Underrated players in Chicago Bulls history: Luol Deng
One of the more well-known, but largely underappreciated, players on this list is the former Duke Blue Devil and two-time All-Star forward Luol Deng. Although he hasn’t made his way onto this list thanks to his lack of All-Star selections in respect to his career production, Deng just didn’t get the respect he deserved for his two-way contributions on multiple teams around the league.
While the best of Deng’s playing days in the NBA came with the Bulls over the course of one decade, he was also solid for other teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.
Deng was an ultra-consistent and efficient player for the Bulls on both ends of the floor. And his on/off plus/minus truly shows the type of presence he had on the floor for the Bulls game in and game out. During his first three seasons in the NBA with the Bulls, Deng never posted an on/off plus/minus per 100 possessions under 4.5.
Yet, after his third season with the Bulls, Deng became a legit threat from pretty much anywhere on the floor on offense. He shot better than 36 percent from beyond the arc in five of the next six seasons with the Bulls at that point of his career.
The end of the run for Deng with the Bulls really came when the front office and former head coach Tom Thibodeau started to notice the rise of star shooting guard/small forward Jimmy Butler in the early 2010s. The last season for Deng with the Bulls came in 2013-14 before he landed with the Cavaliers.