Erik Spoelstra: Luol Deng a great fit for Miami Heat
When LeBron James left the Miami Heat in favor of a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat acted quickly. They re-signed the rest of their key free agents with one exception, Ray Allen. They also struck a deal with former Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls’ forward Luol Deng to take James’ spot in the lineup.
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Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra believes Luol Deng is a great fit for the Heat.
“Lu brings so many of the things that we like in this organization, which is why we thought he’d be such a great fit and why we recruited him so hard,” Spoelstra said via Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “[We like] his defensive mentality, his toughness, his resolve, his ability to make multiple efforts defensively, his ability to guard multiple positions and, offensively, we feel like he’s a very underrated player. We like the things he brings to the table on that side of the floor. He’s really active without the ball, we think he’s an underrated shooter and he does a lot of intangible things on that end of the floor that we like.”
Luol Deng obviously isn’t going to fill LeBron James’ shoes but he can still be a very solid player and was a nice addition by the Heat that could keep them at the top of the Southeast Division.
Luol Deng averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field, 30.2% from three and 79.1% from the charity stripe. Over the course of his 10-year career, Luol Deng has averaged 16.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 45.7% from the field, 32.9% from beyond the arc and 77.3% from the free throw line.
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