But I can really see the possibility of his return. Slim chance, but possible. Perhaps between $10M and 12,5$M.
I remember being surprised to read that Deng raised the possibility that the Bulls take-it-or-leave-it 3/$30mil may end up looking pretty good to him this summer. Deng's a very good player and I'd welcome him back to the Bulls. However, the Bulls need to explore all alternatives and choose the one that makes the most sense for them. They could certainly do worse than bringing Deng back.
In chicago, they don't win championships and bust their asses. In cleveland, they don't win championships and have fun. Interesting. I think a balance between the two is where it's at. Even Skiles talked about the need to have fun toward the end of his tenure.
I've never thought Deng would be all that valuable to other teams. His is the antithesis of the "crowd-pleasing" game. I'll guess 4 years and $44mil.
Lakers have a ton of cap space. That seems like a natural destination. Deng would be great in a D'antoni offense.
Yup, the Lakers have Kobe, Nash and cap space. I'm not sure what to make of it, but Deng would be a great choice if you're looking for players who get the game.
Deng's having a solid year. Stats wise, one of his best ever. I didn't hear his name at all when it came to the all-star team or even on the list of players who were close to making it but missed the cut. Why is that?
I'm not sure, to be honest. I didn't really think twice about until I saw that Paul Millsap was selected. There stats of the two players are surprisingly similar -- Millsap shoots a little better -- but Deng plays both ways when Millsap doesn't. More than that, Millsap is one of those guys who does great on a bad team but whose contributions tail off when surrounded by talent. Deng to me is the opposite: he's pretty darn good when surrounding by top flight talent but shows his deficiencies when you expect him to carry the lion's share of the load. I think Deng is both the better player and having the better season. Do you have any idea why Deng was left off the AS team?
Well, if you're into PER, Millsap (20.2) was the clear choice over Deng (17.0). Oh, and the Hawks are the 3rd seed in the EC and needed a representative on the AS squad.
Yah, its not so much me arguing Milsap over Deng, its just how Deng seemingly has dropped right off the NBA radar. Its an odd story. The guy has made the last 2 all-star teams and is having a better statistical season than either of those two years. And a quick perusal of the "who got snubbed" articles from the leading sites I saw do not even mention Deng's name. So far, this trade is a disaster for Deng. 1.) His "buzz" has plummeted. 2.) The Cavs have not improved much if at all since he joined the team. 3.) The Cavs seem to be in chaos. His veteran, winning influence has not seemed to help. 4.) He's leaking stuff out about his own team it seems! 5.) He has the stink of losing about him now. None of these are good things for Luol's FA prospects.
PER is a measure of efficiency, not player value. I have a real tough time accepting Millsap on an allstar team when he'd be a giant liability in a contender's starting lineup. I guess I'm not arguing with you -- I'm arguing with the GMs that made the selection.
Atlanta is maintaining third seed in the conference, despite the loss of Horford. Horford was the team's leading scorer and rebounder, and one of the better PF/C in the league. In his place, Milsap is putting up 17.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 1.2 BPG, and 3.0 APG. On top of looking like a terrific PF, he's taking 2.5 3pt attempts per game and hitting 36.3% of those. I don't see PER as an efficiency value, but more of a measure of the quality that a player fills the stat sheet. The really good players do have a really good PER. This is true for Ben Wallace as a Piston, and he was not a scorer - efficient or otherwise. The last two Bulls to post a PER over 20 are Rose and Elton Brand. That's how rare a 20 PER guy is. Those two are/were all stars.
If I had the choice between Millsap and Gibson I'd take Gibson in a snap. Millsap to me is that classic only-good-in-the-regular-season type player. He'll give you a solid performance, and he's fun to watch, when your playing at Charlotte in the middle of February, but he's not able to contribute when it actually matters. I keep going back to the way the Bulls played him. Thibodeau was matching Jimmy Butler against him, coaxing a post up opportunity. And as soon as Millsap put up a shot in the paint, Gibson or Noah would bring help defense and healthy dose of swat. Noah had 5 blocks om Millsap during the last ATL-CHI game; I think Gibson had an additional 3. That's not what you want from your starting 4. And Millsap was powerless trying to defend Gibson in the post. He didn't last long before he got the hook. Yeah, Millsap's fine as a starting power forward when you're playing the bottom half of the East. Against Indy? Miami and Lebron/Bosh? The Thunder? You have to do better.
