NBA LIVE 2009: CHICAGO BULLS v UTAH JAZZ
Venue: O2 Arena, London Date: 6 October Tip-off: 1930 BST
Coverage: Watch live on the BBC red button and BBC Sport website (UK only) or listen on BBC Radio 5 live
By Martin Gough
**British basketball star Luol Deng is relishing playing in front of a home crowd when his Chicago Bulls face the Utah Jazz at the O2 Arena on Tuesday.**Deng, whose family live in Croydon, began his basketball career in Brixton before moving to the United States.
“The fans are going to be excited and I’m going to be excited,” he said.
“A lot of fans here are going to have seen me since I was nine years old and it will be great to see joy in their eyes to see me in a Bulls jersey.”
The 24-year-old says he is “80% fit” after a knee injury that saw him miss the end of last season and ruled him out of Great Britain’s European Championship campaign.
“*This is a bit different being an exhibition game, compared to being regular season *”
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan
He expects to be fully back to form by the time the regular season begins on 29 October. Tuesday’s fixture is the second of eight pre-season games.
“It’s a big year for me, a big year with the team,” Deng told BBC Sport.
"We’ve still got things to improve on. The NBA season is so long you get better during the season.
“The Jazz are a great team, well coached. We like to go out and run, they like to slow down the game a little. It should be exciting.”
With British-born guard Ben Gordon having left Chicago for the Detroit Pistons, Deng is the undisputed star of the Bulls line-up.
A year ago, he signed a six-year contract worth a guaranteed £44.5m.
Big names on the opposing side include US Olympian point guard Deron Williams and Russian small forward Andrei Kirilenko.
However, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan expects both teams to use as many of their 18-man squads as possible to help decide their final line-ups for the start of the season.
“This is a bit different being an exhibition game, compared to being regular season. We’ll try to get as many guys in the game,” Sloan told BBC Sport.
"We still have decisions to make as to who is going to stick with the team. We try to give everyone a fairly different shot to fulfil their dream of playing with our team.
“I’m sure Chicago is probably in the same boat. We’ll see how that works out during the game.”
Sloan, 67, coached the Jazz against the Bulls in successive NBA finals series in 1997 and '98, although Chicago prevailed in both.
He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last month along with two players from those series, John Stockton of the Jazz and Michael Jordon of the Bulls.
606: DEBATE
Who do you think will win in London
Kirilenko said memories of those series are still strong in Salt Lake City.
“Everybody remembers matches with Michael Jordon, John Stockton, Karl Malone, the finals of '96, '97,” he said.
"Fans still imagine that battle so I think it’s going to be a fun rematch.
“We’ll take it seriously. We’re looking to win the game and prepare ourselves for the season. It’s not like we’re going to take it easy. We’ll fight and play hard.”