Luol Deng ready to defy trainer by fulfilling national duty

DanTown8587 · Post #61 » by **DanTown8587** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:01 pm

This brings up a weird situation: would the Bulls let Luol play WITHOUT insurance on his back in hopes he injures his back and thus can void the deal? OR would they just refuse to let him play? And in this market, can Great Britain afford to insure his back for such a high cost for only three games when the team (if I am not mistaken) has already clinched a Olympic berth?

Post #62 » by **DuckIII** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:03 pm

dougthonus wrote:Deng isn't covered fully by the NBA group insurance policy. To my knowledge, Dirk and Manu were covered completely by the group insurance policy.

Thus there is a large distinction between those two things as the FIBA/NBA agreement requires the team to release their player if they aren't covered by the NBA group insurance policy according to here

That doesn't currently put Deng in breach of his contract with the Bulls. Which is the issue I was trying to address. If something happens with the insurance and the Bulls exercise a right to contractually forbid him from playing, and he plays anyway, then and only then will Deng have failed to honor his contractual obligations to the team.

Post #63 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:13 pm

That doesn't currently put Deng in breach of his contract with the Bulls. Which is the issue I was trying to address. If something happens with the insurance and the Bulls exercise a right to contractually forbid him from playing, and he plays anyway, then and only then will Deng have failed to honor his contractual obligations to the team.

I know, and clearly if the Bulls have the right to prohibit him and then do so, Deng is certainly not going to break his deal to play for a couple games.

I was only pointing out that your analogy to the spurs/mavericks situation may not be applicable to the Bulls situation. I don't think there's anyway Deng does something that gets his contract revoked or anything that breaches it. However, the Bulls may be able to deny him the right to play. If he's only going to play in a couple games and not practice with them for over a month then I don't really care though.

Post #64 » by **DJhitek** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:21 pm

Meh, we all expected this. You can't expect me to bash Deng since I'm in the military. His priorities are different, it's obvious to the Bulls now and they should look to trade him if they don't want to deal with those issues year round.

Hangtime84 · Post #65 » by **Hangtime84** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:45 pm

Deng seems comfortable being a 3rd or 4th option.

On this team he shouldn't be comfortable with that. If he plays all year round like he has been and injuries keep holding them back from making any developments in his game. Developing a 3 point shot or post moves. Paxson needs to see who wants him this off season.

BOBBA LUI · Post #66 » by **BOBBA LUI** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:47 pm

AAU Teammate wrote:We're all jumping on Luol for risking injury here

Whereas a big chunk of the posts on sites like these talk about the modern athlete's greed and lack of passion for the game.

Here a guy is trying against all odds to play in games for free, and we're all turning into Reinsdorfs in disgust. Talking about what he 'owes his employer'

Without even looking at specifics, or my viewpoint on whether or not he should play, it's just a weird turn of events where we have a guy who loves the game, and we still find a reason to hate on him.

The only thing that irks me as well as others most likely is the fact that Deng hasn't broken anything necessitating his current time off. It looks as if Deng is intentionally doggin it so that he can heal for the summer (as we get on Tyrus for his "Free Money" quote).

Post #67 » by **DuckIII** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:49 pm

rBob Z28 wrote:
The only thing that irks me as well as others most likely is the fact that Deng has not broken anything necessitating his current time off.

Except his leg, which the specialist has said shouldn't be played on right now, which is a diagnosis that is supported by the team. But other than that, sure.

BOBBA LUI · Post #68 » by **BOBBA LUI** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:52 pm

DuckIII wrote:
rBob Z28 wrote:
The only thing that irks me as well as others most likely is the fact that Deng has not broken anything necessitating his current time off.

Except his leg, which the specialist has said shouldn't be played on right now, which is a diagnosis that is supported by the team. But other than that, sure.

I thought the doctors down graded the original assumption of a stress fracture, and he was just supposed to keep activity to a minimum because of the pain.
Oh well, if it's broken then it's broken (if it's broken)

Post #69 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:55 pm

I thought the doctors down graded the original assumption of a stress fracture, and he was just supposed to keep activity to a minimum because of the pain.
Oh well, if it's broken then it's broken (if it's broken)

After a lot of opinions, they found he had a stress fracture, but it's a small one. They're resting him for 2 weeks and then going to decide what to do about it.

