England payback has fringe benefits for Deng

Considering his status as an emerging NBA star, Luol Deng could have spent his summer shopping for expensive cars or pondering how much square footage he'll require in a future dream home.

Instead, the Bulls forward joined the British national team, which meant playing road games in European locales like Minsk, Amsterdam, Geneva and Edinburgh. He was forced to endure such regular-Joe tasks as flying commercial and bunking with a roommate.

"In Belarus, they had police officers on the side (of the court) with machine guns," Deng said. "You don't see that very often. I think that was a little different.

"It was an experience. You had a roommate in small hotels in small cities. We tried to stay with pasta and chicken (for pregame meals), but a lot of times we got something else. I made a lot of trips to McDonald's."

Deng didn't hesitate to participate, though, because of the gratitude he feels toward England. After his family fled a civil war in its native Sudan, Deng and his eight brothers and sisters lived in a cramped apartment in Alexandria, Egypt, until being granted political asylum in England. Deng still considers London his hometown.

"It's hard sometimes to repay a country back," he said. "But the position we were put in to just play basketball and try to develop the game there, that's something I know how to do. I just feel like going back and doing that for a country that did that for my family, it's not really a big commitment."

Of course, as a historic powerhouse, England basketball carries about as much intimidation value as Powder Puff football. The British hoops squad has participated in the Olympics just once, in 1948, and lost every game.

With Deng on board, England rolled to 6 easy victories this summer, including a two-game sweep of Thabo Sefolosha's Switzerland team to advance to Division A of European championship qualifying. Deng's goal is for England to field a competitive entry at the 2012 London Olympics.

In the process, Deng got a taste of what it's like to be a marked man on the basketball court. He was expected to carry his British teammates, while unfriendly nations plotted to stop him. Deng still managed to average 24.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.

"You kind of attack the game in a different way when you're coming on the court and you're the main guy," he said. "I think that helps you kind of concentrate and raise the level of your game.

"Believe it or not, I felt in European basketball there's more contact. I saw a lot of different defenses -- double-teams, box-and-one. They had guys staying in a zone, which I think is really going to help my game."

Now that he's back at Bulls training camp, coach Scott Skiles feels Deng has shown enough improvement to spend a few minutes playing shooting guard this season. A year ago, Skiles treated that suggestion as a ridiculous idea.

"It was a ridiculous notion and now it's not," Skiles said. "Things change. Guys get better. They make progress. Watching him this summer, he made a lot of two guard-type movements and plays. If we can make it work a little bit, it allows us to put a very big lineup on the floor."