It has become clear over the past few weeks that I have a man-crush on John Salmons.  I wrote last week making the case for Salmons to get minutes over Deng at the 3 spot.  With Deng’s injury and his season in jeopardy, the question takes on a new angle.  Instead of discussing whether Salmons or Deng should be getting more minutes, we now must look at how bad it will hurt the Bulls to have Deng on the pine for the rest of the season (if the injury is that severe).  Accuscore ran a useful analysis on the Bulls playoff chances before and after the Deng injury.  This chart was made before the win on Friday against the Bucks:

Bulls Win Projection With Deng: 10.8

Bulls Playoff Chances With Deng: 46.1%

Bulls Win Projection Without Deng: 10.6

Bulls Playoff Chances Without Deng: 44.6%

The thing to note about this is that the 3 (now four teams) that are behind the Bulls in the race for the 8th seed all have lower percentage chances to make the playoffs than the Bulls with or without Deng.

Also if you are looking to criticize Paxson for the trades he made at the deadline, Accuscore will make you think twice about that now.  Had the Bulls not made the trade, their win projection drops to 9.6 and their playoff chances drop to 38.8%, well below that of the Nets and the Pacers.

Related Posts:

• Why The Bulls Are Better Off With Leftover Salmons (5)
• It’s The Second Coming, Just Call Him John Salmons This Time Around (0)
• Paxson Pulls Trigger, Flag Comes Out That Says “Bang” (Trade Deadline Roundup) (1)
• Who Is John Salmons? (And Other Questions Raised By The Big Trade) (2)
• How many expiring contracts do the Bucks have? Tyrus to Charlotte? [Trade Deadline Update] (0)
• Bulls Pull Trigger: John Salmons to Milwaukee for Expiring Contracts [NBA Trade Deadline Update] (2)
• Quick Thoughts from Tonight’s Bulls Game (3)

Tags: Injury, John Paxson, John Salmons, Luol Deng, Playing Time, Playoff Chances