I was flipping through some random Bulls and NBA articles and things (Hi Vinny), and I thought a few were fanshot worthy.  But rather than risk the scorn of yfbb by bunching them together, and/or including commentary, I figured it would be better to just make one big fanpost.  So, after the jump, there's a few thoughts, and links and stuff.

•   Bill Simmons' trade value column, which is usually a pretty fun read, is apparently on the way.  On his latest podcast (HERE), he kinda skims through the list with one of his friends ("House"?  Whoever that is.).  I've always enjoyed Simmons' takes on the NBA, although I can see how some may not feel the same way.  As you may have guessed, Rose is featured prominently throughout (Spoiler alert:  He likes him).  My major beef with the list, and this won't come as a surprise either, is where he has Rondo ranked.  I won't say where exactly, but I will say that I think it's WAY too high (All Rondo hate aside).  His producer even calls him out at the end, which I thought was pretty funny. 
  
•   Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald had a great article on the relationship between Thibs and assistant coach Ron Adams.  I never really knew how close those two were, and this was a fresh angle on why this team is having is so much success this year.  It's kinda like Brokeback Mountain, only with two balding, middle aged, basketball coaches.  I love me some D Rose, but once in a while it's nice to get a little reprieve from the Rose slobbering columns, and read stuff like this.
•   If you're a Bulls fan, particularly if you read this site on a semi-regular basis, you're probably well-aware of the Derrick Rose "Why can't I be MVP?" speech.  For Bulls fans, it probably ranks somewhere between the Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" on the list of greatest speeches in American history.  Well, apparently there's a sequel.

And finally, I have a minor gripe.  This pertains to Mr. "They had no dunks", Luol Deng.  When speaking to media yesterday regarding his recent All Star "snub", he had this to say (Via the Chicago Tribune):

"I'm disappointed," Deng said. "To go there and represent the team would've been great. It's weird to me we only have one. All I can do is put it in the past. I really think I'm a step ahead of where I was last year, so my main thing is to keep going forward. There's nothing I can do about it.

"But I'm surprised. As a team, I feel like we went through a lot with injuries. We had Carlos (Boozer) and Joakim (Noah) missing. And I feel like other teams had injuries, and some of those guys that were hurt made it."

Now, I'm sure most of you will say I'm being an idiot, but I really have a problem with what he said right there.  To me, that sounds like Grade A whining.  And I know this is a fairly common practice in the NBA, but when it's coming from this guy, on this team, it bugs me. So, let me get to the reasons why it bugs me:

Luol Deng is not an All Star.  Sorry, he's not.  I know everyone is having their "Come to Jesus" moment with him lately, and I'm totally fine with that.  He's been really good.  But he did not deserve to make that team.  He's a stellar defender, but he plays a position where great defensive play is good to have, but not celebrated (at least in terms of All Star berths).  And for good reason imo.

His offense has been wildly inconsistent.  It's not complained about as often around here anymore, because most people have come to realize how valuable he is as an all around player, but it's still very frustrating at times.  And his mediocre stats are further proof of that.  When you combine all that, with the fact that his game is well.. pretty gd boring (I hate to say that, because I love fundamental play as much as the next basketball junkie, but being a "great cutter" doesn't usually get little kids clamoring for your jersey), you reach the conclusion that, yeah, he really had no shot.

So, by now you're probably asking: "Ok asshole, we know you don't think he's an All Star, but what the hell is so bad about what he said?".  And that's where you might think I'm going a little overboard.  By saying things like "It's weird we only have one", and other whiny things, he's kinda putting himself above the team.  He's singling his performance out as one of the key reasons why we are where we are.

It's fine if others want to say that for him, but when he's saying it about himself, in this context, it's a major turn off.  And I would imagine that his teammates are a little bothered by it too.  There's no need to toot your own horn.  Not to mention the fact that, this is probably the first year he's even had a shot at making the team.  So to have a sense of entitlement about it, is pretty lame imo. 

This team is going way too good right now. There's just no need for him to bring things like this to the forefront.  When it starts becoming about who's getting noticed, and who's getting the love, it begins to mess with the chemistry.  Let's not forget that we've had similar issues like this with Luol in the past.  And he is definitely capable of some big time pouting.  I'm not saying it will come to that, but I'd like to see it snuffed out immediately.

Finally, let's compare Luol's "whiny" comments to those of Carlos Boozer.  Boozer really did deserve to make the All Star team in my opinion.  Other than D Rose, there is not one player on the team that has contributed more to the Bulls W-L record than him.  The only reason he didn't make it is because of an early season injury (which is pretty shady reasoning considering how good the Bulls have been).  So, if anyone had a reason to complain, it was him.  Given all that, let's see how he handled it when asked similar questions by the media (From the same Tribune article):

"I didn't come here for All-Star games," he said. "I came here for championships. I've been an All-Star. I want some rings.

"I'm not concerned about what everyone else thinks about us. I'm concerned about what we think about each other and if we believe in each other enough to try to win a championship."

See the difference?

Anyways, that's enough of my ranting and raving.  I'm gonna include a poll, first off, because I love them, and second, because I'm curious to see where people stand on whether or not Lu was out of line with his comments.