Official Game Thread: Rockets at Hawks -- The Season Opener!

[lethalweapon3]

What could possibly go wrong?

 

There were two future Basketball Hall of Famers, albeit honored posthumously. Two magnificent scorers and annual All-Stars, bound to have their jersey numbers one day lofted into arena rafters. Two teammates, sharing the stage, if not equivalently the spotlight, for your Atlanta Hawks. One, in a fit of probably drunken rage, had just bloodied the other’s nose.

Had a flustered Lou Hudson swung a not-so-sweet arm in the direction of veteran referee James Capers, Sr., landing instead with an elbow that gave co-star teammate Pete Maravich a mask of crimson as the latter attempted to restrain him, the fallout would have been loud and severe at a national scale.

Rather, it was Maravich wylin’ out in Houston, at Hudson’s nasal expense, and thus perhaps you’re just now hearing about it in 2022, Anno Dominique, at the outset of this brave new NBA season. Nonetheless, an onlooking young Rockets star, Rudy Tomjanovich, likely shook his head in astonishment upon witnessing the spectacle. Swinging hands and arms recklessly, with other players in the vicinity? Who does that?

A half-decade later, Capers the Elder would signal the first successful conversion of a three-point shot in an NBA regular-season game. But at this moment, in February 1974, this referee’s challenge was to dodge a foul flung by the league’s premier young scoring guard in his general direction, after he dared to whistle Pistol Pete for a technical foul. Hudson’s visage bore the bloody brunt of the fling from Maravich’s meathook.

The Atlanta Hawks’ gruesome disarray was officially on full display. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Tom Cousins could not have believed his good fortune in the early spring of 1970. The Hawks franchise he was able to pry from St. Louis just years before, bringing with them veterans like Richie Guerin (by then, serving double-duty as the coach) and talented up-and-comers like Sweet Lou Hudson, was a winning venture on the court and the reigning NBA Western Division champions (regular season, naturally), yet it wasn’t planting booties onto the wooden benches at Georgia Tech’s Coliseum.

Attendance was an especially vital factor for the NBA. This was an age where Televised Sports meant viewers tuning in on lazy weekend afternoons, in time to witness the agony of a downhill skier crashing spectacularly in defeat along the slopes, with events often on tape delay hosted by men donning yellow blazers in vivid black-and-white. This was also an age where a rival hoops league dared to siphon off fans, and talent.

At the outset of the brave new decade of the Seventies, college basketball’s most prolific all-time scorer was on the market, fresh off a celebrated and historic stint at Louisiana State. Will Pistol be the panacea for the NBA? Or the ABA?

San Francisco’s Warriors, eager to replenish its NBA talent base with former ABA defectors, used “future draft considerations” to secure the rights to Atlanta’s center Zelmo Beaty, who had jumped ship for the ABA in L.A. but was already suffering misgivings. The Dubs went on a losing spree to close out 1969-70, yet Cousins’ Hawks, unbeknownst to the general public, clung tightly to San Fran’s first-rounder.

The Warriors being the third-worst team in the NBA still seemed to place Maravich just beyond Atlanta’s reach. Besides, there was the matter of being outbid by the ABA. Casual poker player turned Hardee’s restaurant magnate Jim Gardner was putting on a full court press on Press, Pete’s head-coaching father at LSU, to get Pete to sign with his ABA franchise, freshly relocated from Houston to the high-school home of Pete and, coincidentally, Hudson, in the Carolinas.

Sensing Cousins’ interest, Gardner went so far as publicly threatening to pilfer even more Hawks for the ABA, including Hudson, if Atlanta dared to both acquire and sign Maravich. But Gardner proved to be too off-putting for Pete’s sake, the prized possession choosing to spurn the Carolina Cougars and have his dad negotiate instead with the NBA team that drafts him.

Pete had already stiff-armed any interest from Detroit, the league’s worst team, leaving the San Diego Rockets in pole position for Pistol. But at the last moment, San Diego elected to go with Tomjanovich, allowing Maravich’s draft rights to nestle neatly into Cousins’ lap.

