![\"Zach](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/teams\/uploads\/sites\/1610612741\/2022\/11\/221121_SamSmith_BillyDonovan_ZachLaVine_Point_16x9.jpg?im=Resize=(640)\")
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It\u2019s the \u201cwhat if\u201d that still bothers Billy Donovan.<\/p>\n
The Bulls coach isn\u2019t losing sleep over it or punching holes in drywall, but admittedly it still feels like an opportunity lost in his Hall of Fame career.<\/p>\n
The return of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine to the United Center on Wednesday was a reminder of that.<\/p>\n
Prior to the 2021-22 campaign, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations was flexing his then-aggressive attitude, bringing in DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso that summer, pairing the trio with Nikola Vucevic and LaVine.<\/p>\n
The results were instant, as the Bulls controlled the top of the Eastern Conference going into a Jan. 14 game against Golden State, sporting an impressive 27-12 record. Not a complete sample size by any means, but one that definitely had legs.<\/p>\n
That is until a leg gave out. Ball\u2019s specifically, as his left knee issues began in that loss to the Warriors, and he was never the same. Neither was that roster.<\/p>\n
There were teases with the group, and enough that Karnisovas let it play out way too long, but never anything like they had going that first season together.<\/p>\n
That had Donovon very reflective with the Kings \u2014 led by DeRozan and LaVine \u2014 in town.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I feel that way because I was able to see the commitment that those two guys made,\u201d Donovan replied, when asked if it felt like an incomplete part of his career. \u201cThe unfortunate part was \u2014 and I\u2019m not saying how the year would have ended \u2014 but there was a very small sample size when we were whole. And the sample was a good sample.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Donovan pointed out, LaVine and DeRozan were the foundation pieces, but Ball was the heartbeat that really made it work.<\/p>\n
\u201cLonzo, to his credit and being in the league for a while, understood the four guys on the floor,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cHe understood how to get maybe Zach out in transition and in space. He knew when the game needed to be slowed, he would get DeMar and Vooch into spots. And then he and Alex were just monsters on the perimeter. When Lonzo went down, and Ayo (Dosunmu) did a wonderful job, but it\u2019s hard for a rookie to come in and handle that. Coby (White) has the shoulder injury, Alex breaks his wrist, there were a lot of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have loved to have been able to have seen that group stay whole to see what would have happened. Some of it, and a lot of it, was probably out of our control in a lot of ways, and it would have been great to have seen that group stay together and what it would have looked like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forward Isaac Okoro didn\u2019t love starting off scoreless through the first two games (0-for-8), but was confident it wouldn\u2019t last. It didn\u2019t as he had 10 points Monday and started off the game against the Kings 2-of-4 from the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a confident player,\u201d Okoro said. \u201cI know that I didn\u2019t want to start the season the way it kind of started. I knew the shots I missed were makeable shots and I was going to continue taking those shots. I work on my game pretty hard, so me just having the confidence to keep taking those shots and eventually I\u2019ll start making them.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeMar DeRozan was no stranger to a return to the United Center since being traded to the Kings, but for Zach LaVine it was a first. And while LaVine scored 30 in the loss, he said afterward that he would \u201calways have love for Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Donovan is a Hall of Fame coach, but he admittedly still battles with the what-if game when it comes to the 2021-22 Bulls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":115517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n