It was his dream. Well, of course, as it probably is for almost any basketball players of the dream: the NBA! He has realized him. Derrick Walton played in the North American professional Basketball League for the Miami Heat. 16 Times in the season 2017/18. Then the dream for the Americans was over. In any case, for the time being, because it is not worked out with the Chicago Bulls. Now Derrick Walton says: “I live in the Here and Now.” The Here and Now of the entrance of the training hall of Alba Berlin is at this moment in the street to protect. Walton talks about his first weeks in Berlin.
“I’m still finding my way,” says Walton. This is true for Berlin, which reminds him of Chicago. “It’s a big city, I like that. You can make a lot of and also undetected run around“. This is also true for the acclimatization in the new team. Once again, a new team. Only last October, he had landed at Zalgiris Kaunas. Series champion in Lithuania and a very prestigious address in Europe. At the beginning, Walton had times of its use. It went on and on. At one point he was almost out of it. Walton, who played at the University of Michigan, together with Moritz Wagner – formerly of Alba, today, Los Angeles Lakers, had problems with the transition to the European style of basketball. “In the meantime, I learned a lot.” His first Station in Europe is threatening to become a cul-de-SAC. “There were a variety of reasons,” says Walton, of the left on this issue.
He wanted to move on, the club let him go. A step back, the exchange was not in mid-February. Alba was in need after the severe knee injury of Stefan Peno action on the Position of the Point Guards. “The first idea was to get someone to fill the gap and give us a little bit helps. In this case, we have been waiting for but a bit and a Chance to get a player we really wanted to have,“ says sports Director Himar Ojeda. Also in the Knowledge that the new man in Europe is not a Cup, because he was already for Kaunas in the Euroleague active.
Walton’s first game for his new club was the most unhappy lost the Cup final in Bamberg. The 23-Year-old played just nine minutes, had two points and not noticed. In the dramatic final stage, he sat on the bench. However, there are simpler situations than the debut, without the large settling time in a Cup final in the enemy hall, with over 6000 enthusiastic Fans aground.
With and without Walton
In two competitions, Alba is required: In the Eurocup, the first of three quarter-final to play against Malaga (19 at Max-Schmeling-Halle) is next Tuesday, without Walton. And in the Bundesliga, with Walton. There it comes after the two-week international break game on Saturday when table 13. Frankfurt Skyliners (18 clock, live at Magenta sports). Two weeks, in which Walton had time, at least something is not settled: “to come in the Middle of the season, is easy. But ultimately, Basketball is the same everywhere.“
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The contract runs until the end of the season. At Alba, you have already made it clear that it should not remain: “My feeling tells me that he is a player we like to keep and would like to stay,” says sports Director Ojeda. And Walton? “I don’t look to far forward. I want to ensure that we have success.“ It is one of the Here and Now.
