Deng sits with wrist injury; contract deadline looms

Luol Deng decided to be patient with a wrist injury and sat out Saturday's preseason contest against Indiana.

During Friday's loss at Toronto, Deng's right wrist was bent forward when he tried to stop Anthony Parker on a spin move. The Bulls forward went to the bench after playing less than 2½ minutes, but said he felt more pain in his hand than the wrist.

"It feels better now than it did this morning," Deng said in the locker room. "They just said keep moving it and it will feel a lot better. I think if it feels better tomorrow, I'll practice. If it doesn't, I won't. I'm just going to go by how it feels."

Any sort of wrist injury is cause for concern because Deng's right wrist still bears a scar from surgery to repair a torn ligament in the spring of 2005.

"From the way it feels, I just know it's not the same," he said.

Deng felt his wrist is not as painful now as it was last December when he fell hard to the floor after a flagrant foul by Miami's James Posey.

"He should be fine for the next game," coach Scott Skiles said. "It's basically just a bruise on the top of his hand. He would play if it was a regular-season game. He'll be fine."

Deng is also trying to be patient with his contract extension, but that may be a tougher task than waiting for his wrist injury to heal. Deng has until Oct. 31 to sign a new deal; otherwise he'll become a restricted free agent next summer.

"When you look at it, the days are going fast," he said. "I'm not really having that much of a hard time with it. I know everyone's talking about it and it should be in the back of my mind. But honestly, I just want to focus on basketball.

"If anything, I really want to see it get done. I'm happy here. I like the situation I'm in. I'd love to be here. If it gets done, it will be a relief."

Smith sits back down: Veteran Joe Smith was expected to test his troublesome right knee in back-to-back games this weekend, but he decided to sit out Saturday against the Pacers.

Bulls coach Scott Skiles didn't see this setback as a bad sign. Smith, who played 17 minutes at Toronto on Friday, missed the first two preseason games when the knee swelled up.

"(Indiana's) Jermaine O'Neal is not playing. (Troy) Murphy's not playing," Skiles said. "If you look around the league, there are a lot of guys playing one game, not playing the next, even not in back-to-back situations. I wouldn't read a whole lot into it."