One of the biggest returns going into this season that a few good basketball minds had circled on the calendar was today’s matchup between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. Luol Deng’s return back to the Windy City.
During a timeout in the first quarter, the United Center played this video to honor Deng and his time in Chicago.
The United Center was on their feet giving him a standing ovation but Deng didn’t acknowledge the crowd or the video playing above, he was just focused on his team and the game at hand, typical Luol Deng. It was a game in which he finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists as the Heat grabbed a 96-84 win over Deng’s former team in Chicago.
When the Bulls lost Derrick Rose last season, they prepared for the worst and started to make some salary cuts and one of them was Luol Deng. He was shipped out of Chicago and sent to Cleveland in a trade, then when he was a free agent this summer, he signed with the Miami Heat, who had a little extra LeBron James money to spend, to tune of a 2-year, $20 million deal.
Deng played 10 seasons with the Chicago Bulls and will go down as one of the greats in Bulls History. He did it all for Chicago, went through the highs and lows of the post-Jordan era and saw how the business really is at the end of his tenure with Chicago.
Bulls ended up getting Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic with the money they saved in getting rid of Deng along with some other draft picks. The city, players, staff and coaches never forgot what he meant to them.
Following from Sean Highkin of NBC’s Probasketballtalk.com
“It felt weird, really strange,” Deng said after the game. “Something that I didn’t think would happen. I thought I would play here for my entire career, but it didn’t work out that way. Just definitely strange. A lot of emotion and I’m glad it’s over. For me it was a tough game.”
“I didn’t get a chance to see it,” Deng said. “I got to hear it playing and I didn’t want to look up because I knew I would get emotional. I just kind of looked at what play we were going to be running.”
“He had a great run here,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “He handled himself great. Not only a great player but a great person, and he was great in our community. It’s the type of person that he is.”
“He’s a player we tried to get for 10 years knowing that we would never have a chance to get him,” added Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “Just the fabric and the DNA of what he brings to the table we thought would fit with our culture and our organization, and he’s been every bit what we anticipated.”
“It was a very emotional game for him and you heard it from the fans as well,” said Spoelstra. “There was a great response from the organization. As I got here, people asked me if Lu was on the bus and to wish him well. I’ve never had that. That’s why we recruited him so hard. It’s because of that type of person he is.”
At the end of the day, Chicago loved Luol and Luol loved Chicago. There was a story he told ESPN before the game that he saw the same valet in the stadium’s parking lot before the game and it was like he never left, the same valet he saw on his first day with Chicago. Deng also said he had no clue where the visiting locker room was and he never stepped in it before.
It’s hard to let a guy like Deng go, but it’s even harder to look back and appreciate and honor what he meant for the franchise.
