Bulls eye Deng with pick No. 3

With league sources all but confirming he is a lock to be a top-five selection, former Duke basketball star Luol Deng has decided to close the door on his short-lived Duke career, becoming the seventh Blue Devil ever to leave early for the NBA Draft.

After meeting with three potential agents in Durham, Deng has officially surrendered his collegiate eligibility by hiring lawyer Leon Rose and has moved on to the pre-draft camp at Chicago's Moody Bible Institute, where he joins many of the other top prospects in this year's class. Following this week's exhibition, Deng will likely participate in individual workouts with the Chicago Bulls, the expansion Charlotte Bobcats and the Washington Wizards, who hold the third, fourth and fifth picks, respectively.

The Bulls appear to be the leading candidate to land Deng's talent, but trading at the top could alter the selection order significantly before the June 24 draft in New York.

"They have expressed a very high level of interest in him and excitement about him as a player," said law school professor Paul Haagen, who heads the committee that works closely with Duke student-athletes on their transitions to professional leagues.

When it became clear to Deng and his advising team--which also includes Associate Director of Athletics Chris Kennedy and associate head coach Johnny Dawkins--that Orlando and the Los Angeles Clippers have other prospects in their sights for the top two selections, Chicago, Charlotte and Washington emerged as the leading candidates.

"I would be surprised to see him fall below six and really surprised to see him below five," Kennedy said.

The Wizards, holding the fifth pick, have expressed a similar level of interest in Deng to the Bulls'.

"Washington has been very enthusiastic about him and has tried to be accommodating," Haagen said. "He has been very positive about the team."

Both the Wizards and Bulls have recently drafted high school players who have struggled to perform at the NBA level thus far. In a draft loaded with young talent, such recent history could impact the teams' decisions, but Deng has showed maturity both on and off the court.

"In the agent meetings, he was fully involved. He asked questions and was quite serious about the whole thing," Haagen said of Deng's preparedness, which has been a plus for prospective teams, notably Chicago.

Trying to gauge such attributes, the Bulls have questioned Haagen extensively on Deng and are expected to evaluate their potential selection individually soon after the pre-draft camp. Chicago employs highly scientific measures such as growth plate size, along with traditional factors, to assess prospects.

Deng initially wanted prospective teams to work him out at Duke, and the Bulls were prepared to do so. However, when Charlotte general manager Bernie Bickerstaff insisted that Deng visit the team's Charlotte facility and Haagen and others informed the versatile swingman that he would likely be a top-five pick, Deng decided to hire Rose instead of trying to retain his eligibility until the June 17 Draft withdrawal deadline.

For Deng, the decision to select the Philadelphia-based lawyer Rose over the other candidates likely came down to familiarity.

"He has known Mr. Rose's associate since he was 12," said Haagen, who did not disclose the name of the associate. "He felt comfortable that this was a person who had his best interests at heart."

Rose is also the agent for NBA standouts Allen Iverson and Richard Hamilton but has never represented a Duke player before Deng.