Buzelis says goodbye to LaVine, announces his presence with career-high in Bulls win

About an hour before tipoff Tuesday, new Bulls Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter strolled into the locker room in street clothes.

Jevon Carter was the first to see them and exclaim, “The new guys!” Other Bulls were talking to reporters about the shock of seeing top scorer Zach LaVine leave in a trade to Sacramento.

Rookie Matas Buzelis is one of those players who took LaVine's departure hard. Trades are always a harsh reality of pro sports, whether it's you or someone else getting moved.

“Rookie process, rookie year — he's been a huge guide,” Buzelis of LaVine. “I texted him (about) how much of an honor it was, honestly, to share the court with him. He told me, 'Relationships don't end because of trades.' He told me I can always reach out and ask him to get the proper guidance.”

Buzelis mentioned he's going to keep grinding and trying to win games. He did his part against Miami, scoring a career-high 24 points as the Bulls rallied in the fourth quarter for a 133-124 victory at the United Center.

Buzelis hit all 10 of his field-goal attempts, including 4 from 3-point range. According to @UnderdogNBA, six rookies in history have made at least 10 shots without a miss, but Buzelis is the only one to attempt even a single 3-pointer.

Over the last six games, Buzelis has made 12 of 19 shots from 3-point range. Josh Giddey also had 24 points, Coby White scored 22 and Ayo Dosunmu 21.

Buzelis was also officially announced as a participant in the Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 15. He said after the game he's been going to the Advocate Center with LaVine at night to work on dunk ideas.

White, now the longest-tenured Bulls player, had similar sentiments about the trade that ended LaVine's run with the Bulls in the middle of his eighth season in Chicago.

“My initial reaction was sadness. He's been here since I've been here,” White said. “We were all shocked. We found out when we landed. There's been so much chatter over the years (about potential trades) and nothing ever happened. Especially the year he was having. We all felt sadness because this is home for him.”

None of the three new Bulls suited up Tuesday. Coach Billy Donovan suggested they won't play Wednesday in Minnesota either because it's not fair to throw guys onto the court who haven't been through a practice. But it's also possible some of the new players will be rerouted to different teams before Thursday's deadline.

Center Nikola Vucevic is the most likely candidate to get traded in the next two days, but there are no guarantees given how teams value rim protection. Just about anything is still possible.

“I still think there's a long process in this, quite honestly,” Donovan said before the game. “You have a few days left in this (trade) period, you're going to move into the draft, you're going to move into free agency in July. I'm all for doing what's best for the organization.

“I think all the way from top to bottom, I think everybody felt the same way. We're kind of in the middle here, we're going to have to make a shift and do something, and I think that's been the goal to try to get that done.”

Hopefully someone inside the Bulls organization understands there are two ways to go when an NBA team is “in the middle.” Tanking for a high draft pick has not been a reliable road to the Finals. Recent NBA champions Boston, Denver, Milwaukee and Toronto never tanked.

Luck is usually the most important ingredient to putting together a winning NBA roster, so it's impossible to know if this LaVine trade is a better path than, say, doing nothing.

Donovan was questioned about whether he's on board to keep coaching if the Bulls are delving into yet another rebuild. He left his last NBA job in Oklahoma City after five seasons, but maintained he rebuilt constantly as a college coach.

“I think the situation in Oklahoma City is totally different,” Donovan said. “There were maybe a lot of things said or put out there publicly that I had no interest in a rebuild. That's not true. I never said that, never felt like that.

“I'm not like, 'I only want to coach ready-made teams.' … I want to be part of building something. But what direction we go in and how we're going to build and what we're going to do, I don't think anybody inside the organization has those answers right now.”