DanTown8587 · Post #70 » by **DanTown8587** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:56 pm

rBob Z28 wrote:
DuckIII wrote:
rBob Z28 wrote:
The only thing that irks me as well as others most likely is the fact that Deng has not broken anything necessitating his current time off.

Except his leg, which the specialist has said shouldn't be played on right now, which is a diagnosis that is supported by the team. But other than that, sure.

I thought the doctors down graded the original assumption of a stress fracture, and he was just supposed to keep activity to a minimum because of the pain.
Oh well, if it's broken then it's broken (if it's broken)

His leg has a stress fracture in it. The fracture isn't huge, but its big enough that the doctors want Luol to have surgery on it. The Bulls made it sound like Luol was not playing through pain when obviously the injury is more severe than that. But like I said a few pages ago, Luol can't win in this situation here.

Post #71 » by **Three34** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:57 pm

Except his leg, which the specialist has said shouldn't be played on right now, which is a diagnosis that is supported by the team.

He's not playing for them next Tuesday. The games are in September. That is six months away.

Post #72 » by **DuckIII** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:01 pm

rBob Z28 wrote:
I thought the doctors down graded the original assumption of a stress fracture, and he was just supposed to keep activity to a minimum because of the pain.
Oh well, if it's broken then it's broken (if it's broken)

Its broken. The team originally diagnosed a stress fracture through an x-ray. Then an MRI suggested otherwise, so they downgraded it to a bone contusion. Then Deng went to see a premiere specialist in this type of injury, who performed a CAT scan that validated the original diagnosis of a stress fracture. He has a fractured tibia.

Post #73 » by **Three34** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:02 pm

By the way, all of you who are making comments to the extent of "Luol isn't loyal enough, let's trade him" are kind of missing a point. The fact that his employer - to whom you wish him to be staunchly loyal - is able to trade him away for no reason at all if they so choose, is a reason to cap any man's loyalty to them.

Which would you rather do; be the face and the saviour of all of basketball in the finest nation in the world, the one which gave you and your family political asylum, which gave you the health and relative wealth of you and yours, and which your family resides and finds employment (including your basketball playing siblings).......or turn all that down to be "loyal" to a team whose fans want you gone.

I'm choosing the former, and I'd support any player's decision to do the same, even if I didn't share their nationality like I do with Luol right hurr.

Post #74 » by **DuckIII** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:05 pm

Sham wrote:
Except his leg, which the specialist has said shouldn't be played on right now, which is a diagnosis that is supported by the team.

He's not playing for them next Tuesday. The games are in September. That is six months away.

Right. I'd still prefer he dump the committment this summer. Regardless, I was just disputing rBob's claim that Deng wasn't actually injured.

Post #75 » by **DJhitek** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:17 pm

rBob Z28 wrote:
AAU Teammate wrote:We're all jumping on Luol for risking injury here

Whereas a big chunk of the posts on sites like these talk about the modern athlete's greed and lack of passion for the game.

Here a guy is trying against all odds to play in games for free, and we're all turning into Reinsdorfs in disgust. Talking about what he 'owes his employer'

Without even looking at specifics, or my viewpoint on whether or not he should play, it's just a weird turn of events where we have a guy who loves the game, and we still find a reason to hate on him.

The only thing that irks me as well as others most likely is the fact that Deng hasn't broken anything necessitating his current time off. It looks as if Deng is intentionally doggin it so that he can heal for the summer (as we get on Tyrus for his "Free Money" quote).

Where on earth do you come up with that conclusion?

Post #76 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:17 pm

By the way, all of you who are making comments to the extent of "Luol isn't loyal enough, let's trade him" are kind of missing a point. The fact that his employer - to whom you wish him to be staunchly loyal - is able to trade him away for no reason at all if they so choose, is a reason to cap any man's loyalty to them.

