Drew Gooden (sprained right ankle) and Tyrus Thomas (concussion) are out for tonight's game against the Utah Jazz in the United Center. Andres Nocioni will start at power forward.
At this point, it's not known how long Gooden -- who was injured in the first quarter of Friday night's game at Boston -- will be sidelined by the ankle. As for Thomas, the hope is that he will be able to resume working out in the next day or two.
Derrick Rose, who suffered a knee contusion in Boston, is fine and was in the starting lineup.
No Gooden, no Thomas & what does Vinny do with Deng? Sit's him on the bench. What does that tell you? Deng's the odd man out.
Vinny is a coach who values offensive rhythm more than anything else. Thabo gelled more with Rose & Gordon than Deng did.
It should be obvious by now that Paxson needs to correct his mistake. Trade Deng & sign Gordon. The reason the Bulls are 13-14 at this juncture is that Rose has played well enough to compensate for Deng's weakness this year. Some of that credit goes to Gordon. When he's on the court, teams cheat defensively to stop him. That gives Rose higher % shots.
The Bulls do not need a soft shooting SF. They need a monster defender at PF.