When the Chicago Bulls drafted Luol Deng out of Duke after just one season, many believed the Bulls jumped the gun on a player with tremendous potential who also needed much work to harness his natural ability.
And it didn’t start out well for the Bulls. Deng was often injured and extremely inconsistent. The Bulls had many opportunities to trade Deng for players such as Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant, but former GM John Paxson saw Deng as a special commodity. Little did we know, Paxson was creating something special in Chicago.
Although Paxson made many personnel decisions that may have cost the Bulls in the short run, his lasting impact on this team will be from the players he left behind in Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng.
With the addition of forward Carlos Boozer to the young core, the Bulls should become a force to be reckoned with in the NBA for years to come.
Noah was drafted out of Florida as a raw center who wouldn’t develop into much more than an energy player. In the beginning, his critics were right. He was an athlete without much basketball ability. His development was so rapid that he is now considered by ...
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Article written by Josh Rosenblat
Chicago Bulls Back Near the Top of the NBA Thanks to Winning Ways
February 5th, 2011 by Josh Rosenblat Leave a reply »
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