Chicago Bulls: What more does an All-Star berth require from LaVine?

We overthink the selection for the yearly All-Star Game. We really do. How else can you explain the phenomenon that is Zach LaVine, a player producing historic career-highs across the board, yet whose chances to earn his first All-Star bid still remain up in the air?

LaVine is currently up to 28.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He’s shooting 51.8 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent on threes and 86.2 percent from the free-throw line. Those are All-Star numbers whichever way you slice it.

But the All-Star conversation isn’t that simple because so many choose to make it that way. Team success is factored into the equation. Terms like “value” and “empty-calorie” are thrown around without any type of consensus as to what either truly means.

The Chicago Bulls can only watch as Zach LaVine is doing everything in his power to earn a well-deserved spot in what would be his first All-Star Game.

It’s a large reason LaVine has faced an uphill battle for an All-Star nod these last few years. His Chicago Bulls haven’t finished higher than 11th in any of his three seasons with the team and are currently 13-16 this season. What good are gaudy numbers if they don’t help much where it truly matters?

‘‘I hear a lot of stuff; I let a lot of things drive me,’’ LaVine said before the season of the perception he’s developed as someone who doesn’t contribute to winning basketball. ‘‘I’m one of the hardest-working guys, but if you want to be a great player, you have to lead your team to wins, and I want to do that.

Winning should be rewarded in the All-Star conversation. After all, that is the goal of the sport. But if one’s win/loss record will help earn them a leg up on the ballots, why isn’t the context behind the standings taken into consideration as well?

Joel Embiid has Ben Simmons. Jayson Tatum has Jaylen Brown. Giannis Antetokounmpo has Khris Middleton. LaVine has an often-injured Lauri Markkanen? No wonder Chicago’s record differs significantly from that of a Philadelphia or a Boston or Milwaukee.

If we recognize that LaVine doesn’t have the supporting cast needed to place the Bulls among the best of the east, why is that held against him? All we can really ask is that he does all he can to get his team as far as it can go. Looking at the numbers, it’s hard to argue LaVine is doing anything less.

According to NBA Math’s points added system, LaVine is one of only 12 players to have added last least 100 points of value on the offensive end. Part of being among that group is a function of volume, where LaVine is one of only five within that group to have played at least 1,000 minutes. But his heavy workload is necessitated by on/off numbers that has Chicago’s offense performing at a top-10 rate when he plays and a bottom-10 mark when he sits.

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Ahead of the coach’s reserve votes being submitted on Monday, LaVine has taken his play to even greater heights. Over his last 10 games, he’s up to 33.1 points with 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He missed just five of his 20 shots to score 38 points in the Bulls’ most recent victory over the Sacramento Kings. He dropped 46 in a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans less than two weeks ago.

“He’s aggressive, but he’s also not forcing it at the same time,” Wendell Carter Jr. said of his teammate. “Just making sure that he’s letting the game come to him. From my rookie year to now, he’s just gotten better and better at that. I feel like that’s really the last step for him being a superstar, in my opinion.”

The only other players who have matched or exceeded LaVine’s current numbers over a full season are Stephen Curry and Larry Bird. And there are really people who believe that a player on track to join that exclusive club shouldn’t be included in a game that exists for the singular purpose of showcasing the best talents the NBA has to offer.

For those still held back by the Bulls’ sub-.500 record that places them ninth in the underwhelming east, consider the state of the entire conference. Despite sitting on the outside of the playoff picture, Chicago sits two games behind a fourth-seeded Celtics team that is a near-lock to have two All-Stars in Tatum and Brown.

In a year where most of the 30 teams are bunched together in the standings separated by only a handful of games, a higher seed should not be the selling point it traditionally is in a normal season. If that factor is evened out under the circumstances, LaVine’s individual play certainly has to give him a leg up on the competition, no?

His numbers and efficiency exceed some of the game’s brightest superstars and his defensive effort has even reached semi-passable levels after drawing criticism in recent years. LaVine’s case is as convincing as it’s ever been. And if we’re being honest, he’s done more than enough to make it as convincing as it needs to be.

“I feel I’ve played at an All-Star level the last couple of years,” LaVine said. “I don’t think there are people who have had better seasons than me over the last couple (of) years in the Eastern Conference, but it comes down to winning. I’m glad that we’re in the hunt… Hopefully, the coaches vote me in. It would be very gratifying, especially for my family and the hard work I put in.