The eventual next pick, Florida State’s Dave Cowens, could not glue booties to Atlanta seats, it was surmised. Pete Maravich, though? Absolutely. Here’s a pro-sports record $1.6 million multi-year contract offer, young man! Oh, and a pen.

This was huge. On the court, pairing two former Carolina prep standouts like Hudson and Maravich, together on the American Deep South’s sole NBA enterprise, was the type of chemistry you’d have to find in a Union Carbide lab. But this draw meant even more for Cousins, a developer by trade, who was competing with Peachtree Center’s Jim Portman to remake the future look, vibe and feel of downtown Atlanta.

Cousins’ grand scheme involved the once-bustling stretch of Marietta Street, west of Five Points. The Omni complex would feature a coliseum suitable for professional hockey and basketball, a massive office and hotel building, and indoor amusement including, if hockey wasn’t enough ice to cool one’s jets, a skating rink to draw visitors.

Across the street, a sprawling convention center complex was in the works, also developed by Cousins, with plenty room to grow around the tangle of railroad tracks a few parking levels below. The sports venue would be ready by the start of the 1972-73 NBA season. With this marquee signing, the Omni was destined to be known as The Place The Pistol Built.

Atlanta was just strategically shifted from the Western to Eastern Conference, and the NBA’s timing could not have been more apropos. No more wrangling with Wilt’s and Jerry’s Lakers at playoff time, nor would Kareem’s Bucks be standing in the way.

The sun was finally setting in the East, specifically in Boston, with the great Bill Russell having retired and the team withering under new ownership and John Havlicek’s on-court stewardship. Sensing blood in Boston’s bay and with a new coliseum of their own on tap, Long Island was actively conniving to do for the Celtics what L.A. had done for Minneapolis’ Lakers. Two NBA teams in New York’s metro, plus the ABA Nets? Who does that?

Atlanta had the backcourt of the future, bound to make waves as the new faces of the NBA, at least the East, competing for banners just ahead the opening of a new arena that would revitalize what Atlanta knew, back in the 19^th century, as its original downtown. The Pistol Palace!

This had to work out. This simply had to work out. How could it not?

Alas, the chemistry between Pete and Sweet, as with Pete and most of the other Hawks on the roster, proved more corrosive than amalgamating. Defensive stops, with Maravich on the floor, were few and far between. The elevated pace he enjoyed pushing as a collegian was not so advantageous in the pros, where players had now grown accustomed to the presence of a shot clock.

Atlantans generally were lukewarm to the flashy rookie guard. But the newcomers who bothered to buy tickets were vastly more interested in cheering for Pistol’s show-stopper theatrics than victorious team outcomes, straining the team atmosphere. Hudson, Walt Hazzard and the Hawks could have used more scoring punch at the wing. But Joe Caldwell, playoff scoring leader on the Hawks team that just reached the 1970 Western Division Finals, was miffed over the Maravich deal and made good on Gardner’s threat by jumpin’ to Carolina in the ABA before Pete’s inaugural 1970-71 pro season.

At playoff time, the Hawks and their rookie star could not contain Atlanta native Clyde Frazier, nor fellow Knicks guard d*ck Barnett. Inside, the tandem of Walt Bellamy and Bill Bridges were outclassed by New York rivals Willis Reed and Dave DeBusschere. Atlanta was swept at home in the 1971 playoffs, falling 4-1 to the top-seeded Knicks. Soon, it would be Boston’s turn to conclude the Hawks’ next two postseasons.

In a world still dominated by big men, 1971’s Rookie of the Year, the Celtics’ Cowens, was sorely needed. Boston (44-38) missed the 1971 playoffs only because they finished third in the Atlantic, and the NBA’s new division structure favored the Central’s second-place team, the Hawks, despite the latter’s lackluster 36-46 record. One could say Red Auerbach was not happy. But was he ever, really?

