The Miami Heat roster added a new member just several minutes away from the season opening of NBA last Wednesday.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra shared information about the recruitment of Luol Deng during the offseason.
According to Spoelstra, the deal was "just a shot in the dark." It happened when he and Heat's team president Pat Riley were heading back to Miami from Los Angeles, but they decided to drop by Chicago to meet Deng all of a sudden.
"We were just flying back and we said, 'Hey, we'd love to get up with you in Chicago,"' Spoelstra narrated, as reported by Sun Sentinel. "So we re-routed our plane and sat down with him for an afternoon on the way back to Miami. We gave him our best recruiting pitch."
Fortunately for them, their efforts did not go to waste since Deng realized that he also wanted to play for Heat after their three-hour recruitment meeting.
"I knew it from playing against [the Heat] and being around it but also I think it helped the way they pursued me and the way they recruited me," the veteran forward said. "It is what it is. At the end of the day, I'm here. I liked what they were saying and what I was hearing. "
Deng will have to make a lot of adjustments now that he is with the Heat, but his presence in the new Heat roster will definitely aid Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade to win games after LeBron James left to return to Cleveland Cavaliers.
So far, adding Deng to the team seems to pay off. Just looking at his stats during Wednesday's game against Washington Wizards, he definitely contributed to the team's first win for the season, wherein the Heat won 107-95.
