Luol Deng to Skip Surgery, Start Opening Night?

Tom Thibodeau has reportedly told ESPN Radio's Waddle & Silvy program that Luol Deng will not have surgery to repair ligaments in his left wrist after the Olympics, and the small forward will be ready to start the season with the team.

Mat's immediate reaction is to be very, very wary. Luol Deng had easily the worst shooting season of his career last season, and it's hard not to chalk that up to the injury. Throw in the training staff's spotty history and Thibs's tendency to play guys even when they shouldn't be in, and it seems like a dicey experiment.

Upon closer look, though, Mat can see the argument for playing through. Luol knows his body -- knew his body better than team doctors when they implied he was playing up what turned out to be a fractured leg -- and if he's become acclimated to the pain, if it's gotten better to any degree, if he thinks he can make it through another season as a productive player? That's his prerogative.

Furthermore, there's no definitive proof of causation between Deng's wrist injury and his poor field goal percentage. He wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire before he got hurt (43.1% FG) and he actually had a better field goal percentage in the month following the injury (41.7%) than he ended up with on the season (41.2%). He closed out the last month of the season on an uptick (42.4% FG) and put up a solid 45.6% from the field in the playoffs.

Deng has had a similar outlier season on the other end of the spectrum, shooting 51.7% from the field in 2006-07. The two seasons are almost exactly as far removed from his career average: 2006-07 was 52 points higher, '11-12 was 53 points lower.

Obviously, Mat still has reservations about this decision. Deng didn't lose his shooting stroke; he shot 36.7% from three at a career-high volume. Part of his decreased efficiency was due to subpar midrange shooting, but it's also because he lost his ability to attack, drawing fouls at a career-low rate. That, above all else, seems directly attributable to a desire to avoid pain.

Until Deng continues to struggle, though, Mat is willing to give Lu the benefit of the doubt.

Mat also thinks this helps explain the Bulls' draft and pretty significantly affects how they will approach free agency, but he'll have more on that later.