Which would you rather do; be the face and the saviour of all of basketball in the finest nation in the world, the one which gave you and your family political asylum, which gave you the health and relative wealth of you and yours, and which your family resides and finds employment (including your basketball playing siblings).......or turn all that down to be "loyal" to a team whose fans want you gone.

Yes, all the team has done for him is to put him in a situation where the fans hate him and they can trade him. They haven't helped forward Deng's life, family, or charitable efforts in any way by giving him a total of 82 million dollars in guaranteed money or anything like that. They just trot him out there and have fans throw rotten tomatoes at him all day.

I have no problem with him wanting to play for the national team. I think it's understandable, but at the same time, I feel you owe a lot to your employer when they are paying you that huge an amount of money. Deng's commitment to hte national team last year was enough to get the team an Olympic bid, and his commitment this year isn't really so necessary. I won't be upset if he goes as long as he's fully healthy at the time, but I don't think it's a big sacrifice for Deng to take a pass either.

If this was the Olympics, or if GB still needed to do something to prove they belong in the Olympics, then I'd see why Deng would feel a mandate to go. Under the current circumstances, I would think this is a good time to think of his NBA team. There is a risk / reward thing here. Deng's reward for going this year, doesn't strike me as that great for GB. They're probably paying more in insurance for him to go than it's worth it for him to be there anyway.

ShadowDweller · Post #77 » by **ShadowDweller** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:28 pm

I have no problem with Deng playing for his national team. The bigger issue is that his game has regressed every year since he started spending his summers working to help the GB team. His physical condition continues to deteriorate and what basketball skills he had started to develop having falling off dramatically. His mid range game is gone, he still, can’t dribble, and he defense is regressing. Didn’t GB win the qualifier for the Olympic last summer? I don’t see where it’s beneficial to Luol or GB to have him play this summer. GB could save all the money from the insurance payment and Lu could focus on his health and development. I understand wanting to represent and show pride for your country but there are other ways besides being on the court. I’m not saying he should never play for GB but he should at least take one year off and make sure he recovers physically.

So what happens if Deng plays this summer and further injures himself and is unavailable next year? I would guess the Bulls would still be on the hook for his salary if it's not a career ending injury. Then to take it one step further what happens if he gets reinjured has to sit a full year does he still play next summer for GB?

Post #78 » by **Three34** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:28 pm

I have no problem with him wanting to play for the national team. I think it's understandable, but at the same time, I feel you owe a lot to your employer when they are paying you that huge an amount of money

Right, but they can trade his ass to another employer who can give him large amounts of money. Since their loyalty is limited, so should his be.

The Bulls ask a lot from Deng, and they get it. They ask for 82 games of his best basketball, the best health that he can give them, and professionalism, and that's what they get, even though his play has dropped off. They get a nice person, a philanthropist, who never complains, and who is even a captain. There's no drama to be found with Deng - he does his best, even though his best isn't as good as it was. He gives them exactly what they want, and doesn't shoot junk or kill hookers (not that we know of, at least). Him wanting to play for his country un the latter part of the summer changes nothing. The only counter argument that makes sense is the one first brought up in the article - he's getting injured more since he started doing this. But that's why the Bulls will search for a compromise.

In fact, as treis pointed out, it could actually help. What's wrong with having one of our best players playing a very high standard of basketball three weeks before he has to come and do the same to us?

Luke NOT Luc · Post #79 » by **Luke NOT Luc** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:28 pm

Everyone keeps talking about Deng's loyalty to his employer, but what about his loyalty to the millions of fans that pay big money to come to the United Center to watch him (not) play?

I too, don't have a problem with him wanting to play for the international team, I DO have a problem with him playing for the international team while injured and ignoring the advice of medical professionals (not just someone who goes by the name "Thorpedo").

Post #80 » by **Tommy Udo 6** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:30 pm

The Bulls KNEW how important playing for GB was when they signed him. He had already played at least one summer for them & was openly talking about playing in the 2012 Olympics. It's not like Luol hid that desire from them.

I expected him to play each & every summer - and the Bulls should have reasonably expected the same. There is no deception here.

If Bulls dont like it, they can take steps to trade him - but Luol is not doing anything to violate his contract

Ideally he should be reasonably healthy by September.