HOOPLOG: Luol Deng

Skiles Resists Lineup Shuffle

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 10:55:41 -0800

"Because the Bulls played well and snapped their eight-game losing streak Friday night in Milwaukee," John Jackson of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES writes, "coach Scott Skiles decided to stick with the same starting lineup -- Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Michael Sweetney and Othella Harrington -- for Saturday night's game against Memphis at the United Center."

Game Thread #16: Bulls vs. Dallas Mavericks(UPDATED)

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:49:35 -0800

First off, thanks to Mike for handling the game threads over the weekend. Bet you didn't even notice, I'll be damned if we're not seamlessly integrated over here at Blogabull.

Dallas is likely the 3rd best team in the NBA, albeit a tier below San Antonio and Detroit (who pummeled the Bulls on Saturday). One of their better players in Josh Howard is out, and Jerry Stackhouse is dealing with his annual leg ailment. This has Dallas pretty thin on the wings, so thin that former Bull Adrian Griffin may start and get major minutes for the Mavs.

The Bulls proved that they can play superior teams well, with 2 strong showings (and one win) against San Antonio. They still have nobody who can guard Dirk Nowitzki, although I'd like to see if Luol Deng can get an extended trial to do so, as I feel he'd have at least a better chance than Nocioni would. Skiles may be forced to given how everyone has been picking up early fouls lately.

Blogging with the Enemy: Rebel Ballin'

I'll be in attendance tonight trying to extend my own streak, of both Bulls wins and hot dogs eaten.

And by the way, it's Hardwood Classics night, with the Bulls sporting the '46-47 road unis of the Chicago Stags. The Bulls have barely changed their uniforms in their own 40 year existence, so a reach like this is acceptable, I guess.

UPDATE: Well, it was all about Dirk. Tyson Chandler, Andres Nocioni and Darius Songaila alternated unsuccessful attempts at guarding Nowitzki, who finished with 35 points despite shooting poorly in the first half. I still think Luol Deng should have gotten more of a shot to guard him. If you remember seeing Tracy McGrady in the playoffs, Nowitzki seems to have more trouble with lengthy players who can stay in front of him.

Dallas had 15 offensive rebounds which perhaps seemed to hurt more watching it in person but still had an effect. Also, I highlighted in the preview the fact that the Mavs were weak at the wing positions, and starting Adrian Griffin was a sign of that weakness. Ole' man Griff showed up his former team with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Tough to fault the effort, although a lot of loose balls and possible defensive boards went to the Mavs. They are simply a hard team for the Bulls to match up with. Kirk Hinrich left very early in the game with a concussion, which made things even worse with Chris Duhon also seeming to have trouble with his ankles during the game. So, for the first time all season, Ben Gordon had to spend extended minutes as the primary ballhandler. He made up for it with his hot first-half shooting (I believe he had 18 in the first half), but overall the offense seemed to stagnate without Kirk or Duhon out there. In the frontcourt, Mike Sweetney played only 22 minutes as the taller Mavericks like Dirk, Eric Dampier, and Keith Van Horn really made it hard for Skiles to find a place for him.

Luol Deng had another strong game, shooting 12-15 for 25 points. Maybe it is time to get him in the starting lineup. I still would have liked to see him have the chance on defense to guard the big German though...

Recap | BoxScore | GameFlow

Game Thread #15: Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:34:25 -0800

So the Bulls finally get back to the United Center after playing eight of their last nine games on the road (where they went a respectable 5-4) and come home to a red hot (then) 12-2 Pistons club. Who would have expected the Bulls to come out on fire and jump out to a 15-point lead?

But Rasheed Wallace, who scored just three points against the Knicks the night before, was determined to make amends for his crap performance and took it out on the Bulls - going 8-for-15, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc, and finishing with a game-high 26 points.

After the hot start the Bulls managed just 35 points in the second half. Luol Deng led the Bulls again with 18 points. But the Bulls starting backcourt of Hinrich and Duhon managed just 10 points combined. Tyson Chandler followed up his 10 point, 16 rebound, 3 block performance against the Celtics with 3 points, 6 boards and NO blocks.

As a team, the Bulls shot just 39 percent from the field and 58 percent from the line. The Bulls went to the line 26 times compared to just 15 for the Pistons, but the Bulls managed just one more point from the line than Detroit.

