Luol Deng finds plenty of admirers despite dip in form and fitness

The Chicago Bulls¡¯ annual ¡°Circus Trip¡± is the name given to the six-game road trip that the NBA club have to undertake every November when the Ringling Brothers circus takes over their home arena, but, for Luol Deng, the Great Britain player, and his teammates, the phrase has taken on a new meaning this year.

The club who won six championships with the legendary Michael Jordan in the 1990s, with expectations to compete for the title this season, have started the campaign with a 2-8 win-loss record and are embroiled in a crisis.

Scott Skiles, the coach, is under much pressure from the city¡¯s media, there appears to be dressing-room unrest and key players, including Deng, have suffered a precipitous drop in form. In short, the situation is a circus.

Deng, whose family live in London, has been at the centre of much of the controversy that surrounds the team, playing well below the lofty standards he set last year and suffering a back injury that sidelined him from the Bulls¡¯ past two defeats. Having turned down the offer of a five-year contract extension worth a $50 million (about £25 million) last month, Deng is also at the centre of trade speculation involving Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers¡¯ forward.
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In essence, Bryant, arguably the world¡¯s best player and the only one in the NBA with a ¡°no trade clause¡± that permits him to veto any move, refused to go to Chicago unless Deng stayed. The Lakers refused to let Bryant leave unless they received Deng as part of the deal, a demand that Chicago refused.

While both positions represented a compliment to Deng, they have added to the pressure heaped on him and the team by a Chicago media that, along with New York, is the closest thing in the United States to a British-style ¡°tabloid¡± marketplace.

¡°To some degree, the talk probably has affected us,¡± Deng said. ¡°Every player will probably tell you they weren¡¯t thinking about it, but it has been in the back of our minds; it¡¯s just human nature. If anything happens, it happens. I don¡¯t really know how accurate the trade talk is, but if it¡¯s accurate it is flattering - to hear that the Lakers wanted me and that Kobe wouldn¡¯t come without me.¡±

It has not helped Deng¡¯s cause that the Bulls¡¯ management leaked the ¡°fact¡± that he had turned down an offer of $57.5 million in the summer, far in excess of the truth. Whether an honest error or mischief-making, the stories made Deng appear greedy.

¡°We talked about $50 million, that was the talk,¡± Deng, who becomes a restricted free agent next summer, said. ¡°And I¡¯m happy with my decision, no matter what happens. Now it is my challenge to go out there and prove I am worth what I want. If I¡¯m not worth that, there is no shame in that. If someone thinks I¡¯m worth it, then they will pay it next summer.

¡°I wish we had dealt with the contract talks better ¨C I think both sides could have handled it better. But this is my first time going through this and I learnt from it. If I could play here in Chicago my whole career, I would be happy with that.¡±

Before suffering an injury in a rare win over the Los Angeles Clippers last weekend, Deng, 22, had started to show glimpses of the form that has earned him a shortlisting on the ballot papers for this season¡¯s All-Star Game, although his averages (14.6 points, six rebounds and 1.6 assists a game) are well down on last year (18.8, 7.1, 2.5).

Inevitably, part of the decline is the result of Deng¡¯s star status, meaning that teams are making him the focus of their defensive game, something the Britain forward had appeared to come to terms with before his injury. Bulls fans can also cling to the memory that, in each of Deng¡¯s first three seasons with the club, they made similarly poor starts, but recovered to reach the play-offs.

¡°I¡¯m really frustrated to have hurt my back, especially after making such a slow start,¡± Deng said. ¡°But there are more than 70 games to go, so I just want to get healthy and prove I am All-Star standard.¡±

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