Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Deng story
TalkBulls Forums > Nothing But Net > Bulls Talk
DutheDoduhon21
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ.../10/deng/1.html
QUOTE
PARIS -- The campers were only five or six years younger than Luol Deng. They looked up to him like he was a transcendent being. He in turn looked them in the eyes as if he were still in their shoes.

Coming off a breakout 2006-07 season in which he averaged 18.8 points while leading the Chicago Bulls past the opening round for the first time since Michael Jordan's 1998 farewell, Deng spent the week here as a glorious example for the teenagers attending this NBA camp. But his status betrays Deng's humility: At 22, he feels much less in common with Jordan than with 6-foot-8 Sy Bandja and 7-foot Samake Negueba, two 17-year-old Frenchmen who were among the most intriguing players at Basketball Without Borders, the NBA global outreach program to which 50 of the top Europeans of high school age were invited.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I can't really see life other than trying to get better every day,'' says Deng, 22. "It really helps me being around kids who are trying to get better, because that's what I try to do. Every day is almost a struggle in terms of what I try to work on. It really helps being around them because I get that feeling again, that I just want to be better and also to try to motivate them and direct them.''

As quickly as he's progressed -- he's turned the corner more quickly and sharply than predicted after leaving Duke as a freshman in 2004 -- the 6-8 Deng knows that his finishing steps will be the most difficult of his career. It's one thing to become a good NBA player, and another to become the best. His accomplishments of last season now serve as a minimum standard for the decade to come.

"When you have a good season, it's really easy to relax,'' he says. "I already acknowledge the fact that this is going to go on for my whole career, every year, so it's just who I am. Next year is really a big challenge that I come back and do better and the team takes a step ahead. So far in my career, I haven't taken a step back or even stayed the same.''

As easily as he threw bounce passes to the younger players, so was he able to recall the anxiety and excitement he felt at their age. Deng was born in Sudan, where fellow Dinka tribesman Manute Bol gave him initial lessons in the sport. With his large family he escaped the civil war to live in London, where he grew up playing basketball obsessively.

"I heard people tell me since I was young that they [NBA players] are way too good, or, 'You're not going to get a chance to play over there.' ''

So he understands the importance of this camp. "The first thing is for us to be here, for them to see us,'' Deng says. "When I was growing up and I saw an NBA player, it meant a lot and I waited for that day. When they see us, we try to leave them with something positive, just to let them know to keep working hard. You don't have to be a genius, it's not like some people in the U.S. have a secret formula [to make it to the NBA]. Wherever you are, the basket is the same size. A lot of these kids really think they're too far [away from America]. So the main message is to keep working hard and you'll make it.''

He remembers meeting Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Gary Payton when they visited London on NBA trips. "I think Allen Iverson was the first one I met. I was maybe 12, and he meant the world to me," says Deng, who was at least 6 feet tall at that age, putting him eye to eye with the Answer laugh.gif .

"These were guys I look up to and watch all the time, and now to see them up close and try to stand next to them -- look how big he is, he's my size, just little things like that. I still remember like it was yesterday.''

Bulls guard Chris Duhon played with him at Duke after Deng graduated from Blair Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey. Duhon believes Deng is ready to become an All-Star.
"We're going to need him to do that,'' says Duhon, who also served at BWB Asia in Shanghai last month, and was among the seven NBA players and six NBA coaches assisting at the Paris camp. "He's going to have to be the guy to do that for us. I know it's not in his head right now, but it will be.''

Deng improved his shooting to 51.7 percent while attempting only seven three-pointers last season. That will change as he tries to expand his game.

"I'll be shooting threes next year,'' he says. "I didn't shoot so many because I was trying to get the strength back in my wrist because I had the surgery on it the summer before. And I felt we had so many guys on the team last year who could do that and I never felt I needed to.''

He'll also be improving his skills of leadership and ball handling this summer as leader of Great Britain -- the national-team amalgamation of England, Scotland and Wales that will have home court advantage at the 2012 Olympics in London. Deng is already among the NBA's best at moving without the ball; now he must learn to create his own shot off the dribble and work his way to the foul line. His average of 4.4 free throw attempts amounted to less than half of Dwyane Wade's output (10.5) and ranked Deng below the top 50 in that category.

"For GB this summer I'm playing the 1, 2 and 3, so I'm really loving the fact that I'm handling the ball so much,'' he says. "Drawing fouls is going to be a big factor, and so is improving my three-point range and playing in the post. I'm great at moving without the ball, but I'm talking about the last five seconds when you get the ball in your hands or you get the ball in an iso -- those kinds of things I have to improve on, because that's what great players do.''

Don't confuse his humility with an absence of confidence or ambition. Deng maintains he can become a top-five player, the type who leads his team to the championship.
"Some people, they don't believe so, but for me I have to believe that,'' he says. "I work hard to try to be the best. I'm not afraid to say it because that's what I play basketball for. To be that player is something that I want to be.

"I know it's a lot of hard work. But knowing that makes you work even harder, because you know that there's something at the end of the tunnel if you keep working harder.''
Balta1701-B
It's entirely possible he could be the 2nd best small forward in the NBA next year overall. And that's counting all of them.
dasox24
Deng is the man. He just has that "want" to win. And your right, Balta, that he could become the 2nd best SF in the NBA. I don't know about next year, but definitely in the next few. He's just such a complete player, rather than a scorer like 'Melo or an athlete like Josh Smith.
SoxFan1
If he could become deadly from 3 point land too, oh my god.
Balta1701-B
QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Aug 10 2007, 01:39 PM) *
If he could become deadly from 3 point land too, oh my god.

I think another thing that's going to help this team, and everyone on it, is the all-around improvement this year.

Think about this...let's say Gordon and Deng continue their improvement. And on top of that, TT manages to add something of a scoring game. And on top of that, we add Joe Smith, who certainly is an offensive step up from what we had last year. And maybe Hinrich stays roughly the same. And we get Nocioni back, combined with maybe Curry and Noah, so that we suddenly have size and punch off the bench.

Now, instead of Deng and Gordon driving the lane and not having options because people leave TT or Wallace or PJ to double-down, suddenly Deng drives in, dishes out to TT who puts up and buries a short to mid range shot. Or he dishes out to Gordon open for 3. Or he dishes to Smith who goes up for the shot.

Seriously, this team is so loaded, who exactly can you leave to double a guy like Deng or Gordon if they really do keep developing towards All-Star status?
madisonsmadhouse
Ben Wallace? wink.gif
Bullies4Life
I think its awesome how Luol Deng is working on his weaknesses. And what i like best is that w/ him being in the British team, he will HAVE to become a better one on one scorer. This should definately help out the bulls in the future.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Invision Power Board © 2001-2024 Invision Power Services, Inc.