Malcolm Delaney: Face of the Hawks??

[Diesel]

Man, I miss Paul!!

 

Quote

Malcolm Delaney: I never really considered myself a rookie. I was a rookie to the NBA, but I had played professional basketball for five years, so I’ve been making money for five years and I played on every stage except for the NBA – from Euroleague Final Fours to Eurocup Final Fours to Eurochallenge Finals. A lot of the guys I played against were former NBA players or draft picks. Now, it’s clearly not NBA-level [competition], but I just felt like I had already been through a lot and gained a lot of experience. With all of the countries I played in, the crowds you face and the culture adjustment, that was a lot tougher than the NBA. When I come back here, it felt like I was back to normal. It felt like I had belonged in the NBA for a while, but I was just waiting for the right time. Last year was the perfect time for me to come back. Once I did return to the United States, it just felt normal again. But I couldn’t really consider myself a rookie if there are 19-year-olds who have been in the NBA for one year who can consider themselves a “vet” over me. I don’t really care about stuff like that though.

You got to the point where you had a bunch of overseas accolades and you were highly coveted by international teams. I know some guys who have gotten to that point and then just decided to stay overseas for good because coming to the NBA usually means a significant pay cut and a decreased role. Was there a part of you that considered staying overseas for good?

MD: Yeah, I definitely felt that way at certain points. Initially, my goal was to go overseas for one year just to make a couple dollars and then play in the NBA. I felt like I deserved to be drafted. I felt like I did everything I could in college to get myself to the NBA, but I just didn’t get there. So I was thinking I would get some money in the bank and then try to make it. But then after my first year [overseas], I came back and played summer league with the Detroit Pistons and they didn’t play me. It just felt like my game wasn’t appreciated here. After that, I was off the NBA. My agent told me, “Just get to the top of Europe and once we get there, these NBA teams will be calling us.” But, like you said, I started making a lot of money over there and I wasn’t going to come back here to be the third point guard on a team and make the league minimum when I could be making triple that overseas and be a star over there. I had other opportunities to play in the NBA and I definitely could’ve come over sooner, but I just wanted to wait until the timing was right for me.

What made this the right time and why did you ultimately decide to join the Hawks?

MD: Atlanta was one of the teams that really, really showed interest. Initially, I always told people that if I ever played in the NBA, it would be with San Antonio, Houston or Atlanta. Houston offered me my first NBA contract back when Patrick Beverley got hurt before the playoffs [in 2014], but my team in Munich wouldn’t let me out of my contract so I couldn’t come over. I’ll always appreciate Houston and respect that club. Daryl Morey is a great GM and he was definitely going to give me an opportunity to come in and play.

Then, when it came to San Antonio and Atlanta, those were the two offenses where that European style translates well and they bring in prospects from international play. Atlanta brought me in two years ago after my first year in Russia. I worked out with them for a few days, met with everyone, and they really wanted to sign me then. [Former Hawks general manager] Wes Wilcox wanted to bring me in, but the business side of things got in the way. There were some things they wanted to move around but they couldn’t and I had an expiring deadline on my contract where I had to go back to my overseas team if I didn’t have an NBA offer by a certain date and Atlanta couldn’t offer me that contract yet. That summer was rough for me, but then, Wes Wilcox and [assistant GM] Jeff Peterson came overseas to meet with me. They apologized for not being able to get that taken care of and said that if they had the opportunity to sign me the next summer, then I’d be in Atlanta. That was something I knew I had in my back pocket throughout my final season in Europe. I trusted Wes and I just followed Atlanta from that point on. Atlanta was always a city I wanted to live in, anyway, so it was really cool.

Is there anything that surprised you about the NBA?

MD: The biggest thing for me was a lot of the off-the-court stuff. To me, basketball is basketball. Clearly, the NBA has more skilled athletes and a ton of talent, but it’s still basketball. For me, it was more about the time management and handling your off-court stuff. Like when you get into a city, you can do whatever you want to do. In Europe, you’re almost treated like a college athlete. You have a schedule for everything; you have to eat dinner with the team every night, you eat breakfast with the team, you can’t go out… There are rules for everything. In the NBA, they treat you like an adult and it’s on you every night whether you’re prepared to play or not. That was the biggest thing for me. That and the fact that we play so many games that there isn’t a lot of time for practices, so getting into a rhythm is tough. If I had a bad game in Europe, I’m used to having practice to get my rhythm back. In the NBA, you could play a bad game and then have another game the next night or only have a walk-through before the next game. You just have to manage your time well and put the work in yourself.

 

[AHF]

What surprised me most about him last season was his inability to shoot.

[ATLSmith]

19 minutes ago, AHF said:

What surprised me most about him last season was his inability to shoot.

Agreed.  His jumper looks great and he hits midrange shots at a 44.5% clip.  I really thought that would translate into more consistancy beyond the arch, where he only shot 23%.

http://nbasavant.com/player.php?player_id=1627098

Hope he can make the leap this year.

[Diesel]

5 hours ago, ATLSmith said:

Agreed.  His jumper looks great and he hits midrange shots at a 44.5% clip.  I really thought that would translate into more consistancy beyond the arch, where he only shot 23%.

http://nbasavant.com/player.php?player_id=1627098

Hope he can make the leap this year.

Some guys are not beyond the arc guys.   Big Dog was that way. He had a great midgame but beyond the arc.. nope. 

[rd79]

His answers are inconsistent. He said he wouldn't come to the NBA as a 3rd stringer but the time he wanted to join the Hawks first, Jeff and Dennis were our point guards. Di he really believe to outplay one of them or was he already told that Hawks would part ways with one of them (what I doubt). So for me it seems he is completely okay with being a 3rd point as long he gets paid.

 

EDIT:

Quote

I wasn’t going to come back here to be the third point guard on a team and make the league minimum

It seems I first read this he wouldn't come back for being a third string or the league minimum, so that's my fault and he is completely okay if it's only one of this two options

Edited October 9, 2017 by rd79

[AHF]

12 hours ago, Diesel said:

Some guys are not beyond the arc guys.   Big Dog was that way. He had a great midgame but beyond the arc.. nope. 

He shot 40% from 3 in Europe.

[Ekyo]

different distance.

[AHF]

15 minutes ago, Ekyo said:

different distance.

A few feet means a drop from 40% to 23%?  I didn't expect the depths of his shooting inadequacies from distance.

That level of drop off isn't normal.

[bleachkit]

I thought he didn't make much of an impact for us last year.Maybe he'll be better this year.

[AHF]

8 hours ago, bleachkit said:

I thought he didn't make much of an impact for us last year.Maybe he'll be better this year.

Can't be worse.