The Bulls will want a lot more value if they trade TT. I'm guessing Rudy and/or Joel would have to be involved (if not more) for a trade involving Kirk and TT. I threw out Outlaw, Bayless or Blake, Rudy and the #22 for TT and Kirk on the Chicago board and did not get any favorable replies. FYI-Gar Forman was just interviewed on ESPN Radio. He says he has heard all the Kirk trade talk and says they really like him. Forman said the Bulls will not trade Kirk. He said they will keep him.
This is the kind of deal that would get the Bull's GM fired. All of the Portland players put together don't equal a healthy Deng much less Deng and Hinrich. Keep dreaming.
Not that I agree, but it's not nuts. Not when you take into account salaries, clutchness, injuries and chemistry. There are many SFs I'd rather have than Dengit.
Is there such a thing? Not saying there isn't, or that he will never return to his pre-injury form. Just asking. If he's damaged goods and will never again be anything more than an average player, dumping his $71 million contract would be a huge win for Chicago. Go back and look as videos of Derek Anderson before his injury. He had several years of PER = 16.5 - 17.1 before his injury and then dropped of to PER ~11 after. And we were stuck with his contract for years - which wasn't nearly as big as Deng's current contract. I'm OK with getting Hinrich, but really don't want to take on Deng's massive contract given his injury history and his already declining production. BNM
Two years ago, Luol Deng was on the same growth curve as Aldridge and Roy. He was one the best mid range shooters in the game, and played (IMO) LeBron better on the defensive end than any other small forward in the league. If he can get anywhere near that level of play and perhaps even improve a bit after finally getting healthy this summer, he'd be a PERFECT addition. Like the poster above who said we're gonna be over the cap anyway, trading for Deng now could be a sound investment. Buy low. Check out this mixtape set to a song by one of the most underrated rappers in the industry: [video=youtube;pLG1YOv99s0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLG1YOv99s0[/video]
And check out this video from Channing Frye's rookie year: [video=youtube;voGZv5ZEVs0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voGZv5ZEVs0[/video] The kid was an absolute stud - attacking the rim and dunking in traffic. And all those highlights are from the 65 games he played in his rookie season, not cherry picked from three or four years. Then he got injured, and hasn't been the same player since. Will Deng ever be the same player he was pre-injury? Who knows, trading for him is a huge risk. Frye's rookie PER of 18.1 is very close to Deng's career high of 18.7 in his 3rd year. Would you want Channing Frye on your team with a $71 million contract? I'd like to see some proof that Deng is capable of again playing at his pre-injury peak before I'd take on that contract. BNM
It seemed to me that Deng was getting back to a pretty solid level of play this year ... before getting injured again. Am I remembering wrong?
His PER was 14.7, down from 17.0, down from 18.7 at his peak three seasons ago. His defense has also taken a turn for the worse. His DRtg was 109 for the second year in a row after being 100, 103 and 100 his first three (pre-injury) seasons. His TS% has also fallen from .560 to .528 to .511 and his eFG% has fallen from .518 to .483 to .455. Win Shares down from 11.5 to 4.4 to 3.0. Obviously, the injuries have affected his play and contributed to this alarming downward tend in his production. The question is, will he ever recover to the point where he will be as good as he once was. At this point his production is slightly less than Travis Outlaw - only with an enormous contract. BNM
You're right. He had a twelve game span in January and February where he played well. Averaged 19 points, 8 rebounds, on efficient shooting. It's those injuries that keep taking him off track. If he can stay healthy, he's a fantastic player.
You're talking about his whole season. I was talking about just a stretch when he appeared to be back to reasonable health between injuries. Thanks, that's what I was looking for. It would appear the ability is still there, just he needs to get his body right.
The defensive rating thing is tough to judge, IMO, because if you look, a mediocre defender can go to a good defending team, and of course, his rating is going to drop. Look at Ray Allen, for instance. The 4 years prior to going to Boston, he was at 110, 112, 116, 112. Then, on Boston, he was at 103 his first season. Ron Artest's career Defensive rating average is a 102. Do you really think Allen played Artest level defense last year? Artest's last two years in Sacramento were 105 and 108. Deng the last two years, on a Chicago defense that ranked 18(108.7) and 14(107.2) was at 109. I'm not trying at all to say he is an Artest level defender, so please don't take it as that. I am just trying to show how overall poor team defense will affect that number consistently for good defenders. It doesn't necessarily mean a decline.
And if worse comes to worse, and he is injured badly, I hear that that medical retirement thing is pretty easy to get.
Man, Frye was looking like a real world beater after his rookie season. What in the hell happened to him? Remember? A lot of people on here would have traded just about anyone for him back then. Damn, I wish we could see THAT Channing Frye again.
I knew Charmin was good his rookie year, but damn! WTF happened?! I feel you on the whole wait and see thing on Deng and his recovery as there certainly is a risk involved.
