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The Good, the Bad and the Injuries

By Kolsky | October 30th, 2007

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You hate to see three key players go down in the final preseason game, but that’s what the Bulls got as they handled the Milwaukee Bucks with relative ease last week. Tyrus Thomas, Ben Wallace and Joakim Noah all went down with ankle and/or foot problems. Right now they seem to vary in severity in that exact order: Thomas’ foot seems fine, since nobody is talking about it; Wallace’s ankle is balky enough to hold him out of practice, but he seems to think he’ll be good to go for Wednesday’s opener; Noah got a “7-10 days” prognosis on Friday, so he’s out for the first game or two (or maybe three or four).

This is quite disappointing, although I’m thrilled these injuries are not more serious. But if Big Ben can’t go in the opener, there are two starting spots in question - Hinrich, Gordon and Deng are obvious, but if Wallace is out then the 4 and 5 are completely up for grabs, theoretically. Obviously Noah’s injury limits the field, but Aaron Gray, Tyrus Thomas, Joe Smith and probably Andres Nocioni are all in the mix for those other two spots.

No matter which two guys are chosen, the Bulls’ bench (and their depth, which is arguably the greatest strength of this team) is depleted. And given the importance of getting off to a good start – something this team has struggled to do in the past, and has been discussed previously on this blog – that is a very bad thing. The Nets are a contender this season in the weak East, and given that their threesome of stars (Kidd, Carter, Jefferson) have always been tough matchups for the Bulls, depth – and therefore a healthy Wallace – is critical. So here’s to hoping Big Ben can go.

Which brings us to the good… though it’s created some controversy over who will start, it’s great to see competition in the frontcourt. For a coaching staff that had to squeak by with PJ Brown, Michael Sweetney and Luke Schenscher as big men to complement Wallace last season, it has to be very comforting to have Joe Smith, Joakim Noah (when healthy) and the surprising Aaron Gray all competing for time in that role. And hopefully the competition will spur Tyrus Thomas on to better things – his athleticism and talent are not in question, but what he’ll end up doing with them is still unclear, and it can’t hurt to have young guys pushing him and another vet to learn from.

And the Bad? Well, let’s look at this Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kobe/contract situation. It amounts to a circus and a distraction, not to mention discouragement in the contract discussions. I’ll reiterate that I don’t believe a Kobe deal can get done (I’ve said it before – the Lakers want Deng, and I don’t think Paxson has any intention of parting with him). So, assuming that, it would seem prudent to get on top of contract extensions for both Deng and Gordon.

The Deng talks seem to be going well – both sides report progress, and it resembles the Hinrich discussions that ended with Kirk locked up for a number of years. I’m hopeful that Luol will have a contract extension by game time on Wednesday, and confident that something will get done relatively soon. Gordon, on the other hand, appears headed for a showdown next summer. If no extension is worked out, expect him to sign that inevitable one-year tender and play for unrestricted free agency in the summer of ‘09. At that point, somebody will pay him an inappropriately large amount of money, and he’ll be gone for nothing. Nothing, Lebowski.

That’s no good – and though I don’t see a Kobe trade in the Bulls’ future, I hope Paxson is realistic enough to know that he’s far better off trading Gordon then seeing him hit the open market. Sure, Lil’ Ben is a one-dimensional player; all he does is score. But there are a lot of teams that would pay a premium to add a guy who can score like Gordon sometimes does, and he’s never really appeared to be the type of player the Bulls have looked for under this regime (i.e. he’s not a good defender and doesn’t necessarily facilitate a motion offense because he’s not a very good ballhandler or passer, particularly for his height). In other words, just because there’s probably no Kobe trade happening for the Bulls doesn’t mean there won’t be a Gordon trade.

That’s all for now, we’ve got the NBA tip-off tonight on TNT, and the Bulls kick it off tomorrow night at New Jersey. Keep an eye on Kobe tonight, see how bad he’s dogging it now that everyone knows he’s on the trading block. And here’s to a great NBA season!

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