When the Bulls drafted Luol Deng, I remember the phrase "you can cross off SF from your list of needs for the next decade" being said. Nine years later and a year left on his deal, that has largely been true. That said, Chicago should be looking to move on from Luol Deng rather than extend him. Luol's a good player. He's a glue player. A system player. He defends. Rebounds. Hustles. Does the little things. If you ever wondered whether coaches love Luol Deng or not, wonder no more at the fact the coaches voted him into the all-star game twice. They probably don't love him enough to trade much for him, not at his salary, and the Bulls need Luol this season if they want to compete for the NBA title. My opinion often vacillates on Deng. I don't think he's worth his salary, but I don't see how the Bulls get better trading him or letting him walk. Losing Deng won't be addition by subtraction. He's a good player. He's a good person as well. The Bulls relationship with Deng would be a hell of a lot more contentious if he wasn't given the situation a few years back with his leg. There have been times he wanted to leave and times the Bulls wanted him gone, but never has either situation gotten bad enough for the Bulls to move him for nothing, and no one has ever offered much, including this summer. I was discussing Deng on my last podcast and a listener wrote me to say the thing about Deng is that you never really miss him when he's out. I thought it was a great point that I hadn't quite considered in that light. We've seen Deng have a number of significant injuries in his career, and I don't know that the team has ever suffered for it. Deng's injury may have been the key to beating the Brooklyn Nets last season as he was absolutely abysmal in that series. Read more http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-bulls-confidential/2013/08/the-bulls-last-dance-with-luol-deng/
With all due respect to Doug, he'd know if he looked it up. Over Deng's career, the Bulls are 96 games over .500 when he plays and an even .500 when he doesn't.
Misleading, transplant. Deng played 82 games on a team that went 62-20. There's 42 of your 96 games over. But you know what? Omer Asik has an even better record than Deng if you use your metric. That team goes 62-20 with John Salmons at SF, too. Which is the point. In fact, that season we got Salmons, Deng played 49 games, 23-26. Without him, the team went 18-15. Maybe we'd have won more than 62 with Salmons (or a guy like him). Year before last, Deng played 54 games, we went 42-12 with him, 8-4 without him. Now we're at 72 of your 96 games over. Last season, 42-33 with him, 3-4 without.
Tell ya what Denny, as I see it when a writer (Thonus) gives me nothing more than a feeling or a sense that a very important something is true when I think it isn't, I don't feel the need to produce absolutely conclusive evidence in opposition. That part of his article was lazy and pissed me off. If someone has compelling evidence supporting Thonus's statement that the Bulls have not suffered during Deng's absences over his career, I anxiously await enlightenment.
I agree with Thonus, almost fully. Deng is a great guy. The way he uses his wealth to care for the needy in Sudan and other places is beyond what almost anyone else would do. There's clearly been times when there's been rough times between him and management - like when he refused surgery then went to play for England in International Basketball. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2009.html Luol Deng. Before his wrist injury. Coming off a season where he had a very good 17 PER (the year before). Hey, the Bulls only went 41-41 that season with him missing 30+ games. Must be because he was out. On the other hand, the team suffered several injuries, and was starting Aaron Gray at C. I don't think your measurement tells any story at all. Like I said, Omer had a much better record than Deng. Something like 120 wins, 40 losses in his two seasons where he played in games. The Bulls took the defending champion Celtics to 7 games in the first round that year. 4 OT games. One double OT, one triple OT. Deng didn't play. Last year in the playoffs against the Nets, who we beat, Deng put up a 8.3 PER, with 13.8 points on 16.8 shots, a .381 FG%, and a .056% 3pt shooting percentage. All that in 44.8 minutes per game. He held Gerald Wallace to 12 points on .463% FG and .379% 3Pt. Did we win because of him or in spite of him? We lost 4-1 to the Heat. Won first game as we did the last time we faced them, and got swept the remaining four as we did last time. With Deng, without Deng, no difference. Butler did a fine job replacing him - 13.3 PPG on .435%/.405% in 40.8 minutes. Guarded LeBron, too. Where exactly have the Bulls suffered without him? When he was out, we've had a Salmons or Butler to fill in, and they've been his equal. In Salmons' case, better (for the one season). Butler was better, too. How about YOU make the case, since you disagree with the premise.
Where I disagree with Thonus is that we would be better off letting him walk. We're better off keeping him. We're not better off signing him to another $14M/season size deal.
I will evaluate whether Deng should be traded or allowed to walk to free up money when I have a clear idea what we replace a solid, depeddable 2 time allstar with. Only then can say if I think we would be better off or not And I am not saying that to invite wild "it works on a trade calculator" scenarios Right now I am more excited about the 2013-14 season than in biting on a Slow News Day article like this. Well written and Doug points out a dilemna the Bulls will face but I don't think all the facts are in required to give the topic due justice. And Denny is eight. As good as he is he' s not a 14M per player. Again though the Q remains If Not Dwbg, Who? That is key. To quote an old Funkadelic album, this team is Standing on the Verge of Getting It On. We are in the window.