Ironically Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, both playing off the bench, are now the Bulls two leading scorers at 14.8 and 14.1 PPG, respectively. The Bulls are the only team in the league without a 15 PPG scorer.

Recap | Boxscore | Gameflow

Via Chicago

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:04:44 -0800

With a loss last night the Bulls dropped to 3-4, which isn’t terrible but is good enough for last place in the strong Central. But even before the loss last night coach Scott Skiles was talking about shaking up his starting lineup, and he just might follow through with it now. So with the shakeup and the new starting jobs won, there should be some new players with fantasy relevance, right? Not necessarily.

It’s always best for a player’s value if he has a starting job, but you still have to get the minutes. Skiles has shown absolutely no reluctance to start a player and still hold his minutes down. So let’s look at da Bulls. I’ve seen at least a bit of almost all of their games, but perhaps someone in the Windy City … GMTR, looking in your direction … would like to offer some more insight.

The Sure Thing
There’s only one and it’s Kirk Hinrich. Hinrich’s numbers aren’t quite where they should be, but they are close enough to the norm that there’s no reason to expect anything too far off from last year’s. His steals and rebounds are down, his percentages are up, those should all even out. He’s actually averaging less than 33 mpg, but that’s because of three low-minute games, only one of which was due to Skiles. (A sprained ankle and foul trouble – which is a definite problem for Hinrich – caused the other two.) Hinrich is the constant for the Bulls, but Skiles will still bench him for the entire end of a rout, as he did on Monday, for example. Still, his game-to-game performance is consistent enough to leave him in all lineups, no questions asked.

Coming On Strong
Andres Nocioni has started every game so far, but has only come to life in the last three. After seeing less than 25 minutes in each of the first four games, Nocioni has gone 27-31-45 in the last three, and he’s put up a 16.7/5.7/1.3 line. He’s also chipped in five 3s, three blocks and a steal. Nocioni is one of those hustle guys that a coach – especially a guy like Skiles – can get enamored with, and when things are going well it looks like he’s a part of everything. It should be noted that his two best games have come in Bulls losses, but Nocioni should have a lock on his starting job. He seems like he’d make a decent short-term pickup right now, but don’t get too excited. Nocioni played 45 minutes last night and Scott Skiles just doesn’t let that happen too much.

There was probably a run on Mike Sweetney after his 26 and 14 performance last night. Sweetney replacing Darius Songaila would be the most obvious lineup switch, as you could make the argument that Sweetney is one of the Bulls two or three best players. He can be a real fantasy force if given the opportunity, as he is one of the best rebounders in the league on a per minute basis. The knock on him as been his lack of steals and blocks, and while it’s true that he doesn’t offer much there, he’s a career 53% shooter and gets to the foul line a lot and makes a good number. But I’ll believe Skiles gives him that chance when I see it. The problem is that he has to deal with both Songaila and Othella Harrington. Scott Skiles loves to play his whole roster and will routinely give 10 or 11 players at least 10 minutes per game. This makes it tough for anyone to have value, because there’s a huge difference between 29 minutes and 35 minutes. With a few more games like last night Sweetney could force Skiles’ hand, though. I spent my last round pick on Sweetney because I liked his upside and thought it would only be a matter of time before he grabbed a starting job. If you have a roster spot to play with, Sweetney is a nice option. He’s got more upside than Nick Collison, for example, but because Collison is starting, he’s a better short-term option than Sweetney.

Luol Deng is still just 20 years old, so he’s a player that you can expect considerable improvement from. He seems unlikely to crack the starting lineup right now with Nocioni playing so well, but you can’t rule it out at some point in the season. But until Deng shows that he’s capable of a special skill relevant to fantasy players, he won’t be of much value. Sweetney can dominate in boards and FG%; Deng dominates nowhere. He has just three steals, three blocks and two 3s on the season. Deng has shown good scoring ability, but you have to score a whole lot of points to be valuable without other contributions, especially when it’ll be a miracle if you shoot even 44%.

Ben Gordon is the perfect example of a guy who Scott Skiles is keeping down. His minutes this season are up to 29.3 from 24.4 but it’s more of a tease than anything. If he could get to that 33-35 mark, Gordon would be a no-brainer starter. But with fluctuating minutes coming off the bench, it’s a day-to-day guessing game. He went 23/6/4 with three 3s on Nov. 5, but followed that with 13/1/1 on 5-of-17 shooting. He scored 17 with two 3s on 7-of-10 shooting on Nov. 12 and followed that with 6 points on 2-of-12 shooting. This is a perfect example of why bench players are so risky. There’s very little margin for error. The fewer minutes, the fewer chances to rack up stats in all of the categories, so if you don’t come through in your strength, it kills you.

