Linton Johnson gets some PT?!

[Hawkfanwillie07]

Ok, forgive me if this has already been touched on, but who the hell is Linton Johnson and what was he doing in the game yesterday? I realize it was the second game of a back to back and our bench isnt all that deep since our $70 million man is riding the bench because of a hang nail, but why not put Gray or someone else in and go big for a while? VDN put him in before Tim Thomas! And then Johnson has the balls to take a 15 foot baseline fadeaway! He did hit it, but when I saw him do that I about put the remote through the TV. Did VDN tell him, much like he does Tyrus, to have confidence in that fadeaway and keep shooting it? I was pretty puzzled by the whole situation. Someone please tell me who this guy is and where he came from.

[Jamfan]

I think it had something to do with John Salmons' injury. He's been battling a groin injury for a week now I believe and if Salmons can't go tomorrow I think Johnson might get a start or most likely Tim Thomas. That's scary :S

[Hawkfanwillie07]

That is extremely scary. Has anyone heard anymore news on Deng lately?

[Jamfan]

The latest I read on Deng was a few days ago in a KC Johnson article that said Deng is leaning towards coming back before the end of the season. I'd much rather have him get the surgery and sit out the rest of the season or maybe let him sit out and have him come off the bench in the playoffs.

[Ralphb07]

Salmons picked up two quick fouls so we had to take him out which is why Johnson was in there

[Bullsman24]

but salmons was also complaining of groin tightness, but i don't think he's planning to miss any time.

right now for deng, i want to see him back for the playoffs. in the miami series in 2007, deng turned it on in the playoffs. this could be a good test to see if he can still do that.

[Jamfan]

Deng would also be a nice weapon coming off the bench. Put him and Hinrich on the bench and you have two defensive weapons in a back-up role that can also shoot the basketball well. And it also gives us that much more depth.

[Bullsman24]

yeah, although we might have an average starting lineup, we have one of the better benches in the whole league. we have salmons usually, captain kirk, and brad miller, who are starters on mostly every team in the whole league.

tim thomas, who is a great spot up shooter/replacement nocioni

we have a eight man rotation of starters, and tim thomas to be our situational role player. this team could be a force next year, even without bosh.

[turdburglar]

Linton there is the main reason why I was a little bothered by the Thabo trade... It made us EXTREMELY thin at the three in the case of INJURY (AKA Luol Deng). So... not much else to do. It was sad to see this guy who hasn't played get stuck trying to bail out our offense at a couple points. Luckily he did hit that turnaround. Would not have been my shot call, but perhaps it's Vinnie trying to confuse Toronto? Damn, he's smooth... Just glad we didn't see Linton inboundsing the ball in OT or taking a game winning shot. I consider that progress.

[dougthonus]

If Deng is healthy enough to play, then I hope he plays. If he's not and needs surgery or will get surgery at a later date anyway, then I hope he just gets the surgery now.

Granted, it's hard to know which of those situations (or some mixture of not getting surgery but not healthy enough to play) are accurate.

As for Johnson, it definitely seems like Salmons injury was a factor. I hope Salmons is ready to go because we'll need him.

[Newskoolbulls]

Quick Fact: Linton Johnson won a championship with the Spurs in I believe in 2005.

[Dpauley23]

He always get picked up by some team during the season so he must be doing something right as 13th man

[collisrost]

Linton is decent injury insurance. It's not uncommon to have a lesser talented player who the coach would rather not play but who generally tends to be a good team guy as an emergency backup. I mean the guy knows he's not as good as the other guys so he doesn't disrupt the locker room with demands for playing time or anything. I'd much rahter have someone like Linton Johnson than someone who feels he deserves playing time and gripes about it.

[Newskoolbulls]

Linton will always have a job just like Jaque Vaughn :P

[Dpauley23]

It seems like Linton is on 3 teams a year. Anthony Roberson probably will two because he makes one hell of a cheerleader

[Newskoolbulls]

Knicks picked to sign Roberson over Von Wafer :laugh:

[Dpauley23]

The Bulls probably have the most energetic bench with Lindsey and Roberson screaming whenever we make a basket and Aaron Gray doing the you can't see me expression

[dougthonus]

collisrost wrote:

Linton is decent injury insurance. It's not uncommon to have a lesser talented player who the coach would rather not play but who generally tends to be a good team guy as an emergency backup. I mean the guy knows he's not as good as the other guys so he doesn't disrupt the locker room with demands for playing time or anything. I'd much rahter have someone like Linton Johnson than someone who feels he deserves playing time and gripes about it.

Johnson is a practice all star too from what I've heard. Meaning, not only does he play hard in practice, but he plays extraordinarily well. That's one of the reasons why he keeps getting chances because he impresses in practice more so than in games.

Linton's nothing special to me as a min-salary player, but you're typically not going to do any better without being in the position to grab a ring chaser.

[Newskoolbulls]

Why didnt get get his old #8?