GBR - Deng determined to see Britain succeed

CHICAGO (NBA) - Britain’s great basketball hope Luol Deng recently gained citizenship in the country and he is now setting his sights on making the national team a force in the international game.

The Sudan-born basketball star, who led Duke University to the NCAA Final Four as a freshman before turning professional, is preparing for his third NBA season with the Chicago Bulls.

However, he has one eye firmly on playing for Britain - especially with the London Olympics less than six years away.

If Britain can win promotion to EuroBasket Division A next summer, and then reach the European Championships to be played in Poland in 2009, FIBA will be convinced Deng and Co are good enough to take part in the Olympics and thus allow them to take up the slot that is normally reserved for host nations.

"I see 2012 as a big opportunity, a blessing even," Deng said in remarks published by the Daily Mail.

"It will be great to show the world that we’re good enough to compete at that level."

It’s been a long, sometimes hard road for Deng.

Political problems led to him and his family leaving Sudan when he was a young boy, and he ultimately settled in south London.

Deng went on to represent England as a junior.

He has always maintained it was his wish to play for Britain at senior level, and that finally became possible when the 21-year-old Deng recently becoming a naturalised Brit.

The naturalisation process was drawn out, partially because Deng moved to the United States as a teenager to play high school ball.

Now, the 6ft 9in star is easily the most famous British sportsman in the States.

That means he is more famous that US PGA players Luke Donald and Justin Rose, and is fast becoming Britain’s highest earning athlete, already picking up £1million a year with a lucrative contract extension on the way.

Other Brits, he believes, will join him in the NBA.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, for example, signed with the Dallas Mavericks this summer.

With Deng and Bonsu in the British team, it’s downright frightening to think how good this British team will become.

"The guys in the NBA are just normal human beings," Deng said.

"I never believed that anyone was too good, if you’re good it’s because you worked hard - nobody’s born with it."

Deng, it seemed, was on his way to becoming a college basketball great at Duke under their legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, but after his freshman season he decided to turn pro.

Still, he insists his mission was never about being rich.

"I don’t think about the money over here - I just think about getting better," he said.

"Improving is my motivation.

"And before you know it, here I am representing Great Britain in the NBA - it’s unbelievable."
By PA Sport