The 2021-22 NBA season sees the Chicago Bulls in a place of prominence again. It's been a long time since the team reached the playoffs but it looks like this year they have what it takes to not only be in the postseason again but to have a deep run as well.
And that has a lot to do with their offseason moves. The Bulls acquired players with playoff experience in DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, providing Zach LaVine the help he's been craving for years.
The 26-year-old is certainly enjoying this season, in which he's found an incredible chemistry with DeRozan to be considered one of the best duos in the league right now. LaVine deserves this, especially because he worked hard for it in the offseason.
Zach LaVine explains how he helped to pull off DeMar DeRozan's arrival
In a worth reading interview with Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, LaVine revealed that he stayed up late during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to talk with DeRozan, who was in San Antonio at that moment.
“While I was overseas, yes," he said when asked whether he talked with DeMar while he was in Japan. "There were some nights, I called him one night at like 3 a.m. because of the time change, just to talk to him about how everything was going on with free agency and how we could make it work.
“And when I came back, we got together…we started working out together in the offseason, and we both came to Chicago early because it’s a pretty new team. Pretty much everyone’s new on the team. We started off really early on in the process. I think that’s why we have such good chemistry.”
Needless to say, those late talks have clearly paid off. DeRozan is giving Chicago reasons for optimism ahead of the playoffs as one of the best players this season, leading the Bulls in points per game (28.3) and assists (5.1 - same as Lonzo Ball).
