Matthew Dellavedova. Photo by Randolph B. Leongson/ INQUIRER.net
For someone who wasn’t supposed to make it, Matthew Dellavedova should be considered as a picture of success.
With a championship ring on his finger and a shoe line to boot, he has gone a long way since being undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft.
Dellavedova also had the golden opportunity to play alongside two once-in-a-generation players in LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
.@matthewdelly compares his time playing with @KingJames and @Giannis_An34 pic.twitter.com/lCgobm9pA7
— Randolph B. Leongson (@RLeongsonINQ) July 21, 2017
“I’m really lucky to have gotten a chance to play with them,” he said Friday during the official launch of the Peak Store at Robinson’s Place Manila in Ermita.
The Australian playmaker spent his first three years in the league playing back up for Kyrie Irving in Cleveland and also saw up-close how hard James works on and off the court.
“I was lucky enough to play with Lebron for two years and there’s a reason why he’s the best player in the world. He just works so hard every day, watching game tape, and I really learned a lot from him,” he said.
The Cavaliers went to two Finals during his stay there, winning the 2016 NBA Championship after battling back from a 1-3 deficit against the famed Golden State Warriors.
That experience, Dellavedova shared, truly helped him a lot when he decided to make the jump last year, leaving Cleveland to test his luck in Milwaukee.
With the Bucks, the 6-foot-4 point guard saw first hand the transformation of Antetokounmpo from an intriguing Greek prospect to one of the league’s top players tiday.
“Giannis is a really special guy. He just won the Most Improved Player and I think he could win that again next year because he doesn’t have the ceiling. I’m looking forward to his future,” he said.
Dellavedova also hopes he could see more Australian players roam the NBA.
“It’s a lot of fun having a lot of Aussies in the NBA,” he said referring to the Australian delegation that includes Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles, and Dante Exum.
“I think with Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, those Australian legends, that opened the floodgates for the rest of us to come to the NBA. Hopefully, we’ll have more to come.”