DuckIII wrote:Because we know that his injuries in fact happened and that they were important (back, hamstring, stress fracture).
The injuries support the games he did miss, not the depressed play he has put forth for 2 whole seasons now, when he was supposedly healed, and in many cases weeks and months after he has returned from injuries. If his injuries were so long lasting and severe as to make him damaged goods, then we need a new assessment of his value.
I know he wouldn't be. But there is no evidence, at all, anywhere, that this is actually what happened. So why say it? What we know is that Deng continues to be injury prone and that his production has suffered.
I have said in other posts that he has played poorly perhaps due to nagging injuries. But maybe its because the Chicago Bulls aren't the be all and end all to Luol Deng's life. I never said that is the fact of the matter, in fact, I think I made the speculation pretty darn clear in my post in numerous places. But if it were to be true that Deng isn't super passionate about NBA basketball that's not a crime, I think a lot of players in the NBA have different levels of commitment, not everyone lives and dies competition like Michael Jordan. But that is up to Paxson to measure and take stock of and make the appropriate decisions for the team's future.
All players are upset when teams reject their contract demands and are potentially trying to trade them. All players except the ones who want out. Some will admit it frankly, some will repeat the canned line that their agent taught them: "I understand that the NBA is a business." (insert robotic monotone voice here)
But all players aren't affected in the way Deng's play was affected. And he seemingly tied the two things together after the terrible start to last season, unless we think he was just making an excuse for subpar play with it.
There were reports this preseason that Gordon was upset with the team and deliberately sitting out practice to prove a point. Do you honestly think that this is evidence that Gordon now devalues the significance of his NBA career?
Gordon could have been pouting. But since then, this year kind of puts the latter question to bed, because he has obviously rededicated himself, put up perhaps his best and most consistent season and is said to still be working as hard as ever on his game. Maybe Deng is as well, I simply said that we don't have any recent reports like we do with Ben that he still is. And it always stood out to me that Ben and Luol were mentioned in the past as the two young guys that were always putting in extra time.
I don't know, does he? They did give him the largest contract in franchise history, so I think the circumstantial evidence supports a yes. And at the very least, doesn't even remotely support a no.
I would agree with you that he should feel that the team values him, but I'm not sure he does with the way some of the reports have talked about his mindset and reaction to his contract negotiations and then also the trade rumors. As was brought up earlier in the thread, before Luol was so graciously rewarded with his deal, things were not going so smoothly at all. Only after Luol put his deadline on the situation, did the Bulls finally come to the table with something he was happy with.
