Well, I think most Bulls fans who want to see an exciting product like offense right now. After all, the most-loved player gets all the accolades from fans because he’s been spectacular at offense, despite being a liability on defense his first year and merely “okay” the next.

you seem to imply that he is undervaluing defense. Who should be ranked higher?

but the fact that he hasn’t been healthy for an entire season in a while sways me toward Gay.

but I also think injuries should count for something. I don’t see where he stopped getting hurt. He missed a lot of games last year, and had to play at less than 100% in the playoffs just so that he didn’t miss out yet again. Until he plays a full season (or at least most of the season) without missing critical games, he won;t shake the “injury prone” label in my eyes. I’m pulling for him though.

And I don’t have an issue with people saying Luol is better, cause like I said, I agree with that. But when people definitely state that he’s not just better, but “much better”, I have to call bullshit on that because I don’t even think that it’s possible if you consider the output of both players up to this point in their careers.

But there isn’t a lot of value in having a great defensive player at that position. As we’ve seen with Deng several times, even though he is very good for his position, most of the time it’s not even enough to slow down some of the better 3’s in the league. Hid defense doesn’t offset the superior offensive talent of other players as much as you (and others) are making it seem.

Also, I would say there’s a pretty sizeable gap between Luol, and the three guys you mentioned ahead of him. Iggy, Wallace and Lebron (Lebron especially) are able to block shots and get steals which have a bigger impact on the game. Plus they’re still able to do what Lu excels at, which is be a sound, fundamental defender that stays in front of his guy and plays well in a team concept.

or that he isn’t. which is part of the reason this argument is so…robust.

I’d trade Deng for Rudy Gay right now, and it’s definitely close. I can’t get behind this Deng is ‘way’ better train.

he’s not that good at shooting. he shot less than 33% on threes last season. granted that was his worst season, but his best season was his rookie year at 36%. rudy and deng are almost EXACTLY the same on efficiency, actually. they shoot around the same amount of FTs as well, and shoot it at the same rate.

rather than conceal it. They really needed someone that can shoot it a little more imo.

And you have completely overlooked Camby, Mac Gasol, Dalembert, Varajao and Perkins…(with Perkins being injured, the O’Neals could have a good season in Boston)…

My point is that a homer could certainly place Noah top 5, but someone else could easily place him outside of the top 10. This writer is a bit of a homer, but also values offense over little things, so not sure how he will rate Noah…

Hedo over Deng?
Caron Butler over Deng?

Those guys were both horrible and I could name at least a few guys inferior to Deng and superior to them.

He kind of was number 1 and couldn’t do it. Granger can… on offense. Not great on D

Actually, 27 is a bit high but I think he could average plus 20 and 10 if the team was his.

But as I type this, it is hard seeing Lu getting his own shot off all the time.

He thrives on being the number 2 option.

After reading everything I just wrote, I just realized how idiotic I’m being at the moment.

Bash away

And get a lot of his own put backs