Atlanta would coast to that same 36-46 mark in 1972, Maravich hampered for a while by mono while struggling to score. Meanwhile, Boston surged to 56-26 behind Havlicek, Jo Jo White and Cowens, overtaking New York atop the Atlantic. While the Hawks managed to take two games in the ensuing six-game playoff series, their free throw shooting betrayed them, and they could not stop Celtic guards from arriving at the spots on the floor they craved.

With his grand plan now teetering, Cousins understood his team had to make drastic improvements. Out went Tom’s brother, Bob, as GM, plugging coach Guerin into the executive spot, at least for a year. They hired a no-nonsense taskmaster in Cotton Fitzsimmons from upstart Phoenix as the replacement head coach. Atlanta’s record flipped in 1973 to 46-36, with Maravich finally joining Hudson as an All-Star. But the postseason results proved to be largely the same against Cowens, that year’s MVP, and the 68-14 Celtics.

As the rejuvenated C’s were set to finally make a return to The Finals in 1974, the league had ended the funny business of second-place divisional teams qualifying for playoffs. With Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio surging in Buffalo, another second-place finish behind the Bullets in the Central Division wasn’t going to cut it, not for an Atlanta team regressing to 35-47.

Despite Maravich and Hudson each eclipsing 25 PPG and earning All-Star nods once more, by midseason, the dysfunction centered around Pistol was a bit too, shall we say, on the nose. An 8-5 season start and a jinx-worthy SI cover feature was followed by up-and-down stretches that concluded with a 24-point loss at the Omni to the Celtics, capping a five-game skid before the All-Star Break.

Pete was allegedly drinking both during halftime and after the fateful game in Houston, creating further distractions in the locker room and on the flight back home. Surly, you can’t be serious! In a bold strategy by Coach Cotton, Maravich was suspended indefinitely by the Hawks. How did it work out? Not great.

Bloodied but barely bowed, Hudson soldiered through part of the next game, a resounding win over the Bullets, before missing the next five. After the Hawks beat Pat Riley’s Lakers without either of their two scoring leaders, Maravich was welcomed back, just in time for the Hawks to get blasted in Philly, by a Sixers team that mailed in a 9-73 record the season before and seemed just marginally better.

The sports punditry, especially those in the big-city markets, guffawed at the floundering Hawks while taking dead aim with their ink at Pistol. He simply couldn’t win, despite his theatrics, under his father’s watch at Baton Rouge. Now he couldn’t win in Atlanta despite all that money thrown his way, and all that talent alongside him. Maybe, many inferred, he needs to be situated in a *real* pro sports town to succeed…

The burnout wasn’t just apparent on the hardwood. With his real estate collection around the already rusty and half-empty Omni looking more like a boondoggle by the day, Cousins was beginning to literally Flame out. TV revenue wasn’t making up for the un-budged turnstiles at the Omni’s hockey and basketball games. No one wanted any part of the hockey club, not even Ted Turner, who expressed eagerness to pick up local sports to fill the time slots on his local TV station. After all, there were but so many reruns of The Andy Griffith Show to go around.

Captain Courageous would eventually sail in to save the Hawks and Bravos in Atlanta. But not before Cousins had to face his most visible sinking cost, the increasingly pugnacious Pistol. With the 1973-74 season over, mere months after having to clean up a bloody mess, the Hawks wasted little time swinging back.

Sending the disgruntled Maravich back to the Pelican State, into the excited arms of the NBA’s expansion Jazz franchise, was an easy write-up for locals as the second coming of the Louisiana Purchase. Pete the Panacea would New Orleans’ issue now.

“This man has been quicker and faster than Jerry West or Oscar Robertson. He gets the ball up the floor better. He shoots as well. Raw-talentwise, he's the greatest who ever played.” Safely beyond arm’s reach from Maravich, and from the Hawks by 1978, the Lakers’ retiring Sweet Lou Hudson was free to speak his mind, with fondness and forlorn, about the former All-Star who mushed his co-star but couldn’t mesh with him.

