What the Luol Deng Deal Means for the Bulls

Now Former Bulls Forward Luol Deng

You will hear a lot of can't and a lot of won't, but you give it everything you can because you believe in yourself and your teammates. You push yourself with your heart, mind and soul, and smile every night knowing you put love and passion into it. Thank you, Chicago.

Luol Deng posted this photo and goodbye note on his Facebook page early Tuesday afternoon.  For being such a staple of the Bulls team over the last decade, Deng is gracious with his goodbye.  This is no less a big deal for fans than it is for the team itself.

ESPN Brian Windhorst details the blockbuster deal with the Cavaliers in Andrew Bynum traded for Luol Deng.  Please read it.

Here I want to speak about the press conference that VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson gave late Tuesday morning.

When Derrick Rose went down for another devastating, season-ending injury, Paxson said he and the front office needed to think and look broader at the Bulls situation.  He sounded earnest throughout the conference, but at the same time spoke in measured tones.  For instance, he used the word broader at least three times.

What did that mean?  I don't know for sure, but my sense is that, first of all, the team can no longer build around Rose.  Three years running now with several different injuries, and the superstar young man has a body that is breaking down.  The Bynum-Deng deal is laden with draft picks over the next couple of years, which tells me that the Bulls want to stock up on young talent.

Second of all, despite his denials of the team rebuilding, Paxson is clearly looking beyond this season.  Of course, he can do that, and he should do that, as a top executive who must think and look strategically, that is, longer-term.  This is what I think he also meant by broader.  The fact is, the Bulls are rebuilding.

Coach Tom Thibodeau will not let the team slack off, and as long as he has five bodies on the court, I am confident that he will return to the playoffs, come April.  So his fierce personality and nose-to-the-grindstone coaching will repeatedly refute reporters' suggestion of the team tanking and will continually push his players to play their best.  That is, despite this clear rebuilding.  

Third of all, Paxson referred to the deal as giving the team financial flexibility and options.  Savings in Deng's salary and luxury taxes will be reinvested into the team, he said.  Which means a major free agent or two this coming summer.  Whom they will secure is another question altogether.

We shall see, won't we.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD