KC's article states Vinnie planed to start Salmons over Deng regardless of whether Deng played last night. Not sure if it's a one time thing owing to the injury or what, but how are people feeling about Deng in general? So much stuff has gone down, it's hard for me to sort everything out. * Short of health, I don't blame them for paying Deng, because I think if you look at him as not a health risk, and you assume your coach has a clue, you'll be fine with him. If healthy and utilized well, I think he mostly plays like he did in January. * But How much did/should the Bulls have known about Deng's fragility? We'll see about his leg, but the fact he's off seeking outside opinions on a problem that's been eluding diagnosis and bothering him for a month is giving me some pause about how well the Bulls take care of such things and understand them. Obviously the insurers of Deng's contract some something they didn't like, why didn't the Bulls? * God's sake, what the hell were they thinking with Vinnie. Who knows what sweet nothings he whispered into everyone's ear, but from the get-go it's been obvious the "system" he's employed makes shitty use of Lu's abilities. * And Salmons is sort of the anti-Deng. Whereas Deng struggles one-on-one and excels with good team play, Salmons is a one-on-one player who doesn't play the team game well. So it's sort of natural that Vinnie might favor him to Deng. Within the logic of Vinnie's system, Salmons might be the better fit. But ultimately Vinnie's system is horseshit, and you don't throw away a good player for a mediocre one because he's a better fit in a bad system. You change the system to make use of the good player. Did they really think Deng was gonna be a good fit with Vinnie's system? If they did, they were stupid. If they didn't, why not trade him last summer at least.
If Deng is a bust and never can stay healthy/play consistently, whom would he be most like? Man, I thought this guy was about as safe as it gets, but I didn't know he was uninsurable when they signed him, either.
Hell ya they thought Deng was a good fit with Vinnie's system. Of course, the way Vinnie it described last summer and what is on the court must be like night and day.
I agree that they haven't been the most observant. I know I noticed that after that 1st wrist injury he never went to the hoop as hard as he did before he was hurt. So, I guess if I noticed you would think the team would notice. So, I do blame them for not getting tough with him sooner. I do like that they are throwing him under the bus saying he's fine to play, and if he doesn't it's cause he's not challenging himself to play through pain. When he got hurt last time right after the game before any xray or anything he said he was going to be out maybe 1 month and VDN said maybe he'd be out 1 or 2 games but they would have to wait and see. Then he came back on the same night as Kirk probably cause he was pressured to from the team and the press. You remember when he said he wasn't coming back til he was a 100% (cut to footage of him doing sprints and laughing and looking ready to go) then the next day he took back his comments and said he mis-spoke. I say BS he didn't mis-speak. He meant it. And do we even know what VDN system is. He says defense, but they don't play defense. He says run, but do they really even run a lot. No too all.
I think Del Negro thinks that Deng is a pussy, and has about all he can from Deng. Deng has actually played some pretty good defense this year, but he has been horrible offensively. He is a blackhole, who tries to force up a shot everytime he gets the ball, and he's just not that good at scoring. I think Del Negro probably wants Deng gone. There's a reason why Vinny chose to bench Deng for Salmons, rather than Gordon, who has alwaysbeen the one thrown under the bus and to the bench. It's good to see Vinny at least isn't benching the guy whose scored more than 20% of this teams points this season. Deng probably needs to get traded, and there is a chance that Deng might have been the guy the Bulls had a financial deal lined up at the deadline for, and not Hinrich.
Where do you get this from? Salmons has had about two practices. The only way he is going to do much on offense is play one on one. And the system seems to encourage individual play. I don't see his play as any more individual than BG's, and probably less so. So I don't see him as the anti-Deng as much as a guy taking advantage of his opportunity. The Deng-VDN thing is pretty dumb. Deng seems to play well when he isn't hurt, but seems to get hurt frequently. At this point it doesn't seem to do Deng any good to try and grind it out for the team since Deng is apparently taking heat from VDN for his poor offense. I don't think his defense has been that bad, but he may be one of the main offenders of the slow defensive rotation problems. But that is probably explained by a sore leg. So I guess the moral is: don't play hurt.
I get it from reading scouting reports on Salmons. They say he's a good one-on-one player (both ways) but has more difficulty with the team things. Deng is just the opposite of this... he can be much better in the right system than he is as a one-on-one player. This particular "system" (which mostly looks like really good players playing pickup in the park) is going to have players basically taking turns going one on one. They have like 3 plays. Within the context of that system, Salmons is a better fit. Within the context of actually playing in a real offense, the report on Salmons is that he's not all that great at it, while the other players on this team have done pretty well at it. Yeah
I kind of got off that idea when it became evident his back was an issue. I'm guessing if he adds too much weight or plays too physical, he increases the risk of an issue there.