Hudson’s dual-edged quote would grace the opening of a critical article in SI, in December of 1978, continuing with: “The difference comes down to style. He will be a loser, always, no matter what he does. That's his legacy. It never looked easy being Pete Maravich.”

Maravich, the LSU great, in the Superdome wasn’t enough to make the Jazz relevant in the NBA, nor keep Louisiana’s franchise from being shopped, then shipped, to Utah. The post-Pete-and-Sweet Hawks, under Turner’s watch by the mid-70s, avoided a similar westward shift, and while attendance at the Omni was a mixed bag, the ownership and management began making moves that helped engrave the Hawks as Atlanta’s NBA outpost.

Nearly five decades later, the Rockets, still representing Houston, are in town at the Omni’s successor, State Farm Arena (Welcome back, Squawkfam! 7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL. AT&T SportsNet in HTX). The current ownership and management regime for the Hawks faces a new, but familiar, prime basketball objective: make it look easy being Trae Young.

That’s why 2022 All-Star Dejounte Murray (9.2 APG, 4^th in NBA 2021-22, just behind Trae’s 9.7) is here to grace Atlanta’s backcourt, alongside the All-NBA 3^rd Teamer in Young, last season’s league leader in compiled points as well as assists.

More a product of his resilience and reliability, Trae also ranked first in total turnovers, but on a 43-39 club that, true to head coach Nate McMillan’s form, finished with the fewest turnovers per game anyway. Further stifling opponents’ abilities to compile buckets off turnovers, Murray (2021-22 NBA leader in steals) has the quickness and dexterity to make defensive plays on opponent transitions, a veritable necessity with cheap take fouls now virtually off the table.

Dejounte also led his otherwise lackluster Spurs team, and all traditional NBA guards (sorry, Luka) in defensive rebounds. Theoretically, he can make it simpler for Trae (4^th in 2021-22 for Usage%) to cross halfcourt without needing the ball in his capable hands.

Murray’s Spurs finished second last season in per-game assists, while joining Young’s Hawks among the league’s bottom-five in per-game TOs. His addition should accentuate Atlanta’s top-flight offensive efficiency (115.4 team O-Rating in 2021-22, tops in the NBA East, 2^nd overall) while patching up some of the errors in judgement and intensity that had the Hawks bottom-five on the defensive end (113.7 D-Rating, 25^th in NBA, ahead of HOU’s league-worst 116.4).

Atlanta guards, without Murray last season, were a boon for the league’s most efficient roll-man finishers (NBA-high 66.9 eFG% and 1.31 points per P&R roll-man possessions, league-low 4.0 TO% on these plays). Second in the league with Phoenix (1.24 roll-man PPP) and fourth in the league with Washington (1.20) last season, reserve Aaron Holiday serves as an ample understudy, he and his brother Justin returning to play for more tutelage under McMillan’s watch.

Getting jackrabbit John Collins to value avoiding foul trouble, double-double machine Clint Capela to finish around the rim while also getting back above 55 percent on free throws, and energizer-bunny Onyeka Okongwu to stay healthy from the outset can only expand on the exploitation of roll plays, now with Dejounte and Aaron in tow.

The Hawks ranked second behind the since-evaporated Jazz in P&R ball-handler frequency, but interior field goal conversions left much to be desired. Murray’s mid-range and elbow-shot mastery will aid in rectifying that for Atlanta’s offense, his daggers blending with the paper-cut effects of Trae’s trusty paint floaters to doom opposing defenses.

But with guards capable of penetrating and creating off the dribble, for themselves or anyone, the forwards need to be able to spread the floor. This is where “DeJohndre” is as crucial as “Dejountrae” for advancing Atlanta’s fortunes upward. As was once the case with a highly-drafted Marvin Williams, Atlanta’s freshly extended DeAndre Hunter has a chance to vault Atlanta’s postseason prospects into the stratosphere with a long-awaited star turn.