Fading Fast
I thought Tyson Chandler would be a better player to own than Marcus Camby this year. Oops. Camby could still go down, but Chandler may as well be down for how well he’s played so far. The Bulls don’t have any other real options in the middle, so you’d expect Chandler’s starting job to be safe, but Chandler excelled coming off the bench last year and Skiles may think he’s more comfortable there. Othella Harrington is one of those “reliable vets” and I wouldn’t put it against Skiles to start him at center if the matchup presents itself. Chandler has just four blocks on the season, and those were all in the first two games, meaning he’s gone five straight without one. Owners weren’t expecting many points, but were counting on at least 10 boards and 2 blocks per game. Frustrated Chandler owners might be willing to cut bait after he received just 39 minutes total in the last two games. If you can pick him up on the cheap, go for it. The Bulls have been disappointed in their defensive performance, and even though Chandler has been a part of that, he’s still the key to their success there. He’s also the only player that can man the middle and Skiles seems to have little choice but to play him. Perhaps he’s gotten a little content after signing his offseason contract extension, but seven games is still just seven games.

Nobody in their right minds thought Chris Duhon would keep up his pace from the season’s first two games. Since then he’s averaged 6.3/1.8/4 with 0.5 steals and .8 3s. And it’s not like he’s been hurting for playing time, either. Skiles loves the guy, but if he keeps shooting 33%, he’s not going to have much choice but to keep him on the bench more. The chance to sell high on Duhon is passed and it’s unlikely anyone would have taken the bait then anyway. Except for the deepest of leagues, he just doesn’t merit a roster spot.

In the season opener Darius Songaila hit a big three-pointer to force overtime and finished with a respectable 11/5/5, two steals, one 3 performance. He’s barely matched those totals since then. He’s seen just 11 minutes in each of the past three games, and he was never a fantasy factor, but now he’s a complete afterthought. But as previously stated, those 11 minutes could be put to better use elsewhere. Why oh why can’t you just sit him on the bench all game, Skiles? Are you going to miss the 2/4/3 on 1-of-6 shooting that Songaila has totaled in 33 minutes over the last three games?

Bottom Line
So what have we learned? Well, be skeptical is all I’m saying. Guys like Sweetney and Gordon are very tempting, but can be the ultimate frustration. If there’s one thing to drives you crazy, it’s seeing a guy having a great game on your bench, plugging him into the lineup and then seeing him put up a clunker. And the way Skiles runs his rotation in Chicago, there’s always a decent chance of that happening. Guys like Songaila, Harrington, Eric Piatkowski and Jannero Pargo seem to exist only to frustrate fantasy owners. Coaches patterns can’t be ignored, and I’ll actually have a column up over the weekend talking about some of the most frustrating ones, and how to deal with them.

Okur's huge night can't lift Jazz to win

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:20:39 -0800

Luol Deng scored 21 points and Kirk Hinrich added 19 points and 11 assists to lead the Chicago Bulls over the Utah Jazz 103-98 Saturday night Mehmet Okur had a career-high 33 points and 17 rebounds for Utah, which played most of the game without Andrei Kirilenko after he injured his left ankle early in the second quarter. Ben Gordon scored 17 points and Andres Nocioni added 15 for Chicago.

2005 Fantasy Tiers by Position: Small Forwards

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:42:59 -0800

It’s nearly impossible to define the “typical” small forward. Some are long-range bombers, some excel at crashing the boards. Others are defensive whizzes. Taken early, your small forward will determine how some of your late picks turn out. Taken late, a small forward can really fill a need – or make a small one even more glaring. Let’s sort through the variety:

Tier One
LeBron James, Shawn Marion, Andrei Kirilenko.

The cream of the crop. James is either the first or second pick in any draft. Marion is a top-5 pick, and if he stays healthy, AK-47 has top-5 talent as well. The health is certainly a risk, but we’re huge fans of AK, so we’re putting him in the top tier.

Tier Two
Peja Stojakovic, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Rashard Lewis, Richard Jefferson, Corey Maggette.

