Back to school: LaVine studying to play both guard spots

TULSA, OKLA. – When Ricky Rubio sat out Friday against Milwaukee to get rested and presumably ready for Sunday's meeting with Russell Westbrook, Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders placed the ball where he has more often than you'd think during a preseason in which more than half the games remain.

He put it in the hands of rookie Zach LaVine.

It's a slightly unexpected place, entrusted with a raw 19-year-old who barely played point guard during his one collegiate season at UCLA — and comparatively didn't play all that much there at all — but now is learning to play both guard positions at the game's highest level.

It's an investment process that will deliver nights such as Friday's 105-98 loss to the Bucks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where LaVine started in Rubio's spot, played more than 27 minutes, made just two of nine shots from the field and committed six turnovers.

He also made a play in the game's final 77 seconds, finding space in the defense to drive the ball to the basket for a short bank shot that drew the Wolves within a point — but no further, it turned out — after they had trailed by as many as 14 points.

It's the kind of performance — much like his first NBA game, the preseason opener at Indiana — that sends him back afterward to review, multiple times: After that Indiana game, he watched the game on the flight home, then watched the game with Saunders the next day, and then watched portions of it with his coach yet again later.

"Watch some film, see what you did right, what you did wrong and go back out there and compete," LaVine said of his formula. "The film don't lie. It shows you the black-and-white truth, and that's what you want to see. You see what you did good and what you did bad."

On-the-job training

Friday's game revealed a very young player trying to fit precision passes into places where they didn't fit, hence many of his six turnovers. In the open court, he showed the kind of speed and inclination to push the ball at an NBA pace and maybe then some, reasons why Saunders used the 13th pick in last summer's draft to select LaVine in Saunders' other role as president of basketball operations.

LaVine made his first NBA start Friday because Saunders wants to measure Rubio's activity after he spent part of his summer playing for Spain in the FIBA World Cup and probably because the Bucks played without their top two point guards, Brandon Knight and Nate Wolters.

So Rubio sat and waited for Sunday's matchup against Oklahoma City's Westbrook and a Thunder team missing injured superstar Kevin Durant in Tulsa. LaVine started Friday's game instead of veterans Mo Williams and J.J. Barea because his presence fit the theme — "play the kids" — that Saunders has implemented through preseason's first three games.

Just where — or if — LaVine will find his way into Saunders' rotation once the coach tightens it as the Oct. 29 season opener approaches remains to be seen.

"He struggled a little bit," Saunders said after Friday's loss. "He's still trying to find out how to play. It's going to be a learning process for him. Right now, he has shots open that he doesn't take and he takes shots he shouldn't. He just has got to learn. He has to be more consistent."

Saunders calls LaVine a "sponge," gym rat and learner who just might be too eager to study his faults and refine his game. Saunders said he has told his coaches they'll have to keep LaVine from working too hard rather than not enough.

"He'd be in the gym 24 hours a day, if you let him," Saunders said. "It's a fine line, and this is a long season. Sometimes you need to cleanse your mind and not be overloaded and worry about everything, too. With young players, you've got to get them comfortable, so they're playing off their reactions, off their natural ability. You don't want them to think too much. That's a concern with Zach. But because he wants to learn, he's going to have a chance to reach his full potential."

Living a dream

LaVine said he is capable of learning to play both guard spots in the NBA because he considers himself a natural scorer if he plays shooting guard and because he considers himself a creator who played with the ball in his hands all through high school and AAU ball in Washington state.

"I do have the ball in my hands, and I'm comfortable with that," LaVine said. "I guess it's just more my style. I like being able to create plays."

But it's a demanding process that will require time and help. Saunders often has paired LaVine on the floor with Williams, a combination all three men say will work because of the blend of youth and experience and Williams' willingness and ability to play off the ball while LaVine handles it.

"Trust me, I'll shoot it," Williams said with a grin, referring to a shooting-guard role. "Zach's dynamic with the ball in his hands. We want to exploit that. With me and him in the game together, I don't want to say it's a Westbrook role, but with his athleticism Zach can be that type — a Westbrook-Derrick Rose type — of point guard. He can be a dynamic guy at that position, and I can shoot the hell out of it. We can complement each other."

But it will take time — and lots of it — to determine whether LaVine grows into a unique kind of point guard, given his athleticism and 6-5 size. While he learns, the Wolves must determine, and negotiate, their long-term future with Rubio, who is eligible to sign a lengthy contract extension until month's end. If he doesn't by then, he'll become a restricted free agent next summer.

"It has been a lot of fun, a lot of competing," LaVine said of his first weeks in the NBA. "You're living your dream, man. It's really crazy. I'm glad to go out here every day. Thank God I'm out here playing for the Timberwolves."