The Chicago Bulls star said: "It's still getting better.

 

"There's a lot of new players from Great Britain and we're trying to get ourselves on the map and show people we can play."

 

The 22-year-old averaged 24.5 points per game last summer as Britain gained promotion from Europe's Division-B, the first step in qualifying for the 2009 EuroBasket, the biannual European Championships, and the 2010 FIBA World Championship, events Britain must make an appearance in to prove they are good enough to compete in London 2012.

 

Deng said: "It's a big challenge for us.

 

"This is somewhere we haven't been before but we definitely feel like we belong so we don't want to go up and then come straight back down.

 

"We want to prove to a lot of people that we're here to stay."

 

Securing his commitment to play was a major coup for Great Britain coach Chris Finch, but he is not done there.

 

Although Deng has so far been unable to convince his London-born team-mate, Ben Gordon, to join the fray, Britain are pursuing the case of Kelenna Azubuike, the 24-year-old Golden State Warriors swingman who was born in London to Nigerian parents.

 

Azubuike was denied a passport in December but British Performance Basketball, which manages the national team, hopes to fight the decision.

 

Joel Freeland, a player drafted by Portland two years ago, has already been involved with the national team and is likely to get an increased role, while Finch is also looking at Dan Clark and Nick George, who play in Spain with Estudiantes Madrid and Alicante respectively.

 

Deng said: "We really believe that we've got a lot of young players coming up.

 

"We definitely believe we have a team that is good enough to compete.We have the players coming through and the competition to make the team is only going to get better and that is good for Great Britain."