UCLA Men's Basketball: Former Bruins Star Unpacks NBA Rivals' Improvements
Current Chicago Bull and former UCLA Bruins great Zach LaVine isn't blind to the changes around the league happening within the Eastern Conference.
Nonetheless, the All-Star shooting guard is maintaining some probably unfounded optimism after blockbuster moves involving the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks in the past week.
LaVine isn't technically wrong but most NBA fans know that the Celtics and Bucks both significantly improved by bringing in Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard to their rosters respectively.
Holiday got rerouted after being part of the original Damian Lillard deal and his new team on the East Coast appears destined for a Conference Finals showdown against his old friends in Wisconsin.
Chicago could've been in the mix after their great start to the 2022 campaign, but an injury to fellow ex-Bruins star Lonzo Ball left LaVine and company tumbling in the East standings.
The Windy City once boasted the number one seed in the East but Ball's injury derailed any progress that DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and LaVine made with his talent alongside them.
Without a timeline for Ball's return, the team now lacks both a perimeter defensive presence and elite table setter for their talented scorers.
One 2022 first-round exit and an inspired, albeit unsuccessful play-in run last year ended both seasons within this recent era of Bulls basketball.
LaVine may remain hopeful about his team's chances, but with aging veterans and no true ceiling, Chicago is arguably in the worst place for any sports team to be.
Though LaVine sat through some hard losing years with the team, they remain not quite elite enough for championship contention nor bad enough for a high lottery pick.
No matter what the former Bruin says, LaVine likely won't convince fans of the team to tolerate another season in basketball purgatory due to the current Eastern Conference landscape
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