Deng defends beleaguered bench  Thibodeau says reserves need
time to gel  November 27, 2012|By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune
reporter  For those wondering, the Bulls lost the night after
their 35-point collapse to the Kings in December 2009 and then
won eight of their next 11 games.  Of course, that Vinny Del
Negro-led team featured Derrick Rose.  The Bulls' superstar
isn't walking through the locker room door any time soon.
Neither are Omer Asik, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Watson,
John Lucas III or Brian Scalabrine for that matter.  As the
Bulls attempt to rebound from blowing a 27-point lead against
the Bucks, Luol Deng passionately reminded all of that following
Tuesday's practice. One day after logging an astounding 47
minutes, 18 seconds, Deng, the longest-tenured Bull, showed
leadership of a different kind by defending the beleaguered
bench.  "I don't know if you guys expected exactly the same
bench," Deng said. "That Bench Mob was great. We won a lot of
games because of them. But they're gone. So