Mauricio Codocea
04/29/2021 6:01 AM
ClarĂn.com
sports
Updated 04/29/2021 6:01 AM
Finally, the time came.
If so determined by
Mark Daigneault
, of course.
But regardless of the coach's decision, Gabriel Deck will be in a position
to make his
NBA
debut
on Thursday night, when the Oklahoma City Thunder faces the New Orleans Pelicans from 22.
Gone are almost 20 days of
intense and almost eternal waiting
.
Because on April 8 - it seems an eternity, especially in times of coronavirus, measurements and confinements - it was known that the Santiago native had everything arranged with the North American franchise and that he was cooking his departure from Real Madrid.
The first thing to do, then, was to start processing the visa to enter the United States, something that
took a few days longer than expected.
Only four days after the agreement between Deck and OKC was released was
the official announcement
, although the signature had arrived only
24 hours after the agreement was transcended
, so from there it is that the journey should be counted.
Welcome to OKC, Gabriel! @Gabriel_deck |
#ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/vcvk6os0vG
- OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2021
So, from that April 12 until he was able to step foot on the plane,
another nine days
passed
.
Meanwhile, Gabriel
did not despair
: he continued training, walking the streets of Madrid to clear himself as long as the pandemic allowed him and finally, on the 21st, he headed to the United States.
For
Tortuga, it
was time, before leaving for the Madrid airport of Barajas, to say goodbye at least for the next few weeks to Tamara, his girlfriend.
It happens that this first American trip
will only last the remainder of the regular phase
, which for Oklahoma will be
only 10 more games
, with the last scheduled on May 16.
Then the season will end for the team, as it will be time for the playoffs to begin and the Thunder are comfortably
13th out of 15 teams in
the West.
Then, the couple understood that
there was no point in making a big mobilization.
The joint move will remain, if all goes well and Deck continues in the team (which has the option of extending the contract for three more seasons), for the next season.
🇪🇦 🛬 🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/8k2EV9n5HX
- Team Tortu Deck (@teamtortuok) April 21, 2021
Meanwhile, after being received by
Rob Hennigan
, assistant manager
Sam Presti
, the forward or power forward retired to the Colcord hotel, located in the most central area of ​​the city.
Despite having the Myriad botanical garden, a picturesque space of almost 7 hectares, right in front of the accommodation, Deck
practically did not go out more than to train
: everything was to stay away from the Covid.
He had enough with the multiple daily tests: he had to go through six (one a day) before he was allowed any kind of contact with the rest of the team.
Meanwhile,
he trained alone, with the company of a single
technical
assistant
as allowed by league protocols.
This is how the week passed, between movements in the gym and on the court, in which he
began to acclimatize to no less than a triple distance
, which is different in the NBA compared to FIBA: in the basketball that Gabriel had been practicing, the range is 6 , 75 meters, while in the best league in the world the front part reaches a maximum separation of 7.24 meters.
In that sense,
Tortu
was accommodating to this change, one of the first that he noticed (logically since it was individual training) but
feeling very comfortable with the distance in the corners
, where it is almost the same in both formats (that explains, among other things, why Campazzo began his NBA journey shooting mainly in that sector).
Meanwhile, he
was watching all the games of his teammates and
becoming
familiar with the systems
, although he also allowed himself, every night that there was a game, to follow the actions of his friend from Cordoba who plays for the Denver Nuggets.
Curiously, when on Thursday night Deck has the opportunity to make his debut, Campazzo will
not be able to see him
: at the same time that the Santiago player faces Zion Williamson and company, the point guard will be playing against the Toronto Raptors.
But there goes Deck, ultimately, on the way to become, when he steps on the floor, the 14th Argentine in the NBA.
The long journey is behind us and it
is time to put on the shirt and go out on the field.
