Why Luol Deng is the Bulls' MVP

I could end this post by just saying "see last night's game," but I owe to Luol Deng to elaborate. With Derrick Rose injured, Deng is by far the most important player on the Bulls. Here are my top 3 reasons why.

#1 - Deng Creates Shots

Every Bulls fan knows that Luol isn't a great dribbler. This is a function of both his long, awkward body, but also, he simply isn't a great ball handler. However, Luol slashes to the basket extremely well, can move off screens, and although it's usually pretty ugly, he uses his athleticism to get some easy dribble drive buckets.

Watching Jamal Crawford handle the ball like an extension of his body is super entertaining, but Deng gets the job too--just in a less sexy fashion. While Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson can both dazzle with post moves, neither can create off the dribble like Deng. Frankly, with Deng, Rose, and Jimmy Butler all injured, the Bulls don't have a single creator available.

#2 - Deng Shuts Down Offensive Stars

This is so obvious that it almost doesn't warrant a mention. If he played against the New York Knicks tonight, I'm quite certain Carmelo Anthony would have one of his worst games of the year. Deng doesn't look as jacked as a LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, but he is very strong, very physical, and he's not soft. It takes a different kind of personality to like getting beat up and pushing back, and Deng has it.

#3 - Marquis Teague Doesn't Have to Play

After watching last night's debacle against Milwaukee, I think we can all agree that playing Marquis Teague should be considered tanking. I'm sure Teague is a great guy, works very hard, and he's probably even good in practice. However, he can't shoot, he can't finish, he's weak, he doesn't defend very well, and he truly has no NBA-quality skills at this point.

Teague presents so many problems for the Bulls at the moment. He's afraid to drive, so his defender can sit on his heels and wait for Teague to pass the ball. He also can't shoot, so teams are easily able to sag off and double on other players. Other than the Bulls' refusal to run plays through Taj Gibson frequently, the other major problem with the offense right now is spacing. The Bulls quality bigs face constant doubles and clogged paints because there's virtually no reason to defend the perimeter. 

When Deng is playing, the Bulls can minimize Teague's playing time. True, he will have to log some minutes as long as Mike James is out and DJ Augustin isn't signed. But, with Deng in the lineup, the Bulls can minimize the Teague/Kirk Hinrich backcourt which looked so pathetic last night. Deng can play the 2, 3, or 4, making him incredibly valuable when other players are injured.

At this point, I'm not really sure how the Bulls keep Deng going forward, but I think management should at least try. If the Reinsdorf family is interested, I'll happily deal with the issue if they would like to pay me to be a consultant. As a humble fan and blogger, I'm not really sure what to do. The decision is probably very much predicated on how good they think Nikola Mirotic can be.

Tonight's game...

The Knicks are absolutely terrible. The Bulls are terrible without Rose, Butler, Deng, and Joakim Noah. But the Knicks are really really bad and have no solid big men to speak off.

Final Score:

Bulls 87 Knicks 80

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Talking Knicks and Linsanity, victory over the Heat

There was a great article in the New York Times about the end of Linsanity, and talked a bit with a friend/reader about the Melo- D'antoni feud. As much as I loathe the Knicks, this is a great story, with a bevy of opinions.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've never been a buyer of Jeremy Lin. I watched him play pretty well, lighting up mediocre point guards, and taking more shots than Allen Iverson. The flaws in his game were clear as day: he can't go left, he can't really handle the ball, and he makes a lot of unforced turnovers.

Yet, there's no doubt he can play. Is he a top 5 point guard as many speculated? Not by a long shot..

1. Derrick Rose
2. Deron Williams
3. Chris Paul
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Steve Nash
6. Rajon Rondo
7. Kyrie Irving (I'm going to regret putting him behind Rondo)
8. Tony Parker
9. Ricky Rubio (can't shoot, but neither can Rondo)
10. Kyle Lawry

And you can argue that CJ Watson, Eric Bledsoe, Darren Collison, Andre Miller, Brandon Knight, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, Jeff Teague and John Wall are on another level above Lin. So, yeah, he's basically a league average guard playing in New York.

So if Linsanity is over, I wouldn't worry about it. There are at least 15-20 better point guards in the league (and a few are back-ups!).

When did Linsanity die for me? Not surprisingly, against Los Bulls, earlier this week. In the 4th quarter we saw Carmelo Anthony, one of the best half-court scorers in the NBA, calling for the ball against a combination of ROOKIE Jimmy Butler and Ronnie Brewer. Now, both are excellent defenders, but still, Carmelo is one of the best scorers in the game. He should be getting the ball in the 4th quarter.

Nope, Lin waves him off. Possession after possession, Lin seems to give the ball to anyone but Carmelo, until he demands the rock within the last 2 minutes (and puts up a few moments of epic chucking).

Frankly, I don't give a damn how good Lin thinks he is. He's still a 2nd year player refusing to defer to one of the best scorers in the game. And D'Antoni didn't care.

This begs the question, who's more important: Carmelo Anthony or Jeremy Lin?

In my eyes, that's a no brainer...it's probably the guy you traded several starters for. Probably one of the best scorers in the game, a guy who is considered the 3rd best small forward in the NBA.

And since D'Antoni has tried to force his run n' gun, open court style of basketball on a team built around a dominant isolation player, we've seen Carmelo go into hiding. New York fans seem to forget that Melo is awesome. He's a fantastic, top 10 NBA player who should be celebrated a  lot more than a league-average point guard. Maybe this is crazy, but I think this team is better without D'Antoni and without a Lin/Melo feud.


Talking Wednesday's game against the Heat...


John Lucas III is one of my favorite players, mainly because he might even be a little shorter than me and posts hilarious shit on Twitter. He came to play, scoring efficiently, lighting up LeBron and not really turning the ball over. I'm so impressed...to the point where I might end up ordering my Lucas jersey.

Of course, Deng is clearly more hurt than he's let on. He played alright, but a healthy Deng doesn't let LeBron score at will.

Boozer looked ineffective, as is the norm for him against the Heat. He had TWO points. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll give him a pass since he's looked like Utah Boozer the last few weeks. We might actually need him in the Eastern Conference Finals, though. So Carlos, come to play.

As for the enemy... I will admit, I still love LeBron. He's one of my favorite players, and as a former headcase athlete, I genuinely feel sorry for him. He's usually the best player on the court, but once that 4th quarter comes, or something throws him off, he's not what he should be. I'd love to beat the Heat with a beasting LeBron, but that might not happen.

Dwyane Wade on the other hand went nuts in the 4th quarter. He almost single-handedly won the game and looked like an MVP out there. Let's rejoice in victory and not think about what could have happened.

And now...

BEAT THE BLA (uh, what the hell did they do at the deadline?)... I guess this is the Blazers!