Malcolm Delaney's stint in the NBA was a rather short one, playing only two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before choosing to sign with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association this summer, leaving what he's classified as a weird time playing basketball in his home country.
In an interview with Sports DNA, Delaney was asked to rate his experience in Atlanta from 1-10 — giving an eyebrow-raising, but honest answer.
“Ahhh, probably it would be a 5. To be honest, I didn't enjoy playing basketball,” said Delaney. “My first year, it was weird for. Like I told EuroHoops, when I came to Atlanta the GM wanted me there. I am not sure how much the coach wanted me in Atlanta.”
“We went into the season with the team having only two point guards, so I had to play. I was playing well. After the All-Star Break, I wasn't comfortable with the role in the second half of the season. You know, Tim Hardaway started playing well and I didn't have the ball on my hands. So basically I just sit in the corner. Anybody who knows me, knows where I am at my best, when I play pick n' roll, when I am able to put myself in a rhythm. I can't just sit in the corner shooting 3s. That's not my game. So the second half of the season, I didn't really feel comfortable and in the end they brought in an older guy (Jarrett Jack) and played him over me. He wasn't playing better. It was the first time of my career, where I didn't play.”
Delaney clearly has some sour grapes that he's yet to turn into wine, still upset that his NBA stint was wasted by a poor fit with the Hawks. Coach Mike Budenholzer was a heavy believer in developing Schroder as the team's next point guard, but the chain of poor performances and the recent battery allegations turned that relationship to ashes, as both men parted ways with the organization.
“Going into my second year, I thought I was going to have a better opportunity. The coach had told me that he was looking forward to seeing me improving, and getting even better. So I thought that the opportunity was wide open,” Delaney recalled. “Dennis (Schroder) and Bazemore had guaranteed minutes and everything else was wide open.”
“My approach during the summer was getting back to being myself. I was very aggressive in the summer. Talk to any assistant coach and he will tell you. I was probably the best player in the team. That's how I approach the summer. I had a good summer. Even going at preseason, I had a good one and I thought that I was going to play more minutes, I was going to have bigger role in the team because we weren't that good. The first game of the season, I didn't play. I played like 11 minutes. So for me it was all bad. And I asked for a trade last season, but it ended up not going through. I didn't have fun playing last year. I wasted a season after all, it didn't help me at all.”
The Virginia Tech product is likely betting on himself to have a rousing year in China in hopes of another NBA stint, but at 29 years of age, the window is closing very quickly — giving him slim chances to make this one count.
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