Totally unknown in Europe until 2004, Gelabale blossomed at Madrid under the tutelage of coach Bozidar Maljkovic between 2004 and 2006.
He scored a crucial three-pointer in Real's improbable rally in Game 5 of the 2005 ACB Finals.
More importantly, although nobody knew “Mike” when “Boja” recruited him, he started 23 of 34 regular season games for his ACB debut season.
He was always the defender assigned to guard the opponent's top offensive threat.
He earned his first start ever with the national team at EuroBasket 2005 and went on to become a regular starter, mostly because of his defence and ability to make the right choice on offence.
Gelabale (which means, phonetically: “I’ve got the ball”) was an important player in France’s rally for a bronze medal during EuroBasket 2005.
Drafted by Seattle in 2005, he decided to go there before the end of his Real Madrid contract and that annoyed Maljkovic so much that the Serbian coach benched him at the end of the 2005-06 season.
Mickaël started to find his place in Seattle during his sophomore season, but a very bad knee injury during March 2008 put his NBA dreams in jeopardy.
After almost two years out of basketball, Gelabale came back to his beloved Cholet club last season and helped them win an improbable championship trophy in early June.
He has just signed with ASVEL for the upcoming season, but a come-back to NBA business is still in the back of his mind (and the NBA clauses concerning his contract).