These are some of the most valuable players in fantasy basketball. Some are like shooting guards who can rebound. Others are power forwards who can step outside. Each really has unique skill set. You’ll notice we’ve got Ron Artest up here. That’s not a mistake. He’s lined up for a comeback fantasy player of the year award, if such an award existed.

Tier Three
Bobby Simmons, Antoine Walker, Quentin Richardson, Caron Butler, Carmelo Anthony, Jalen Rose, Al Harrington, Tayshaun Prince, Luol Deng, Kyle Korver, Josh Smith.

All of these guys could end up as top-25 players by the end of the year. All of them could also end up being one of the worst players on your team that you just can’t drop. I’m a personal fan of Carmelo this year if you can get him late enough that the risk is low. Meanwhile, Bobby Simmons might end up being overvalued this year in some drafts. He’s just not a 4th round pick – none of these guys are. But by the end of the fifth round, you have to start thinking about this tier.

Tier Four
Grant Hill, Mike Miller, Josh Howard, Darius Miles, Mike Dunleavy, Michael Finley, Gerald Wallace, Marvin Williams, Andres Nocioni, Wally Szczerbiak.

One of the problems with tiering the small forwards is that they have such different strengths, it’s tough to differentiate on an overall level. None of these guys will be fantasy studs this year. However, each has a chance to be a solid contributer to your teams, whether it’s in 3’s (Miller or Finley), boards (Nocioni), or head cases (Miles). These are important players to research for the mid-late rounds of your draft. While they’re never great picks, they’re generally pretty safe in the 10th round of so. Don’t target them necessarily, but if a player you were going to take goes right before you pick, these guys are nice second options.

Tomorrow: Power Forwards.

Luol Deng is Impressing Britain

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:48:16 -0800

Luol Deng is in the UK running camps, rubbing elbows with soccer celebrities, and giving the NBA a good name. In an article by Mark Woods in The Scotsman, Deng has them starting to think the unthinkable: maybe one day...

Friday roundup: 76ers sign ex-Duke player Randolph

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 09:31:16 -0800

76ers sign Randolph, Gai

by Associated Press

Philadelphia 76ers: The Philadelphia 76ers signed undrafted free agents Shavlik Randolph and Deng Gai on Friday.

Randolph, a 6-foot-10 forward, played in 92 career games with Duke and averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. He also averaged 1.4 blocks...

Central Division Offseason Analysis

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 10:59:17 -0800

While the analysis provided via the link below doesn’t serve up anything revelatory, it can be easily argued that doing so would be somewhat impossible at this stage considering the moratorium (vocabulary word of the day) has not yet ended.

Mr. McGovern does provide the following nugget of advice which I am quick to latch onto and blockquote. Luol Deng is not only a sexy beast, but he’s a great Sleeper Candidate since most people probably don’t realize what a stud he can (and almost certainly will) be.

FANTASY BASKETBALL: Central Division Offseason Analysis

While others overreach on Draft Day for Ben Gordon — he’s a decent scorer but not much else — you’ll wisely turn your attention to Luol Deng. The versatile forward was showing explosive potential late last season before an injury robbed him at the end. Deng should be fully recovered by the start of the season and he actually grew another inch! While Andres Nocioni’s strong showing in the postseason may scare a few people off Deng, the Bulls know Nocioni’s strength lies in his ability wreak havoc off the bench. Deng’s shooting should improve in his sophomore season, and he’s already a healthy contributor in the rebound and assist categories.

s also an article about the Atlantic Division, but I haven’t quite gotten to that one yet. Not that I necessarily ever will.

On Tap: The Charlotte Bobcats

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:10:14 -0800

Consider this a tale of two cities (and three players).

In one city, Charlotte, you have the future rookie of the year in Emeka Okafer. He’s put up solid numbers — PER of 15.85, scoring 16.4 points per 40 minutes, has an impressive rebound rate of 17.3 (percent of rebounds grabbed while he is on the floor) and about 19.6% of the Bobcats possessions involve him when he’s on the floor (a pretty high percentage, and a stat called usage rate).

Others players are getting mentioned for rookie of the year honors, too. Dwight Howard down in Orlando will likely be the best player from this class five years from now, and the combo of Luol Deng and Ben Gordon in Chicago have given their fans hope. But none of those players face one thing Okafer does — when Frank Hamblen got the scouting report for the Bobcats, Okafer was the first name mentioned. That’s true of every scouting report. He carries more of a load than his fellow draftees, and has done it as well or better.

