Luol Deng, the Defiabull
Luol Deng will fly in the face of advice from his personal coach and, most likely, his club, the Chicago Bulls, to play for Great Britain in the European Championship finals this summer.
The 6ft 9in forward is at present sidelined with a stress fracture of his right leg that may require minor surgery, the latest in a series of niggling injuries that have plagued Deng since his international debut.
As is common in the NBA, Deng works with a personal coach during the summer, in his case David Thorpe, the respected media pundit. Thorpe echoed the Bulls’ concerns about Deng playing in internationals and advised him to take a summer off to recuperate fully.
However, the suggestion was rejected by Deng, who is adamant that he will be in Chris Finch’s squad when they play their EuroBasket group games against Spain, Serbia and Slovenia in Poland in September.
“I recommended to him that he take the whole summer off and not even train with me,” Thorpe said. “But Luol told me that was not acceptable. There is no way he is not going to help GB in some capacity. He will maybe not play as many friendlies. He will maybe adjust his schedule after consulting with Coach Finch and coming up with a plan that makes sense for everybody.
“Luol feels a sense of duty as far as GB is concerned but he also loves playing for the team and in the style that Coach Finch plays. That’s what’s driving Lu on and as soon as he is healthy, we will sit down with doctors from the Bulls and from GB to come up with a plan.”
I think that Luol Deng’s commitment to the Great Britain National Team is quite admirable. He has done a lot of good for basketball in Great Britain, leading them to qualification for the 2009 European Championships this summer. He has helped to recruit major talent to the Great Britain team, namely his friend and Chicago Bulls teammate, Ben Gordon. With Gordon on hand, Great Britain could be a major contender to win the European Championship this summer.
But Deng’s lack of respect towards the NBA team that decided to pay him $80 million is less than admirable. According to Sam Smith, he is jealous of the Bulls’ rookie, Derrick Rose. He has produced at unacceptable levels of production and efficiency this year, and many believe that his subpar production has to do with his nagging injuries.
One thing that has become clear this year is that Luol Deng is an injury prone player. His body just doesn’t handle the stress of strenuous physical activity very well. Playing for Great Britain will only add increased wear and tear on Deng’s body, which will make him more susceptible to being injured during the NBA season.
It would be wise for Deng, in terms of his NBA career, to just rest this summer. But for Deng, his career isn’t just about the NBA. Playing for Great Britain seems to be equally important to Deng as is playing for the Bulls. This is something the Bulls will have to deal with going forward. If they don’t like this, and see this as something that will just result in Deng getting injured every year, they might need to seek out potential trade suitors for Deng.
Similar Posts:
- 2008-2009 Chicago Bulls: Luol Deng
- Luol Deng Out At Least Two Weeks
- Luol Deng May Be Out For the Season
- Luol Deng and Ben Gordon Not Playing For Great Britain This Summer
- Luol Deng Not 100 Percent
Tags: 2009 European Championship, Ben Gordon, Chris Finch, David Thorpe, Great Britain National Team, injury, Luol Deng, stress fracture, surgery
March 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I never really cared for Luol as a player. I have always seen him as soft even when he had that really good season a couple of years ago. I wasn’t shocked that the Bulls paid him all that money because for some reason everyone in city was crazy about Deng. I watched NBA players, coaches, and analyst say that he was the best player on the Bull’s team. My bestfriend and I laughed and were really confused. Is everyone that blind? They said that he was a complete player and could be a Scottie Pippen to Kobe. Deng has a very limited game. He is really a jump shooter who moves well without the ball. He slashes in and then a pass comes in for him to catch and make a layup or dunk. So many people hyped him up so the Bulls felt like he was something specialwhen really he is not. Salmons actually plays the position better than Deng and that must be a smack in the face to Paxson. Gordon should’ve been offered the bigger deal. Deng has had injuries since his rookie season so it is no suprise to see him injuried now. I would try to move him this summer. Maybe I’m crazy but earlier this season when Deng and Iguodala were having bad starts that the bulls should’ve made a swap. We need someone athletic and Deng is far from it. The fact that he has to have a certain offensive system in place also shows you how limited he is. Gordon can play in any system and play off any player. What are your thoughts? By the way, love the stories…this is one of my favorite sites. Keep up the good work!!!
March 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I think the story on Deng goes as follows.
2004-2005: He is looking like a real good rookie. It’s a shame his rookie season got cut short.
2005-2006: Luol Deng who? Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Andres Nocioni lead the Bulls to the 7th seed, and are the “core” of the team.
2006-2007: Luol Deng has a really good year. Gets credited for being the best player on the Bulls, while in reality, it is actually Gordon.
2007-2008: Luol Deng has a disappointing season. It’s just because he’s worried about his contract issue.
2008-2009: Luol Deng is officially an injury proned player, and also not looking like a very good player. 2006-2007 looks like a fluke.
I will never understand why Luol Deng got so much credit for the Miami playoff series. Ben Gordon averaged 25.5 PPG on 5.5 APG. Luol Deng did play great in that series, and averaged something like 0.5 PPG more than Gordon in the series, but Ben Gordon was the one leading the charge. Luol Deng was playing off of the other guy’s great play…as usual. A guy who can do well when everythings going fine, but not a guy that can lead.
The second round was a debacle, because Skiles coached poorly. In the Heat series, you had Ben Gordon getting the ball at the top of the key. In the Pistons series, he stuck Gordon in the corner. (It should be clear by now, that when a player is only 6′2″, they’re pretty easy to guard and deny the ball if they’re just standing in the corner).
I think the Bulls have to look to move Deng. The question of course will be whether they can find a taker. Right now, John Salmons is definitely a better player than Deng, which brings up the scary thought…the Bulls could be paying $80 million for their backup small forward!