All the Kings men can't put former Bulls Zach and DeMar together again

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine as Bulls had some moments, even sniffed a playoff series, but toiled away far too often in mediocrity.

DeRozan and LaVine as Kings?

An unmitigated disaster.

Even before LaVine was shut down for the season for finger surgery and DeRozan was out on Sunday with illness, the one-two punch they showed under Billy Donovan did not translate to the move west. Obviously, they’ve had much different personnel around them in Sacramento, but also one that wasn’t void of talent when the roster was whole. Still, the synergy has evaporated.

“Sometimes it’s hard on the West Coast to watch all these guys play,” Donovan said, when asked what has changed with the two since they left. “They have had some injuries, and certainly their team here is a lot different with Zach and DeMar here than when we had them. The groups are different.

“Listen, I love both those two guys. I think those guys know how I feel about them. They were totally professional, and listen when you’re dealing with high-level players like that you are not always going to see eye-to-eye on stuff, but I appreciated the conversation and the intent on their part was to really try and win. That was important to those two guys. I don’t know all the reasons it didn’t work out (here).”

A question the Kings still haven’t answered.

Before LaVine was lost for the season, the last-place Kings were 9-30 when he played this year. They were 14-50 when DeRozan’s played. DeRozan has been with the Kings for two years, while LaVine was traded there last February.

It wasn’t like they were holding up Larry O’Brien Trophies with the Bulls, but they had more good moments together than bad. That included the first year they were teamed together, posting a 46-36 record, and had a first-place team until Lonzo Ball was lost for the season.

“It was a lot early on and I’m adding Vooch (Nikola Vucevic) in there, when they first got (to the Bulls) because they were all used to being the primary guy and they all got injected into each other,” Donovan said. “The one guy that had to make the biggest sacrifice to his offense was Vooch because he needed those guys, Zach and DeMar, to play with the ball in their hands.

“But I think their commitment, who they are as people, their professionalism, I loved being around both of them.”

DeRozan has one more year left on his deal, while LaVine has a player option for $48.9 million that he has already said he would pick up.

Back whole

As expected, the injury report for the Bulls looked a lot cleaner against Sacramento, as Josh Giddey (ankle), Matas Buzelis (ankle), Jalen Smith (calf) and Patrick Williams (quad) were all good to go. There were minutes restrictions on Smith and Williams because of the time they missed.

Giddey and Buzelis were back in the starting lineup, while Smith and Williams came off the bench.

Different Russ

Russell Westbrook was back in the limelight the last week after he called out the Kings media for being too negative.

Donovan coached Westbrook for years and had only great things to say about the veteran guard.

“I’ve always said this about him: It’s a great luxury as a coach when you walk into a locker room before the game and you never have to worry about a guy being shot out of a cannon,” Donovan said. “Like that guy comes ready to play every single night. Winning is a major priority for him. He plays with a fire and passion and plays hard every night.”