With Okafer in Charlotte, but from another city, is Kareem Rush. Buried on the bench in Los Angeles, he is now averaging 20.2 minutes per game, scoring 16.6 points per 40 minutes and 11.9 per game since the trade. Last season in the triangle, Rush played a key role as Kobe’s backup, but with the new team and Kobe playing 40+ minutes a night, there was no room for Rush on the floor, and his numbers and demeanor showed it. He is now likely going to get a free agent contract somewhere for next season. A move was best for him.

When Rush was in a Laker uniform his defense was questionable, although so far this year his opponents PER is a very good 13.7. However, Kobe Bryant will test that tonight.

In a comment thread below, Gatinho asked about Kobe and if the stats show just how well he has been playing recently. They do. In the last 10 games, Kobe's eFG% is 51% (compared to 46.7% for the season), and that is a dramatic improvement from the early part of the season when poor shot selection led to a much lower percentage. He also is averaging 6 assists per 48 minutes compared to 7.2 for the season, although I suspect that is lower because of the triangle as opposed to an offense based around Kobe driving than dishing. Kobe averaging 4.6 turnovers per 48 in the last 10, compared to 5.0 for the season.

I think we can say Kobe is more comfortable and finding better shots in the triangle than he got before, and his shooting percentage has gone up. That will challenge Rush and the Bobcats tonight.

Two wins to start this six-game road trip would be the kind of thing that, if the Lakers make the playoffs, we would look back on as a key stretch. And it is within reach if they play up to their potential tonight.

Duhon misses Bulls bus?

Mon, 02 May 2005 11:40:12 -0800

Bulls guard Chris Duhon said he saw the team bus pull away and immediately called former college teammate Luol Deng, who was on it. "He was like, 'You better get a taxi,'" Duhon said. Duhon arrived 30 minutes after the...

Sunday’s Playoff Games

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 11:58:55 -0800

First off, I have to comment on the Heat-Nets game, since it was the only one on “broadcast” TV… that’s right - no cable for me. I might have been tempted to go to a sports/alcohol venue to view the remaining games of the evening, but it’s Sunday, and Sunday is a lazy day… if I hadn’t been going to see Moby last night, I might have gone out to watch the games… since Saturday is party night.

Anyway, the Heat, the Nets. Here’s how it is: I used to like Vince Carter. In his interview with Amhad that they aired at half time he was trying to take back what he said about playing half-assed in Toronto. Now, I’m willing to buy that the media is extremely adept as misconfiguring, reconstruing and otherwise pillaging and razing any comments made by anyone… there is a point at which they must bear some truth. Everyone knows Vince played like Shit (with a capital S) in Toronto. Whether this was truly only because he didn’t have Jason Kidd on his team there can be argued. Whether he was really dogging it, or just having trouble finding assitance on the team can also be argued. But he played like crap, complained until he was traded, and when he left the didn’t seem to struggle any more without him than they did with him. Now all of a sudden he’s playing like the Vince of Olde? I have no sympathy. In fact, watching the game, I was turned so far as to hope that they lose in as few games as possible.

Meanwhile, my former arch nemesis as a Laker, has grown a goatee which I’m sure he hopes is reminiscent of ancient Chinese warriors (who fought with honor and were endowed with great wisdom), and also grown into a spot in my heart where only a lovable giant could fit. It was hard to fit him in there, especially since I also have to squeeze Dwanye Wade and his unflinching work ethic in there too. And, Alonzo Mourning has been my favorite of the first three picks of the draft that yielded three current Heat players. He’s been through a lot, and despite that he pulled a Jim Jackson by not reporting to Toronto, I think he deserves a title. In Mourning, the Heat have pretty much the best backup center you can get. He could probably spell Shaq for an entire game and you’d hardly notice. Not that it’s going to happen, but just so you know that it could.

