After missing 17 and five games, respectively, Chicago Bulls stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević returned from injury on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets. The Bulls have surprisingly held strong in the absence of two of their best players. With the season’s halfway point approaching, how does the return of these two stars impact the Bulls moving forward?
Analyzing the Impact of Chicago Bulls Stars Returning From Injury
Vučević’s Return
In their game against the Charlotte Hornets, the two returners came off the bench for Chicago and played limited minutes.
Vučević, having only missed five games due to a groin strain, played just over 24 minutes. The center contributed a solid 11 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, shooting 5-for-12 from the field. He commented on his transition back into the lineup after the game:
“I think it was just the first game kind of figuring out my minutes and stuff, but since everything went fine I think going forward it shouldn’t be an issue,” Vučević said via ESPN.
In five games without Vučević, the Bulls experienced the quiet resurgence of former All-Star Andre Drummond. Drummond’s dominant rebounding and solid rim protection came as a pleasant surprise to the Bulls. It’ll be intriguing as Vučević returns to see how coach Billy Donovan utilizes the two centers’ different play styles.
LaVine’s Return
LaVine’s absence was followed by a newfound fluidity in Chicago’s offense, Coby White’s surge, and a 10-7 record. LaVine played 30 minutes off the bench and provided 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists on 6-for-11 shooting.
“I just wanted to feel my way into the game. I missed a little bit more than a month. I can pick up offensively when I need to, but I wanted to just get up and down the court a couple times,” – Zach LaVine said via ESPN.
Welcome back, Flight 8!@NBCSChicago | @ZachLaVine pic.twitter.com/LTcCFbkIBL
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 6, 2024
LaVine’s name has been one of the most popular names thrown around in trade talks around the league. The tension between the Bulls and LaVine regarding a trade is mounting, but he claims he’s not focused on that.
“My focus is coming back and helping us win,” LaVine said Friday morning. “I don’t look to the future.”
The two-time All-Star also commented on the team’s recent success and his excitement to get plugged back in.
Chicago’s Momentum
The difference between the start of Chicago’s season and their recent success boils down to two things: ball movement and defense.
The Bulls struggled to find fluidity in their offense before LaVine’s injury. Since then, the Bulls have found a consistent rhythm of moving the ball. DeMar DeRozan is playing more similarly to his time with the San Antonio Spurs, acting more as a playmaker for his teammates. With White’s emergence, teams are locking in on him defensively, opening up opportunities for others like Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu to score more.
That Coby pass to the Paw 😮💨@RushMedical | #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/hcSvajiWKH
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 2, 2024
Defensively, the team has collectively chosen to lock in more consistently. It certainly helps to have First-Team All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso leading the way, but there has been more buy-in team-wide defensively. While Chicago’s defense isn’t the most outstanding, their defensive rating puts them in the middle of the pack in the league at 15th.
The Last Word: Plugging Back In
LaVine and Vučević’s return adds two talented offensive hubs to a team that is figuring out the surrounding components to being successful. If the two can lock into what their teammates have been able to accomplish, it could mean a total swing in Chicago’s season. And as far as we’ve been able to tell, the two stars are willing to make that happen.
“We played with a lot of energy offensively,” Vučević said. “We were very decisive. We were sharing the ball. Whenever we got stops, we were able to run and get some easy ones as well. Played the right way definitely, but our decisions were quick. And we were playing off each other well. Whenever we do that, we can be a great offensive team.”
“There’s nothing different that we’ve been doing other than guys got in a rhythm, understood their roles and obviously started making shots. When you win, everything gets better and you play better. I’m coming in and trying to fit in and do the same thing I was doing, just at a higher level,” LaVine said Friday morning.
Winning changes things. At the beginning of the season, Chicago didn’t experience much of that. Now that LaVine and Vučević returned and things have started clicking offensively and defensively, the Bulls are suited to turn things around.
