on this team
How were they supposed to know it wasn’t a good combo? Their 3 awful years on the Bulls could have just been unlucky
That’s why them players let that ticket season holder give Zach a passionate earfull
so the fan that was escorted out of the game is vindicated
This isn’t surprising at all
He at least had efficiency going for him, but that’s fallen off a cliff lately. Watched their last game and he was disinterested.
Call me a hater but LaVine has been vastly overrated on account of a couple great scoring seasons. The reality is he can’t defend, his ball handling/play making has taken a nosedive, doesn’t rebound a ton, and his shot is brutally inefficient. He shouldn’t be a primary scoring threat or a secondary ball handler on any serious team, his role should be closer to Hardaway Jr. than to Harden at this point
As a bulls fan I’m here for the LaVine hate train
Dude is extremely talented but has -400 BBIQ
Genuinely who in SAC thought this roster was a good idea
Vivek. Only Vivek.
I am very late to the hate party, but in general defense requires effort and offense requires skill. He might be a good 6th man or coming of the bench when scoring is required to keep the team, but ain’t no way this player is leading anything.
I am kind of baffled sometime how some of the NBA players are getting these contracts, I am happy for him getting the bag, but being the highest paid player on the team and don’t giving any effort must be depressing for his teammates.
LaVine always was all offense no defense.
I will never understand the cope that Kings fans thought that he would ever be good
He’s a fucking bum, always has been always will be
This is what a lot of people thought Melo was
On his next contract is he a 6th man on a MLE contract?