Next up… Da Bulls! Some crackpot over at nba.com thinks the Wizards are still going to win, despite being down 1-0 in the series. Okay, maybe I’m going a little overboard… I didn’t even see the game, so I don’t know how well they played, but they won. Of coures, if they do manage to win the series (which I picked them to do in my NBA.com playoff game), they’ll play the Heat… and get obliterated. Even if Curry and Deng returned at full strength, I don’t think they could handle the Heat. But I’d be happy to let the Heat with this year if it means Shaq will retire sooner. The Bulls are young and if Skiles can keep the small but growing egos in check, they’re going to a dominant team in short order.

As I’m writing this, the Spurs are leading Denver… only by 5, with 10 minutes left… but it leads me to my last point which is: The Spurs are too much for the Nuggets. I mean, when someone’s reasone for saying that you might beat the Spurs is because you’re “hot” … that just isn’t going to cut it.

And I’m spent.

Sunday’s Playoff Games

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 21:07:15 -0800

And I’m spent.

Bulls Postseason Report

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 13:57:07 -0800

It's strange not to see injured players Eddy Curry and Luol Deng, who both played huge roles in the Bulls' surprising success this season.

2005 First Round Notes

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:02:10 -0800

Thanks For Playing
The Nets wonderful "end of the season run" will itself end once they get run over by Shaq Diesel. Being a Knick fan, I'm just not big on resting all your hopes on an injured shooting guard coming back to the rescue. Even if Jefferson were healthy, he's not good enough to make the 8th seed all of a sudden topple the best team in the East. Also extending their season for only one more week are Memphis, Philly, and Denver. George Karl will have his seventh first round exit 20 years after the first.

Pondering in Seattle
A month ago considering the Sonics as upsetees would have been APBRmetric heresy, but since then they've limped to the finish line. Seattle's 2-8 conclusion to the season included going a pitiful 0-6 versus West playoff teams. What happened to the APBRSonics? Did other teams figure them out? Was it the injuries? Did McMillan's jenga move of pulling Danny Fortson out of the rotation topple his team's on-court chemistry? (Or was it Fortson who forced the withdrawal?) Maybe they decided to sleepwalk down the stretch?

Even with those questions, I'm not confident enough with taking the Kings, especially with Stojakovic's injury. Even if Peja was taking the last few games off as a precaution, it's not out of the question that the injury isn't fully healed. Additionally, when they made the Webber trade, I thought Sacramento's defense would improve. However they've gone from 20th to 23rd, so color me unimpressed. No matter how bad Seattle was down the stretch, I'm not going to throw out 72 good games for the last 10. I'll pass on the Kings.

No Joy In Hoosierville
I'm going to pass on the Pacers as well. This is not the same team that I picked to go all the way last year. Their defense has gone from awesome to a mortal 11th. Consider that the Celtics 13th ranked D is only two spots behind, and that their offense is superior, 105.0 to 102.4 points per 100 possessions. I wouldn't be shocked if the Pacers won, but I'll take Boston with the home court advantage.

The Last Seed
While the 4th versus the 5th seed is usually a toss-up, because of the absurd tri-divisional alignment the Dallas Mavericks are much better than their playoff position would indicate. With a top 5 offense and a top 10 defense, they've compiled the 4th best record in the NBA. Despite having two phenomenal players in Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, Houston still hasn't gotten enough offense from the rest of their team. Their PER at PF is a laughable 11.9, and the PG position is only a point higher. The Rockets offense will be their downfall until they fill in some of those big gaps.

On the other hand, the East's last matchup might be the first round's closest battle. Like the Sonics, the Bulls would have been one of my dark horse teams a month ago because they sported the #2 overall defense. However the injury bug has landed in Chicago and stung Deng & Curry. Chandler was bitten as well, and sat out the last game with a bum ankle. Right now the Bulls have more question marks than an old episode of Batman with the Riddler as the villain.

Ironically their opponents, the Wizards, are usually the ones limping to the finish line on crutches. From my view, Washington looks as healthy as can be, but before you lay down a few bills on the Wizards consider that I got a D in biology in high school. The Bulls winning would certainly be the better story: their first playoff series since Jordan, top notch defense, Ben Gordon's wonderful rookie year, and the team overcoming injuries to two key players. While Chicago has gone 7-4 since both Curry and Deng were lost, most of those were against weak clubs. Filter that to only playoff teams, and the Bulls are a winless 0-4. I'll take the Wizards in 6.

My Round 1 Picks:
Miami in 5
Detroit in 4
Boston in 7
Washington in 6
Phoenix in 5
San Antonio in 5
Seattle in 6
Dallas in 6