The Hawks (37.4 team 3FG% in 2021-22, 2^nd in NBA) bid arrivederci to Danilo Gallinari and Kevin Huerter, two of the top perimeter shooters, as a consequence of deals for Dejounte and Justin, respectively. Bogdan Bogdanovic returns, but the Serbian wing comes off a second consecutive offseason having to address knee issues. As usual, the only thing that can thwart a deadeye rookie of AJ Griffin’s caliber is McMillan’s will.

Hunter shot a career-best 37.9 percent on threes last season, but his interior shot-making subsided (47.4 2FG%, down from 58.2% during a more injury-riddled 2020-21). Atlanta needs to rely on him and Collins (36.4 3FG%, down from 39.9 in 2020-21; career-worst 61.0 TS%) to be more balanced finishers, inside and out, at the starting forward spots. To a lesser extent, second-year pro Jalen Johnson will need to make strides as a backup big to account for Gallo’s departure.

The presence of Murray, the Holidays and occasional two-way wing Jarrett Culver, with Hunter, Collins, Capela and Okongwu, allows for better blanket defensive coverage in Coach Mac’s lineups, essential to turn around last season’s lottery-quality 113.7 defensive rating (5^th-worst in NBA; HOU’s 116.4 ranked the worst).

From Reggie Theus to LaPhonso Ellis, to Glenn Robinson and Antoine Walker, the Hawks have had a history of reeling in players whose star-level peaks turned out to be well behind them, in hopes of placating their franchise players. This time feels different, certainly from the Pete and Sweet era, if only because Murray and Young, each repped by Klutch Sports Group, have sought each other’s company. Dejounte didn’t need much convincing, neither about the potential long-term fit with Trae, nor about the appeal of playing to Atlanta crowds in hopes of watching them grow.

This “Dejountrae” coupling ought to work out. It simply has to work out. How could it not?

By the spring of 2026, when a Hawks fan hoofs it onto Dominique Wilkins Way, she or he will be sharing the street with those rooting for Atlanta Hopefully Still United and the Dead-Money Millionaires down the road at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Whether they are happy or sad about the trajectories of their pro teams, Hawks owner Tony Ressler hopes to have a place for them and another specific set of sports fans, ready to go, when they cross the street.

Specifically, a live-work-cheer joint that stitches the Olympic park together with Atlanta’s South Downtown, right at his arena’s doorsteps. The never-ending effort to build out Cousins’ dream of a developed Gulch, Ressler has partnered with the City of Atlanta and another Cali-based development firm to make Centennial Yards a reality, collectively plunging over $5 billion in investment money into the 50-acre mixed-use urban utopia.

While 2030 once seemed like a reasonable goal, a little thing called the 2026 FIFA World Cup promises to bring the biggest international influx Atlanta has seen, over the course of several weeks, since the Centennial Olympic Games wrapped up 30 years before it. Now the first major phase has been accelerated, dovetailing with Richard Ressler’s efforts to revive South Downtown and Atlanta’s urgency to make Underground functional again.

Concrete, asphalt, and steel cannot make a sports team palatable, to say nothing of good. But a certifiably championship-competitive club can make all the difference for the immediate viability of a new development to become a revenue-churning destination. Word to the Battery.

This isn’t Federal Express, and the Hawks do not absolutely, positively have to deliver overnight. But it is literally in the Resslers' best interest that Murray proves worthy of his next negotiated contract taking him into, and beyond, 2026. Also, that Young, possibly entering his walk season by 2026-27 in an NBA world infused by new media revenue, remains amped enough to improve his own game and make the pairing with Murray pay dividends long-term.

While this collective is not at the Gold-Ball-or-Bust phase this season, the tipoff is about as favorable as one could ask for the Hawks. The first five games are quite winnable, although another backcourt pairing, Dejounte’s fellow Rainier Beach alum Kevin Porter and Jalen Green, are out to prove tonight that the future is now for Houston (20-62 last season). Relative to Atlanta, many teams have more injury question marks, and internal-fragmentation exclamation points, to deal with as they kick things off.

While the NBA East is more daunting a field than in seasons past, a return of the Southeast Division banner to the Farm is an attainable goal, likely to help assure that a Play-In game or two would not be necessary. The defending champions and the team that handed Atlanta its 2022 postseason ouster, the Miami heat did not do demonstrably much in the offseason to enhance their standing.

