Luol Deng Makes His First All Star Game

Luol Deng was drafted by the Chicagio Bulls with the 7th overall pick in the 2004 draft. If you have been following my post's for a while you know for the longest time I was down on Luol Deng because he never lived up to his potential. He was always good, but never great and lived up to all the athleticism that Bulls fans thought he could. This was early on in his career when he was trying to develop into the type of player he wanted to be. Now, he has found the right style to his game being a slasher, jump shooter, and even adding the three pointer to his game. The movement he means to an offense you can only understand by watching Bulls games. 


His defense can also not be underrated. He can guard so many 2's or 3's and keep with the top shooter's in the game. Now under his second year under Tom Thibodeau he has really come into his own. With all the nagging injuries that he experienced early on in his career behind him, the mentorship of a good coach has had a endless impact on Deng (and Rose for that matter).

Deng is putting up pretty similar numbers compared to the last few years, but he finally got recognized by the other coach's in the league for his effort and all the little things he does that impact a game. Deng is the glue of the Bulls and deserves to be an All Star!

Luol Deng Puts Home Up For Sale

Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng has put his Northbrook townhouse (near the Berto center) on the market. This is after all of the rumors settled down if he would be traded this off-season if the Bulls landed two or three of the big free agents. The Bulls lost out on getting any of them in Wade, James, and Bosh so now it looks like Deng is staying put. This is a big, expensive townhouse.

Per The Chicago Tribune

Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng has placed his three-bedroom town home in Northbrook on the market for $639,000.

A native of Sudan who left Duke University after one year to enter the NBA draft in 2004, Deng has been with the Bulls his entire career.

Built in 2000, the 2,511-square-foot town home has two full baths, two half baths, a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, a large master suite with custom closets and a lower level with a bathroom and lots of storage.
Deng paid $336,000 in 2004 for the town home, which is in a neighborhood popular with Bulls players.

Did you notice how much Deng paid for the townhouse and how much he is trying to sell it for? That is a big increase, maybe he doesn't realize this is a bad time to sell an house. Shouldn't Deng have put his house up for sale a few months ago if he thought he was getting traded? Unless he feels he is safe now and wants to get something bigger.

Jack Ties Shoelace During Bulls Game

Saturday night the Chicago Bulls lost by 32 points to the Toronto Raptors. This play towards the end of the third quarter shows why they lost by so much!



Jarrett Jack decides to tie his shoe during the game while he had the ball like street ball. Not one Bull, Including Luol Deng who was cloest to him tried to put any pressure on him or knock the ball loose. The effort is sad! All the Bulls watched confused. The 'Bright' One told me about this article at Yahoo Sports which talks more about the play.

Here is the full clip:

Chicago Bulls Captain’s for this season

The Chicago Bulls recently decided their captain’s for this season. They selected Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Lindsey Hunter. The players selected whom they wanted as captains. This is how the Bulls have done it for several seasons now. Kirk Hinrich has been a captain for a few years now and makes sense. In the past he was a starter though. Now he is a role player and comes off the bench. A bench player can be a captain though. This is Luol Deng’s second year as a captain I think and he was injured most of last year. He is the only captain that is a starter. I find the third captain interesting. Lindsey Hunter has been in the league for 17 years, but at this point in his career he rarely plays. He is on the roster to mentor Rose, but he will only play if we have some injuries to the backcourt, and even then it will probably only be a few minutes. I would have liked to see Brad Miller as a captain. He is a veteran who is supposed to get along with everyone very well and be the glue for keeping the clubhouse loose. I am not a player to decide though….oh well.

NBA Live 2009

While I was writing my blog post on Luol Deng I came across this picture of him on the cover of NBA live 2009. He is on the cover of the copies that were distributed in the United Kingdom. I guess he is very popular in the United Kingdom. I find this amusing because usually players on the cover are coming off really good seasons and one of the best players in the league. Luol Deng does not meet this requirement. So who will be on the cover next?

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Luol Deng

Luol Deng was drafted in 2004 by the Phoenix Suns with the 7th overall pick and traded to the Chicago Bulls. In his rookie season he averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds to make the NBA All-Rookie First Team and to help the Bulls return to the playoffs for the first time in several years. In his third season with the Bulls Deng was the only player to start all 82 regular season games and he had his best season averaging a career high in 18.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. Deng has not averaged that many points or rebounds since this 2006-2007 season.

On July 31 2008, Luol Deng agreed to a six-year deal worth a guaranteed $71 million dollars with incentives up to $80 million. This makes Deng the Bulls second highest paid player for the 2009-2010 season. Luol Deng has a career average of 15.4 PPG and 6.3 RPG. In order for the Bulls to have a big year and continue to get better Deng has to get better and have a big year. I would like to see Deng averaging between 20-25 points this year, rebounding over 8 times a game, and being the good defender he has shown flashes of being because he is tall and fast with good wingspan to cover most guards and forwards. You could say that Deng is one of the key factors for the Bulls to have a good season.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Small Forward

The Bulls will have Luol Deng as the starting small forward. Luol Deng was injured most of last year and has taken a few steps back the last few years. He has to show he was worth the 5 year contract the Bulls gave him. Deng need to have a big year and be the offensive player and rebounder we need him to be. The Bulls have Rose to handle and distribute the ball, they have Salmons to shoot the ball, and they need Deng to be a big contributor to the team’s success. Backing up Deng the Bulls don’t have a ton of depth. They will be counting on rookie James Johnson. Johnson played mostly power forward in College and the Bulls already have a logjam at Power forward/center so Johnson doesn’t figure to get much playing time there. Johnson will get most of his playing time at small forward backing up Deng, so he needs to make the most of it. If Johnson struggles the Bulls can have starting shooting guard John Salmons back up Deng at Small forward and have Hinrich or Pargo take Johnson’s playing time.