After fighting for an offensive rebound, scoring inside and drawing a foul against a bigger player in the fourth quarter of the Bulls' dramatic comeback victory Tuesday night, Luol Deng took a couple of steps and let out a scream that would have registered high marks on the noise meters shown on the United Center scoreboard.
It was an unusual display of emotion for the normally stoic Deng -- and a clear sign he's enjoying being back on the court after missing the final 2½ months and the playoffs last season with a stress fracture of the lower right leg.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
''I'm just happy I'm healthy. I'm happy to be out there playing,'' Deng said. ''It's the longest I sat out not playing, and I just missed playing.
''I'm just happy I'm out there with my teammates and I'm not sitting on the sidelines watching.''
The way he has played so far this season, the Bulls are happy to have the 6-9 forward back in action. With his 24 points and 20 rebounds (a career high) in the win against the Milwaukee Bucks, Deng began the first Bulls player since 2004 to have a 20-20 game.
Through four games, Deng is leading the team in scoring (17.8 points) and rebounding (10.5), while shooting a solid 48.3 percent from the field. But it's more than just the statistics that have his teammates raving.
''He's very positive,'' center Joakim Noah said. ''He really wants to win. Last season put things in perspective for him.''
To be sure, things were much different for Deng at this time last season. He was struggling to find his place in the offense of new coach Vinny Del Negro and was receiving criticism for not being worth the $71 million contract the Bulls gave him a few months earlier.
The criticism continued throughout the season and intensified at the midpoint when his leg began bothering him and his production fell off further. All the doubts about the severity of his injury added insult.
''I'm not frustrated when people hold me to high standards,'' he said. ''My only frustration was people questioning my injury. I knew I was injured and it made me angry that people thought I was faking it.''
The injury proved so severe that Deng wasn't cleared to resume basketball activities until early September -- which makes his fast start all the more remarkable.
''One thing that's missed in the whole equation with Luol, he wasn't able to run until two or three weeks before training camp,'' Del Negro said. ''He hadn't played for six months and he was just healing and healing and lifting weights and lifting weights and got his conditioning in as good a shape as he could.
''But there's nothing like the physicality of basketball in terms of the body contact and the running and pounding on your body.''
Besides being healthy, Deng also is more comfortable in the Bulls' offense and where he can find his shots.
''I know what's coming,'' he said. Even when [former coach Scott] Skiles was here, my first two years I really didn't do too well, but every year I kept getting better within the offense. I always hold myself to that. If I struggle the year before I try to make strides.
''I know I'm gonna miss shots and I know there are gonna be games when I don't play well. But I'm gonna try and play with energy every night.''
He'll need all the energy he can muster tonight because the Bulls play the Cleveland Cavaliers and Deng will spend much of the game chasing LeBron James.
''Playing [James] is always a challenge because he's so versatile, he's so big and he's so quick,'' Deng said. ''What I always try to do against him is challenge every shot, try to make every basket tough.''