Luol Deng (split from Free Agency thread)

#9
Why? We've gone through hell to promote the youth movement. Why would we want to bring him on when there aren't enough minutes to go around as it is?
When the youth aren't ready (JJ) for heavy minutes.
When we don't need (or shouldn't have) youngsters starting at every position.
When Bjelly isn't really a sf.
When you consider all the above we do not have a minutes problem.
 
#10
Well he is heads above current SF on our roster. Even if he is half of his former self. JJ is not a legit Nba player as of right now.
A million times over.
We need perimeter defense against the night-in and night-out lebrons, durants, greek freaks, etc. Or is JJ going to lock them down defensively? Gimme a break.
 
#11
What we need is talent period.
Year after year its wide open three after wide open three (for opposing teams). Will one solid defender solve all our perimeter woes? No. Would Deng be a significant improvement at the sf and be a step in the right direction (of perimeter defense)? Yes!

There is literally nothing to lose on a 1 yr rental. Or we could just watch jj brick corner threes all year AGAIN. With the ugliest no-arc shot in the league.
 
#14
When the youth aren't ready (JJ) for heavy minutes.
When we don't need (or shouldn't have) youngsters starting at every position.
When Bjelly isn't really a sf.
When you consider all the above we do not have a minutes problem.
No.
I agree that the 3 is our weakest position. Only JJ seems a natural SF, but he may not be ready for it. Or he may be ready. We'll probably know the answer by the first game of the season. But we have several other players who can help fill the gap - for now. Bogi and Beli, to mention two. Shump and Ben have an outside chance of being sometimes serviceable at the 3, but I'm reluctant to even mention them here.
Know what? If I were Vlade, I would sign Sampson and make him the SF starter from Day 1. Put Bogi in at the 3 when we can get away with it. Then it'll be JJ's job to show he's worthy of the position with no gimmies given.
 
#16
Yeah. JJ and Bjelica are already at SF and you have Hield and Bogdan that need to play backup minutes at the position as well.

Do you really want Bogdan and Hield sharing minutes at only one position so we can play Deng?
I wouldn’t see them as only sharing 1 position. Since sf isn’t their natural position, they can play sg while the other backs up sf. JJ hasn’t really proved he is capable to start sf and bjelica is a sf/pf. I don’t see the problem of having Deng as a stop gap while JJ develops or til we are sure bogi, buddy or bjelica can prove they can play sf full time as opposed to spot minutes
 
#17
Yeah. JJ and Bjelica are already at SF and you have Hield and Bogdan that need to play backup minutes at the position as well.

Do you really want Bogdan and Hield sharing minutes at only one position so we can play Deng?
They are spot sf at this point. Lord knows if vlade has one more move
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#18
If you look thru the early depth charts for teams, Bogdanovich matches up well at the backup SF spot with just about every team in the West. I didn’t look thru the East but saw enough to not be worried at all especially when we go small and we include the highly mobile bigs in Bagley and Giles in the case of switching defense. Bogi is strong enough in the paint to hold his own.

In some cases, there are teams like Phx and TJ Warren where if he’s the matchup backup SF, I doubt we see Bogi and May see JJ or Bjelica. Some teams just go small like GS with Iggy or Klay at the 3 or Dallas who does like their 3 guard lineups where we probably see Bogi play more 3 in those games.

We are covered at the 3. If JJ can improve his play then we can matchup with a number of different types.
 
#19
If you look thru the early depth charts for teams, Bogdanovich matches up well at the backup SF spot with just about every team in the West. I didn’t look thru the East but saw enough to not be worried at all especially when we go small and we include the highly mobile bigs in Bagley and Giles in the case of switching defense. Bogi is strong enough in the paint to hold his own.

In some cases, there are teams like Phx and TJ Warren where if he’s the matchup backup SF, I doubt we see Bogi and May see JJ or Bjelica. Some teams just go small like GS with Iggy or Klay at the 3 or Dallas who does like their 3 guard lineups where we probably see Bogi play more 3 in those games.

We are covered at the 3. If JJ can improve his play then we can matchup with a number of different types.
I’d rather have an actual SF
 
#20
I wouldn’t see them as only sharing 1 position. Since sf isn’t their natural position, they can play sg while the other backs up sf. JJ hasn’t really proved he is capable to start sf and bjelica is a sf/pf. I don’t see the problem of having Deng as a stop gap while JJ develops or til we are sure bogi, buddy or bjelica can prove they can play sf full time as opposed to spot minutes
They are spot sf at this point. Lord knows if vlade has one more move
There are only so many minutes to go around. I'm not taking away our best players and our best young prospects minutes for a guy like Deng. Signing a guy like him means another year of everyone getting 24mpg again and you're never going to develop your players with that kind of minutes distribution.
 
#22
What we need is talent period.
Year after year its wide open three after wide open three (for opposing teams). Will one solid defender solve all our perimeter woes? No. Would Deng be a significant improvement at the sf and be a step in the right direction (of perimeter defense)? Yes!

There is literally nothing to lose on a 1 yr rental. Or we could just watch jj brick corner threes all year AGAIN. With the ugliest no-arc shot in the league.
You do realize it's 2018 right? right?

just checking.
 
#24
Deng can't move anymore people. He's a bench small-ball PF at this point and he hasn't been good on defense in literally like 5 years.

I maybe take a shot if I'm a contender and throw him at the end of my bench, but I sure as hell don't want Deng anywhere near this team much less him taking any minutes from far superior players.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#25
Deng can't move anymore people. He's a bench small-ball PF at this point and he hasn't been good on defense in literally like 5 years.

I maybe take a shot if I'm a contender and throw him at the end of my bench, but I sure as hell don't want Deng anywhere near this team much less him taking any minutes from far superior players.
Or from players that may end up being superior with playing time.
 
#27
There are only so many minutes to go around. I'm not taking away our best players and our best young prospects minutes for a guy like Deng. Signing a guy like him means another year of everyone getting 24mpg again and you're never going to develop your players with that kind of minutes distribution.
Well fox ain’t playing SF
 
#28
Well fox ain’t playing SF
Deng played in a total of one game last year. The year before, he averaged 20 minutes in just under 60 games and had a negative impact on both offence and defense (on a bad Lakers team). It is a safe assumption to guess that he doesn't have much left in the tank.