Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng is the
winner of the Joe Dumars Trophy for the NBA Sportsmanship Award,
the league announced Thursday.
The award is voted on by players and goes to the player who
exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court - ethical
behavior, fair play and integrity. Deng was not called for a
technical foul or a flagrant foul this season.
The trophy is named after Dumars, a Hall of Famer who serves as
president of the Detroit Pistons and was the award's first
recipient in 1996. Ironically, Deng will be facing Dumars'
Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting this
weekend.
Deng also was the Central Division nominee a year ago. This
year, he received 2,027 points in the balloting to edge
Southwest Division representative Shane Battier of the Houston
Rockets, who received 2,005 points.
Other division representatives were Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher
of the Northwest (1,953 points), Los Angeles Clippers forward
Elton Brand of the Pacific (1,935), Atlanta Hawks guard Joe
Johnson of the Southeast (1,737) and Toronto Raptors guard
Anthony Parker of the Atlantic (1,737).
Deng, Battier and Brand all attended Duke University. Brand was
last year's winner.
The league will donate $25,000 on behalf of Deng to Pacific
Garden Mission, the oldest continuously operating rescue mission
in the United States. The NBA also will donate $10,000 each to
charities of choice of the other finalists.
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