Last Night, Carlos Delfino took part of an Argentinian midnight sports show called “Gol de Medianoche”. Alvaro Perez from the Mediocre Forever Blog did a great job translating the interview and focusing in the subjects related with the Toronto Raptors. After the show a journalist for Basquet Plus did a quick interview about his contract situation with Khimki, his shoulder injury and his desire to leave Russia and come back to the NBA.
He sounded very disappointed with the way Khimki handled his injury and his contract situation. They also owe him a good part of his salary from last year.
We all want you to be with the National Team but we know it’s very difficult.
I want to be there too, but it’s really difficult. Because it’s not something that I can decide, it’s a contract conflict, we’re trying to solve it but it’s not something you can decide by yourself. I’m waiting to see how things work out, maybe some doors that are right closed may finally open. You have to wait and see what happens, keep being optimistic and have patience.
Odds of you being with the National team from 0 to 100%?
It’s a 90-10 against.
Is it because you shoulder injury or just a contractual negotiation?
Basically it’s because of the contract. About the injury, I’m going to Italy tomorrow by my own to make some tests because the Russians didn’t even tell me where I should go and where I shouldn’t go. So, I’m making it on my own as I already went through the healing process. Then we’ll see what happens with the shoulder, I feel very good. Sometimes it bothers me a little but I’m OK. About the contract, it’s a big problem. Why? Well, let’s face it: Khimki isn’t paying me and the situation doesn’t seem to get fixed. If we workout a buyout I’d be in the same situation as last year: I didn’t have a contract and I couldn’t play with the National Team until I signed with a team. So it’s like going through the process one more time and it’s very disturbing because I can’t do what I want to, I can’t play where I want to.
What will be your ideal situation in 20 days?
Hope it doesn’t take 20 days because no one in the National Team would wait 20 more days for a player. Hope that when we’ll finally work something out, the doors of the National Team will still be open. I hope this gets resolved as sooner as possible, like 5-7 days.
The ideal situation for you would be: agree a buy out from the Khimki leave Russia and join Toronto?
Yes, Toronto or any other NBA team where I can have good minutes, where I can progress and develop as a player and basically where I can be happy while playing basketball. I’m not returning to play in the NBA with just any team, it has to be a good situation.
