The Hawks agreed with Malcolm Delaney on a two-year, $2.5 million contract last week. The former Virginia Tech player went undrafted and spent the past five seasons playing in Europe before getting his chance with the Hawks.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution while watching the Las Vegas Summer League, Delaney spoke about long route to the NBA. Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q. What do you think of your opportunity with the Hawks?
A. I'm happy. For me, I took the long route. I just work hard so now it makes me appreciate it a little bit more, having a team really believe in me and actually want me to come in an contribute to the team. It's what I wanted.
Q. And this is a good situation for you with them needing another point guard?
A. They've been following me for two years. I came in last year and worked out for them and met with everybody. I thought it was going to happen last year. Wes came to Barcelona and told me whenever they had the opportunity to clear some space that they would bring me in. I'm just happy it all happened.
Q. Did that help in the back of your mind knowing at least one NBA team was interested?
A. When I was in Europe, I was just focused on trying to be the best player over there. I wasn't focused on the NBA. As soon as teams started showing a lot of interest, the real interest that I like, it definitely motivated me to do more because now I knew everybody was paying attention to me.
Q. Did you keep up with the Hawks during the season?
A. This was basically one of the only teams I watched. Before this season, I didn't watch any NBA basketball until the playoffs. Once last summer and all that stuff happened, this year I followed them a lot. We kept in contact. I got the understanding and feeling for what they do. It's real comfortable for me.
Q. What do you think you bring?
A. I'm very versatile. I can play with anybody and I think that's the best thing about my game. I can shoot the ball, distribute, but I feel like I am a play-maker. Whatever they need me to do. If they want me to get 10 assists and not shoot, I can do that. Or I can score 20. For me, I just adapt to whatever the coach needs. I think that's the biggest thing for me.
Q. You say it was a long journey to the NBA. Can you describe the process of not being drafted, going overseas and now getting to the NBA? Did you ever get down that you would get this chance?
A. No. After my senior year in college, I thought I deserved to be drafted but I wasn't. I had a good agent. We came up with a plan for 3-4 years. He said we want teams to come after us. We don't want to chase the NBA. After my third year overseas, I started seeing it. I had an opportunity from Houston but my team didn't let me out (of contract). The plan started working. I got more comfortable with it and started following the plan.
Q. I hear (Hawks assistant general manager) Jeff Peterson got the better of you in high school. True?
A. I couldn't beat him, man. I always scored a lot of points. He was on a good team. He was actually a good point guard when he played. We've had a good relationship since high school.
