Gordon, Deng overlooked again
With Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets out of the game with a back injury, commissioner David Stern on Wednesday named Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks to take Kidd's spot on the Eastern Conference roster -- bypassing Ben Gordon or Luol Deng of the Bulls.
When the All-Star reserves were announced two weeks ago, the Bulls felt they deserved to have a player in the game because they had one of the better records in the conference. They were even more adamant after Johnson was selected because the Hawks took a 20-31 record into Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
''I don't think anybody on a below-.500 team should be involved in the All-Star Game,'' Bulls coach Scott Skiles said before the Bulls' 100-85 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. ''To me, it doesn't mean [you're an] All Star if your team isn't winning.
''Having never been one, I'm probably not in a position to judge. They don't call me and ask me those things. But I think that would add some nice incentive to playing in that game for players that may lack some incentive.''
While sticking up for his guys, Skiles also made it clear he's not knocking Johnson, who was averaging 25.1 points before Wednesday.
''Joe is having a great year,'' Skiles said. ''He's not the only one who's in that game who's not on a winning team. So you can't argue with Joe being out there. He's a phenomenal player.''
Gordon figured the Bulls' standing in the Eastern Conference might have merited a representative.
''I kind of gave it up after I didn't make it the first time,'' Gordon said. ''It was one of those things. We didn't get one representative, and we had one of the better records in the East. It was just disappointing, so I'm not surprised by what happened again.''
The Bulls still will be represented during All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas. Gordon will participate in the shooting stars competition, and Tyrus Thomas is one of four competitors in the dunk contest during the Saturday night festivities.
LATE NIGHT: With Tuesday's snowstorm, the Bulls didn't arrive at their Charlotte hotel until about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. But considering that flight operations at O'Hare have yet to return to normal, the delay after Tuesday night's home game against the Toronto Raptors could've been much worse.
''We got in later than normal because we had to wait a long time to de-ice,'' Skiles said. ''But other than that, no trouble.''