GM!BOW: Luol Deng2

Weight/Height: 220 lbs, 6’9

Team, Position: Small Forward, Chicago Bulls

College: Duke

Draft Year: 2004 1^st round, Phoenix Suns

It is amazing how everyone’s story is so different from the next, especially when it comes to some of these professional athletes that we admire so much. Luol Deng is one of those men who you just stand in awe when you realize exactly what he has been through and the steps he has taken to become the star athlete he is now.

He spent only a year at the worldwide hated university Duke, but apparently Coach K established the work ethic in him that has been apparent in every other Duke draftee in the professional league. However, that is still not what makes him so special.

Deng’s father fled from Sudan during a civil war with him, his mother and his siblings. Former Sudan NBA star Manute Bol is one of Deng’s influences and Deng is just as active off of the court as Bol was during his lifetime. He is a leader on the basketball court next to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and still finds the time in his schedule to participate in food assistance programs and spearheaded a malaria prevention program for the United Nations in Africa.

We praise the capability of so many of the league’s finest for what they can do with a basketball in their hands, but there are not enough times where we spotlight how important the players are in other avenues such as community service and how they are using their celebrity to help those who truly need and deserve it.

Deng proves to be not only an exceptional athlete but an overall person and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be around the league for a very long time.

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