<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Having seen his feisty pupil return from a long stint on the sidelines to comprehensively beat qualifier Pablo Cuevas in the first round of the US Open, Brad Gilbert has witnessed firsthand what it means to have the pressure of a nation resting on your shoulders. Which is exactly the position Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng is perceived to be in with British basketball, ever since he first pulled on the GB jersey this summer. But speak to anyone in Team GB, or even Deng himself, and they will rightfully insist that while his talent adds a priceless dimension to the game, one man cannot win the game alone.</p> Still, Deng will undoubtedly help to raise the profile of the game in this country, where currently Gilbert, a self-confessed basketball nut, may be one of the few people on this side of the Atlantic who could happily reel off the 22-year-old's stats.</p> And as fate would have it, while monitoring Murray's rehabilitation in Florida he was presented with the chance to shoot some hoops with Team GB and meet the big man for the first time.</p> There's no question about it, you're sport is only as good as your subject. You guys have Luol Deng so you have a little bit to work with, said the Californian.</p> Hopefully when you get somebody like that other people will say oh, I know him and I want to be the next him. When they can't see something then it's hard to be the next one.</p> Last season Sudan-born Deng was voted NBA sportsman of the year by his fellow players and he dazzled the basketball world with an outstanding performance in the play-offs against Miami Heat, which is why Gilbert is confident that it will not be long before the British public are chanting his name.</p> I've seen him play many times and he is very talented. He puts up about 16 or 17 points a game, rebounds and has a nice shot from about 19 feet from the corner.</p> He likes that 19-footer right around a foot from both sidelines. He can finish too, but he's a little thin we could put a little bit of beef on him.</p> There is a teasing twinkle in his eye as Gilbert uttered his last words, probably because Murray has often been thought lacking in the muscle department compared to the likes of French Open champion Rafael Nadal, but most likely because it would take a brave person to suggest otherwise to an athlete who hovers 6'9 above the ground.</p> Astonishingly Deng is not even the tallest member of the Great Britain squad, with Scotland's Robert Archibald a whopping 6'10 and Andy Betts a massive 7'1.</div></p> CLICK HERE TO OPEN</p>
