Luol Deng’s bad break could be a good thing for the Chicago Bulls

This is why we have a regular season. To ruin things, but also to prepare for the ruination of things. The Chicago Bulls and their fans are feeling both, right now, as word comes out of suburban Chicago that Luol Deng has a torn ligament in his left wrist. Deng won't undergo surgery, but what was once a "day-to-day" injury has turned into a "week-to-week" injury, according to Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau (as quoted by the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson). This, no way around it, stinks. But this is also why you play the teams that stink. This is also why you pay attention long enough to beat New Jersey, Charlotte, and Washington. Any NBA observer with half a game's credit to his or her name can just about sign off on the Eastern Conference coming down to the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls sometime this spring. Fans that don't tune into NBA ball during the regular season because it feels as a type of exhibition of sorts aren't entirely off in that re...