Comments on: Luol Deng, the Defiabull http://dabullz.com/2009/03/16/luol-deng-the-defiabull/ Chicago Bulls Blog, News, Rumors, Analysis, Commentary, Forums, and Daily NBA Power Rankings Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:01:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Andrew Wamboldt http://dabullz.com/2009/03/16/luol-deng-the-defiabull/comment-page-1/#comment-277 Andrew Wamboldt Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:22:06 +0000 http://dabullz.com/?p=1869#comment-277 I think the story on Deng goes as follows. 2004-2005: He is looking like a real good rookie. It's a shame his rookie season got cut short. 2005-2006: Luol Deng who? Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Andres Nocioni lead the Bulls to the 7th seed, and are the "core" of the team. 2006-2007: Luol Deng has a really good year. Gets credited for being the best player on the Bulls, while in reality, it is actually Gordon. 2007-2008: Luol Deng has a disappointing season. It's just because he's worried about his contract issue. 2008-2009: Luol Deng is officially an injury proned player, and also not looking like a very good player. 2006-2007 looks like a fluke. I will never understand why Luol Deng got so much credit for the Miami playoff series. Ben Gordon averaged 25.5 PPG on 5.5 APG. Luol Deng did play great in that series, and averaged something like 0.5 PPG more than Gordon in the series, but Ben Gordon was the one leading the charge. Luol Deng was playing off of the other guy's great play...as usual. A guy who can do well when everythings going fine, but not a guy that can lead. The second round was a debacle, because Skiles coached poorly. In the Heat series, you had Ben Gordon getting the ball at the top of the key. In the Pistons series, he stuck Gordon in the corner. (It should be clear by now, that when a player is only 6'2", they're pretty easy to guard and deny the ball if they're just standing in the corner). I think the Bulls have to look to move Deng. The question of course will be whether they can find a taker. Right now, John Salmons is definitely a better player than Deng, which brings up the scary thought...the Bulls could be paying $80 million for their backup small forward! I think the story on Deng goes as follows.

2004-2005: He is looking like a real good rookie. It’s a shame his rookie season got cut short.

2005-2006: Luol Deng who? Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Andres Nocioni lead the Bulls to the 7th seed, and are the “core” of the team.

2006-2007: Luol Deng has a really good year. Gets credited for being the best player on the Bulls, while in reality, it is actually Gordon.

2007-2008: Luol Deng has a disappointing season. It’s just because he’s worried about his contract issue.

2008-2009: Luol Deng is officially an injury proned player, and also not looking like a very good player. 2006-2007 looks like a fluke.

I will never understand why Luol Deng got so much credit for the Miami playoff series. Ben Gordon averaged 25.5 PPG on 5.5 APG. Luol Deng did play great in that series, and averaged something like 0.5 PPG more than Gordon in the series, but Ben Gordon was the one leading the charge. Luol Deng was playing off of the other guy’s great play…as usual. A guy who can do well when everythings going fine, but not a guy that can lead.

The second round was a debacle, because Skiles coached poorly. In the Heat series, you had Ben Gordon getting the ball at the top of the key. In the Pistons series, he stuck Gordon in the corner. (It should be clear by now, that when a player is only 6′2″, they’re pretty easy to guard and deny the ball if they’re just standing in the corner).

I think the Bulls have to look to move Deng. The question of course will be whether they can find a taker. Right now, John Salmons is definitely a better player than Deng, which brings up the scary thought…the Bulls could be paying $80 million for their backup small forward!

]]> By: Beeman http://dabullz.com/2009/03/16/luol-deng-the-defiabull/comment-page-1/#comment-276 Beeman Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:31:12 +0000 http://dabullz.com/?p=1869#comment-276 I never really cared for Luol as a player. I have always seen him as soft even when he had that really good season a couple of years ago. I wasn't shocked that the Bulls paid him all that money because for some reason everyone in city was crazy about Deng. I watched NBA players, coaches, and analyst say that he was the best player on the Bull's team. My bestfriend and I laughed and were really confused. Is everyone that blind? They said that he was a complete player and could be a Scottie Pippen to Kobe. Deng has a very limited game. He is really a jump shooter who moves well without the ball. He slashes in and then a pass comes in for him to catch and make a layup or dunk. So many people hyped him up so the Bulls felt like he was something specialwhen really he is not. Salmons actually plays the position better than Deng and that must be a smack in the face to Paxson. Gordon should've been offered the bigger deal. Deng has had injuries since his rookie season so it is no suprise to see him injuried now. I would try to move him this summer. Maybe I'm crazy but earlier this season when Deng and Iguodala were having bad starts that the bulls should've made a swap. We need someone athletic and Deng is far from it. The fact that he has to have a certain offensive system in place also shows you how limited he is. Gordon can play in any system and play off any player. What are your thoughts? By the way, love the stories...this is one of my favorite sites. Keep up the good work!!! I never really cared for Luol as a player. I have always seen him as soft even when he had that really good season a couple of years ago. I wasn’t shocked that the Bulls paid him all that money because for some reason everyone in city was crazy about Deng. I watched NBA players, coaches, and analyst say that he was the best player on the Bull’s team. My bestfriend and I laughed and were really confused. Is everyone that blind? They said that he was a complete player and could be a Scottie Pippen to Kobe. Deng has a very limited game. He is really a jump shooter who moves well without the ball. He slashes in and then a pass comes in for him to catch and make a layup or dunk. So many people hyped him up so the Bulls felt like he was something specialwhen really he is not. Salmons actually plays the position better than Deng and that must be a smack in the face to Paxson. Gordon should’ve been offered the bigger deal. Deng has had injuries since his rookie season so it is no suprise to see him injuried now. I would try to move him this summer. Maybe I’m crazy but earlier this season when Deng and Iguodala were having bad starts that the bulls should’ve made a swap. We need someone athletic and Deng is far from it. The fact that he has to have a certain offensive system in place also shows you how limited he is. Gordon can play in any system and play off any player. What are your thoughts? By the way, love the stories…this is one of my favorite sites. Keep up the good work!!!

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