By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
For every American player that gets selected in the NBA Draft, there’s another who goes through the whole night without hearing his name being called. Some of them choose the long road of embarking on a career in Europe, even by signing with relatively small clubs in minor leagues or lower domestic divisions.
Even those who initially get signed by an NBA team can find themselves on the other side of the Atlantic at a point in their career for reasons that vary with each case. What, at first, may appear like a type of exile to some, can evolve into a blessing in disguise.
European basketball history is marked with American players who have reached true greatness with their overseas accomplishments. Ballers who have become a synonym for success and have even achieved legendary status with some of the most historic clubs in the continent. Yet these triumphs can be overlooked, disregarded, if not completely ignored in their own home country.
Malcolm Delaney doesn’t give a damn. And he believes that some of his U.S. colleagues who scattered in different teams all over Europe carry more or less the same feeling.
“As far as what people think, for me, I don’t care,” Delaney told Eurohoops. “I know what I’ve done in my career. I think the top players from the States who play in EuroLeague don’t care. I think we all share the same attitude. It’s not about proving people in the States wrong or anything. There are players who come over here who make more money than NBA players, who live better lifestyles. And they win. You can’t compare that to someone who goes and doesn’t play in the NBA, finish their careers broke. Just because they try to prove a stereotype about NBA players.”