Deng's injury may be ligament damage

[JosMin]

From ESPN Insider --

Luol Deng hurt his left wrist over the weekend and he had an MRI on Monday to help determine the extent of the injury. So far the Bulls are not revealing the results.

"I don't think he'll need surgery, but there are more doctors he has to talk to," Tom Thibodeau told ESPNChicago.com. "I'm going to honor his request, and we'll leave it at that."

A source tells the Chicago Tribune that Deng does have ligament damage and he's going to rest the wrist for a bit and then try to play.

According to the newspaper, the Bulls have changed his status from a sprained wrist to just an injured wrist and it may stay that way until Deng is willing to publicly announce the injury.

Thibodeau started Ronnie Brewer at small forward on Monday and he may stay with that until Deng returns to the active roster.

I hope to God this is more in line of what happened to Kobe last year where he needed some rest and was able to play through it and remain effective. If he's out for an extended period of time and Rose has to nurse this turf toe for the rest of the year, it could make for an extremely difficult journey to the Finals.

 

[X]

Rest both of 'em now. I'd rather be the 6th seed in the playoffs w/ a healthy roster than the 1st seed w/ no Rose and Deng.

 

[thechosenone]

Maybe they both need surgery.I hope Thibs won't be so demanding.Anyone saw last night that Rose wasn't 100% healthy.He was protecting his leg all the time.And Thibs had him playing until the end when we are winning by 20.

I know professional players should play but I have the feeling that if Deng continues playing so many minutes in this short season with injured hand at the end of the season he will pass away with the championship trophy in his hands.

 

[Macattack161]

Looks like the Bulls are taking a page out of the Blackhawks playbook and are being very guarded about the extent of injuries. I think the only reason we know just how hurt Rose is is because he keeps talking to the media. I was really excited about this hoops season but now I am very worried. One by one the guys are falling and we have not gotten to the annual Boozer I'm out for 2 or 3 weeks injury. It is time for Thibs to take the petal off the accelerator and let's just make the playoffs. Main focus now is just to get there as healthy as possible.

 

[BNB]

damn. we're having a bad year with injuries so far.

Maybe with Deng out Butler will get a chance to play minutes that mean something.

 

[RC_Skinny22]

damn. we're having a bad year with injuries so far.

Maybe with Deng out Butler will get a chance to play minutes that mean something.

Well I wouldn't count on that. If he doesn't get playing time against the Nets while being up by 20, then I don't see him playing against stronger teams. All of Deng's minutes will be split between Korver and Brewer. Sad, but true!

 

[bbaker]

Rest Rose & Deng. Bulls are 16-3 w/ a 3 game lead over the #2 seed in the East. Bulls have a great bench/role players to allow them to play w/o those 2 for a little bit of time.

 

[Scoot26]

If Rose wants to play, fine. I don't have an issue with it. Watching Rose's two breakaways in which he just took careful dunks and didnt throw it down with authority shows that he's still hurting, or just being extremely careful. That is going to be a problem if he's doing that down the stretch.

That said, while we have a 9 game road trip coming up, we play mostly easy opponent. The only contenders/playoff teams we play in that road trip is Miami and Philadelphia. Of course if New York and Boston get their shit together they are playoff teams. Our schedule really doesn't pick up until March in playing the tougher opponent. If we want guys to get healthy, now is the time to rest guys up for the stretch run towards the end of the season.

We all know Rose is going to want to play Sunday though, as I"m sure most of the guys will. I'm still curious to know the true extent of Deng's injury.

 

[Uman85]

Great and I just traded for him on my fantasy team.

 

[clonetrooper264]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Though with how well our bench has been playing I'd be fine shutting Deng down until he's completely healed up (barring surgery or something). I think this would be the perfect time to play Butler for about 10-15 minutes a game. With so many injuries as it is, we don't need more of our bench getting hurt. We've had half our team injured in one way or another, and playing guys for 38+ minutes when we win by 15-20 just doesn't make sense.

 

[Anytime23]

Lower your expectations when it comes to Thibs and resting players. He loves racking up meaningless regular season wins. If guys are healthy enough to play, they'll play. Maybe it is ligament damage, maybe not. I'm not going to get worked up before any real info is out. If he's out for a couple months, fine. The rest of the squad can hold it down. Maybe we could have a refreshed deng by the playoffs. Rose on the other hand, IMO that's the real issue.

 

[Deng Defense Force]

Not worried as deep as we are. This team is built to withstand injuries. You can lose any player (not named Rose) on this team for the whole season and we would still be a top 3 team in the east. Even without Rose we would still be a playoff team.

 

[urankabashi]

Rest both of 'em now. I'd rather be the 6th seed in the playoffs w/ a healthy roster than the 1st seed w/ no Rose and Deng.

Its funny because i still think we would be a top three seed without both of them.

 

[B18]

I don't like all these injuries piling up on us. Just need to weather the storm. If we are completely healthy at the start of the post season, watch out.

 

[BNB]

Chicago Bulls Luol Deng has torn ligament in wrist - ESPN Chicago

at least it's not his right wrist.

 

[Cloud 9]

Son of a ***** this is bad. It's also shitty Jimmy won't even be the beneficiary of this injury. Lu's been my favorite Bull for so many years now, I just hope he gets his rest and is ready to go for the playoffs. You got your fucking wish Thibs, this was bound to happen with all the minutes he was logging.

 

[NealKleren]

This is the last thing we needed. Ronnie or whoever else will step up for us since we do have depth on our bench. It just sucks that everyone is getting injured right now. Imo if Rose isn't ready yet either you have him rest. Last thing we need is to lose him. We're going to the playoffs regardless and in my mind thats the only thing that matters right now.

 

[JosMin]

Here's how to keep the season moving in the right direction in three steps --

1. Sit Rose until he's fully healthy, or at least to the point where he's able to give 95% every night.

2. Utilize your ENTIRE bench. This last stretch of games has shown us that our guys 1 through 15 can play. Give them a chance to keep the starters fresh. We're not in danger of missing the post season, even if Deng (and Rose, for that matter) have to sit a while.

3. Do not facilitate some stupid trade that jeopardizes the chemistry of the team. What we have is good enough to reach the promised land. Have faith, be patient. This team is going to persevere.

 

[Anytime23]

Son of a ***** this is bad. It's also shitty Jimmy won't even be the beneficiary of this injury. Lu's been my favorite Bull for so many years now, I just hope he gets his rest and is ready to go for the playoffs. You got your fucking wish Thibs, this was bound to happen with all the minutes he was logging.

I agree that he plays him too much but this injury has nothing to do with minutes. Freak accident. It really sucks too because IMO the Bulls at full strength had a legit shot to win it all. Hamilton is settling in, the bigs are improving and so has Ronnies shooting. Cj too.

 

[Diddy1122]

Here's how to keep the season moving in the right direction in three steps --

1. Sit Rose until he's fully healthy, or at least to the point where he's able to give 95% every night.

2. Utilize your ENTIRE bench. This last stretch of games has shown us that our guys 1 through 15 can play. Give them a chance to keep the starters fresh. We're not in danger of missing the post season, even if Deng (and Rose, for that matter) have to sit a while.

3. Do not facilitate some stupid trade that jeopardizes the chemistry of the team. What we have is good enough to reach the promised land. Have faith, be patient. This team is going to persevere.

Problem with 1 is Rose will never be fully healthy this year with that toe. He'd have to sit out the rest of the season & that just ain't happening. 2 Thibs pretty much does with the exception of Butler, who despite what everyone thinks, WILL see increased minutes. And 3 will never happen. This team is the team that will bring us a championship & GarPax is not going to mess with that.