Deng is “one of the best” believes Korver

“I think if you ask any of those guys (Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony) who’s the last guy they want guarding them, it’s probably going to be Luol Deng because he plays so hard. He’s a really great player,” said Hawks wing man, Kyle Korver.

Korver was speaking on a range of subjects via a conference call to UK media ahead of the Atlanta Hawks’ clash with the Brooklyn Nets in January next year, when he took the time to promote his former team-mate.

Korver, is of course, well placed to discuss the merits of the Great Britain forward, having spent two years with him on the Chicago Bulls between ’10-’12, including a 62-win season that saw the Bulls reach the conference finals for the first time since the Jordan-years.

As the Bulls’ starting small forward, Deng was, and still is, an integral part of the team’s success and having seen the dedication that Deng has to improving his game, Korver believes the swiss-army knife forward deserves more praise.

“He’s been an All-Star the last two years and I think on top of that, I think he’s probably one of, if not the best, team-mates I’ve ever had as far as someone who comes to work every day. He does all the things he has to do to be ready for the next game; he watches film, he lifts weights, he ices, he comes back later at night and ices again, he plays an incredible amount of minutes – but still practices hard every day. There’s not a lot of players who are like that.

“He’s one of the most versatile forwards out there,” continued Korver. “Lu’s like a jack-of-all-trades type of player. There may not be one thing that he’s the very best at in the league but he doesn’t have a weakness.”

• The Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets face-off at the O2 in London on the 16th January 2014 with tickets going on sale, tomorrow, November 1st at 9am. Tickets for NBA Global Games London 2014 will be available at: www.theo2.co.uk/nba2014

(Main image – credit: NBAE/Getty Images)