To be honest, I think Deng is going to walk. As transplant has rightly and brilliantly pointed out, the Bulls after using the amnesty provision on Boozer will have maybe a couple $million under the cap if they renounce Deng. Who can we get for $2M that's even close to Deng in all things he brings? We're in the position to go over the cap to sign him to pretty much any size deal we want. The scenario I see is the Bulls don't want to pay him $10M, but the Bucks do. So he walks. To sign the guy at $10M simply puts us in a tougher spot when it comes to financial flexibility. His $10M might not hurt us the first year, but it may well hurt us when we're having to extend Butler and Teague, etc. Noah's going to be wanting a new contract in 2 years as well. At $10M, will Deng be easy to trade?
I want to keep Deng, but not for the same money and he is young enough to want it again. If he makes the all-star team for the third straight year it will be difficult for the Bulls to want to low ball him so to speak.
IMO, if Deng only wants $10mil, Bulls' management does the dance of joyfulness and signs him without hesitation. To me, Deng and Andre Iguodala have always been natural comparables. They were drafted the same year (though Deng's a year younger). Iguodala is a SG who can play some SF and Deng is a SF who plays some PF. They're both big-minutes guys and while both are viewed as very good all around players, defense is the forte of each player. Until 2012, both were close, but no cigar in terms of all star game selection. Since then, Deng has been selected twice and Iguodala once. Last month, Iguodala signed a 4-year, $48mil contract with the Warriors. If Deng accepts anything less than $12mil, it's a "hometown discount." I'd be shocked if the Bulls simply let Deng walk. Rose is entering his prime and a team with a superstar in his prime can't allow the player their head coach has dubbed their "glue" to simply be subtracted. The Mirotic-Boozer PF switch makes sense as a younging-up "phase two" of the Rose era, but plugging in Butler for Deng at SF will only make sense if an above average SG is gettable, or if Tony Snell's rookie season is a true revelation.
Where to begin. Deng will be a UFA http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8589693/nba-free-agents-2013-2014. I don't think the Bulls have a choice about letting him walk if he wants to leave. Iggy is head and shoulders a better player than Deng. He deserves that $48M contract, and the team that signed him is already a contender that's deep at the positions he plays. We all like Luol, but when it comes down to the business side of things, I don't know anyone not a Bulls fan who thinks he's worth his contract or that would value him like you do in trade scenarios. I don't envision teams throwing big bucks at him that are already deep at his position(s). I think at one point they were comparable, but when one guy strings together seasons of 17 PER (Iggy's career PER is 16.9) and the other has hit a PER of 17 just twice, Iggy demonstrated he's the better player. Deng's career PER is 15.8, and he hasn't put up a 17 PER since 2007-08. Iggy doesn't have to look at his feet and the floor to keep from losing his dribble, either. That's "skill." He's easily one of the better all-around wing players. On the other hand, I think you pretty much nailed it that Deng is really a stretch 4 playing SF. We talk about how $2M isn't enough to replace Deng. Well, at $10M they may be stuck with just MLE kind of money to improve.
Well, we can certainly agree that Deng is a UFA and that, if he's determined to play elsewhere, he'll be free to do so. Iguodala head and shoulders better than Deng? Based on PER...and only a couple points of PER at that? Nope, not much chance at common ground there. And I didn't say nor imply that Deng is "really a stretch 4 playing SF." In fact I said something very different, namely that Deng "is a SF who plays some PF." I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't do that again. Thanks.
Based upon PER, based upon consistency, based upon watching the two guys play with my eyes, based upon the price paid to sign Iggy. You did nail it that Deng is a PF playing out of position. He's got the size and skill set of a PF. If he played there full time, I bet he'd be close to 10 rebounds a game, too. A couple of points of PER is significant. The difference between a 13 or 14 guy and a near 18 guy is HUGE. Like the difference between Nazr and Noah. I think Deng leaves, like I said. I laid out the scenario. I don't think the Bulls are going to pay big money for the luxury of having a 3rd SF on the team. Why pay $10M+ for a guy whose production and contributions can be replaced by a much cheaper Butler?
You said he's a SF who plays some PF. He plays like a stretch PF playing SF. In fact, he has the same build as this guy: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/ibakase01.html Just an inch shorter, perhaps. Luol is listed at 6'9" on every site I look at besides BBRef, and it says 6'9" on his own site. [video=youtube;zvAT68u4eyg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvAT68u4eyg[/video]
I wanted Iggy in that draft and he is absolutely the better of the two. He will be the benchmark Deng's camp will try to use to establish market value. That is the extent of Iggy in the conversation. From the Bulls camp there is the fact that we are contenders. Where can Deng go that that team can afford his asking price and contend? Sure, when push comes to shove money usually talks but rings have value. Maybe Deng needs a marketing guy to get him some endorsements. From the Bulls camp the evaluation has little to do with Iggy and everything to do with contending. Is Butler enough to absorb the loss of Deng? Is there anyone else available to do the job for cheaper than Deng? How do the Bulls use the money saved to maintain or improve their contending window?
Hardwood Classics on NBA TV right now. The game is game 7 of the Bulls/Celtics round 1 series with the Rose/Gordon back court. Deng isn't playing. Salmons was outstanding for us at SF. He could really handle the ball, too.
I think you can take this a step further. This story is both a year early and a year late. The Bulls needed to trade Deng at the draft last year if they were aiming long. The Bulls kept him and are making runs at rings. Fine. Let them make their run. What happens this season will dictate what happens to Deng and we have no idea what the Bulls will look like this season. Could they implode? Yes. Could they win a championship? Less likely, but still within the realm of reasonable possibility. Even if Gar knows what he has in Deng, he doesn't know what he has in the rest of this team.
