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Great Britain finally had a big boost to their campaign when the Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng was allowed by his NBA team to suit up for the GB National Team in the European Qualifying Tournament that will start on August 2.
“It’s all cleared, everything is set up.” said Deng, when he revealed the good news.
“It’s just going to take me a week or so to get in shape as I’ve been in Africa on family business and I need a few days to get back to playing.” he added.
Deng, who averaged 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds a game for the Bulls last season, will bolster the team’s campaign this year. The 6-foot-9 forward was set to be a part of the team in last year’s EuroBasket in Poland, but was sidelined due to a stress fracture.
“My main focus is the qualifying games,” he said. “I know the friendly games get the team going but I think I’ll get my rhythm with the team more from practice than from playing 10 minutes in a game, so I’ll get in shape and be ready for those games.”
GB Head Coach Chris Finch was upbeat upon hearing the news and said that Deng we’ll be a great help for the team in the qualifying tournament, though Deng will most likely sit out the friendly games prior to the tournament.
I doubt he’ll play in the friendly games, but he’s definitely playing the qualifiers. I think our basics stay relatively the same; obviously we have to cater to our personnel in terms of what we’re trying to do tactically, but our planning goes forward.” Finch said.
Another NBA player, Pops Mensah-Bonsu is also set to join the team’s training camp.
Great Britain will go up against Hungary, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Ukraine in their bid to qualify for the EuroBasket 2011.
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