Let me just start this thing off by saying that I'm not a very big Larry Hughes fan. I never have been, and probably never will. When the Bulls picked him up from the Cavaliers last season in the Ben Wallace trade, I was happy for two reasons. First and foremost, I was happy that we'd finally gotten rid of the albatross that was Ben Wallace's contract. I was also pleased to hear the Bulls would be getting Drew Gooden and that funny patch of hair on the back of his head.
I was not happy to see Hughes' name in the trade, but given the size of Big Ben's Big Contract, I understood the reasoning behind it. Still, while the trade settled the problem of getting a big man who could actually score on purpose, it also made a crowded backcourt even more populated.
Now, after drafting Derrick Rose, new Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro has to figure out a way to balance minutes between Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Thabo Sefolosha, and Larry Hughes. Not easy to do, but it just got a lot easier on Wednesday night when Hughes dislocated his right shoulder. The initial word out of the Berto Center was that Larry would be out for 6-8 weeks, but now Hughes is saying he could be back sooner.
For the sake of the Bulls, let's hope he's wrong.
In his career, Hughes has shot 40.9% from the field, and only 29.8% from three-point land, but that's never stopped him from chucking up shot after shot the second he sees daylight. The Bulls already have a gunner in Ben Gordon, and Ben has a lot more success making his shots.
To make matters worse, there was this quote from Drew Gooden when asked about Vinny Del Negro's coaching.
"As long as you work hard," Gooden said with a mischievous smile, "you can take pretty much any shot you want."
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Which would mean that Larry would have free reign to fire at will, which would kill the Bulls in the long run. Now that he's out -- we hope -- for a couple of months, the other four guards on the roster will get as much playing time as they deserve, and hopefully Derrick Rose will blossom quicker.
And even if he doesn't, at least we won't have to watch brick after brick leaving the fingers of Larry Hughes.
