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Luol Deng underwent an MRI of his sore left Achilles' tendon late Friday and is likely to miss Saturday night's game against the Kings with the injury.

"Lu's a huge part of our team on both ends," interim coach Jim Boylan said. "So if he's out a while, we'll have to make do with whatever we have to as far as a lineup change goes. Without Lu, we're obviously at a disadvantage."

Nocioni will replace him in the starting lineup.

Nocioni was one of several players Boylan talked to individually after Friday's brief film session and workout at Berto Center.

"I just tell Noce to relax because Noce really, really cares," Boylan said.

"And when he doesn't play well it bothers him. I appreciate that."

Minutes for Thabo and Tyrus?

More Noc? So we've got a starting lineup of...

Duhon who's been shooting about 4% recently.
Hinrich who's usually good for a 3/13 night.
Nocioni who recently has been hitting about 1 of every 10 shots.
Joe Smith who's been surprisingly solid.
And 32% shooting Ben Wallace.

Splendid.

Oh God does that mean more Griff? Good grief griff. Luols nightmare season continues. Its better he rest against the struggling Kings, however we will need him against the Knicks because you rember the last time we played the Knicks without Luol on Nov 24th.

newskoolbulls wrote:Oh God does that mean more Griff? Good grief griff. Luols nightmare season continues. Its better he rest against the struggling Kings, however we will need him against the Knicks because you rember the last time we played the Knicks without Luol on Nov 24th.

It's pretty simply in my opinion. If Boylan opts for Griffin over Tyrus or Thabo, who may still be injured, he will be guilty of playing not to lose. If he played to win, Tyrus would be the obvious choice, but Boylan plays not to lose, making Griffin Noce's backup.

The more we rest Deng, the more lotto balls we will get and we'd further be able to find out what Thabo can do at his natural position which is probably SF

id love for tyrus to get the minutes that noc was gettin first pf off the bench and at backup small foward saying that i think we will see alot of griff....damn

Call up Nichols Call up Nichols Call up Nichols

Good. I'm happy he's not playing so he can stop jacking up bad shots time after time and playing for his contract only.

topper09 wrote:Good. I'm happy he's not playing so he can stop jacking up bad shots time after time and playing for his contract only.

i dont think lu takes to many bad shots most are mid range jumpers or slashes to the rim ...u want to see bad shots watch nocioni tommorow..

VinTheBarber wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

i dont think lu takes to many bad shots most are mid range jumpers or slashes to the rim ...u want to see bad shots watch nocioni tommorow..

Deng won't even look to pass this year.. He's starting to become another Nocioni. Declining 50 million will make you do that to beg for more.

If Boylan doesnt play Tyrus AND Noah significant minutes during this stretch, it will be a silly and irresponsible decision.

Basically it would be equal to solidifying that Tyrus or Noah wont get any chance this season.

i think the diffrence may be that hes not hitting that mid range jumper the way he has in the past so we as fans may tend to look at other players open on the floor beacause hes missing the shots if he makes them we wont care that there was some one open...deng takes pretty decent shots nothing too crazy unlike noc whos just a wild man..

I'm shocked that Old Man Griffin didn't get the call. Boylan seems to have the same chubby for Griffin that Skiles had for Duhon.

I agree with the poster who wrote that Boylan coaches not to lose instead of coaching to win, well worded, now grow some balls Boylan

I also feel that both Noc and Deng have had poor shot selection this season, Noc shooting too early in the clock and really rushing his release whilst Luol has been ignoring that extra pass on more than a few occasions and often will settle for a shot right inside the 3pt line, a very low % shot and even if he does make them im always because its not a good shot...its like when Antoine Walker would take 3's against the Bulls, regardless of whether they go in id be happy because if it does go in he'll feel justified in doing it again and again

Luol cut down on taking 3's last season and it dramatically improved his fg%, ok next move for Luol is to quit those shots just inside 3 pt range and focus more on the 15-18ft jumper OR force it inside (without 20 pump fakes just go up strong)

I dont think the Bulls missed him that much against the Blazers it was moreso the players Boylan decided to replace his mins with

theawakening wrote:Minutes for Thabo and Tyrus?

Minutes for Griffin

theawakening wrote:Minutes for Thabo and Tyrus?

Yes, please.

theawakening wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



It's pretty simply in my opinion. If Boylan opts for Griffin over Tyrus or Thabo, who may still be injured, he will be guilty of playing not to lose. If he played to win, Tyrus would be the obvious choice, but Boylan plays not to lose, making Griffin Noce's backup.

That is a nice assessment. So far I think you are right, Boylan is playing it safe with vets b/c he wants a job.

I hope the irony is lost on anyone: he is playing the vets to not lose so he can keep his job, when in reality Paxson has to want him playing the young guys and they give us the best shot at winning.

PS-Boylan stop with the freakin pick and roll with Wallace, your making my boy Gordon look bad.

Crappy. Hopefully he's just out for some days.

DASMACKDOWN wrote:If Boylan doesnt play Tyrus AND Noah significant minutes during this stretch, it will be a silly and irresponsible decision.

Basically it would be equal to solidifying that Tyrus or Noah wont get any chance this season.

+1

You said everything I wanted to say.

Thabo is also expected to miss with a sore ankle