No matter the ultimate record, Hawks fans deserve, for once, a regular season that starts reasonably strong and grows stronger as it reaches its conclusion. Here’s to few extended losing streaks, even fewer pandemic disruptions and nebulous injury stints. Most importantly, here’s to a season that is disarray-free. No internal strife featuring lead players directing pointed fingers, or worse, at each other, while the coaching staff skates on thin ice.

I just want my Atlanta Hawks to chain together a couple seasons that, from beginning to end, are bloody good. Not bloody bad. If any noses wind up bleeding along the way, they should belong to cheerful fans packed in seats along the top rows of our majestic downtown arena.

Players socking their teammates in the face? Who does that?

 

Thank you Squawkdonors! Fight Deke Fight! Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Related web links on Hawks Past, and Atlanta Future:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1970/04/06/merger-madness-and-maravich

https://from-way-downtown.com/2021/10/27/pistol-pete-maravich-fires-back-1975/

https://www.si.com/nba/2014/10/23/si-60-curry-kirkpatrick-pete-maravich-no-one-can-cap-pistol

https://www.thesportshistorian.com/the-story-of-the-atlanta-flames-as-told-by-owner-thomas-g-cousins-2018-jim-weathersby-all-rights-reserved/#:~:text=Atlanta icon Tom Cousins owned,the Atlanta Braves in 1973.

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/centennial-yards-development-mostly-complete-world-cup

 

~lw3

[NBASupes]

Hate I gotta use VPN to watch this game 

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Atlanta had the backcourt of the future,

Traejountaevu 

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

But was he ever, really?

Smokin a stogie he looked content but that’s about it.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Despite Maravich and Hudson each eclipsing 25 PPG and earning All-Star nods once more, by midseason,

Could this be our backcourt this year. 25+ and all stars ️? 

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

a veritable necessity with cheap take fouls now virtually off the table.

Thank goodness.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

but interior field goal conversions left much to be desired.

No bunnies we gotta flush those opportunities.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

“DeJohndre” is as crucial as “Dejountrae”

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

As usual, the only thing that can thwart a deadeye rookie of AJ Griffin’s caliber is McMillan’s will.

He’s ready to play 15 min now! 12.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

This “Dejountrae” coupling ought to work out. It simply has to work out. How could it not?

Hope so!

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

2026 FIFA World Cup promises to bring the biggest international influx Atlanta has seen, over the course of several weeks,

That’s gonna be sick.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

While the NBA East is more daunting a field than in seasons past, a return of the Southeast Division banner to the Farm is an attainable goal,

Yes sir! Let’s get it!

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Miami heat

Boo!

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

I just want my Atlanta Hawks to chain together a couple seasons that, from beginning to end, are bloody good. Not bloody bad. If any noses wind up bleeding along the way, they should belong to cheerful fans packed in seats along the top rows of our majestic downtown arena.

From your lips to God’s ear.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Players socking their teammates in the face? Who does that?

 

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Deke Fight! Let’s Go Hawks!

Lethal you slay us every year with these awesome game threads! Thank you sir! 

Get well Deke.
 

Go Hawks!!!

 

[Guest]

Amazing write-up, as always!

Thanks so much.

Go Hawks!!

[JayBirdHawk]

It's Game Day!!!

At the stroke of midnight @lethalweapon3weapon dropped it - nice!

Let's Go Hawks!!!

[Spud2nique]

 

.  

[Spud2nique]

2K Hawks by 14.

Trae 30.

Collins 16/15

Clint 7/22/4

Go Hawks!!!

 

Give AJ some burn Nate the kid can come right in a play, he’s one of those dudes.

[Final_quest]

Things I will be watching:

- Number of minutes where both Trae and DM are off the court

-Trae off the ball

-Intensity and energy level, especially on defense

-JJ, AJ, and Holiday bros. How much time will they get on the court and who they play with?

-Collins and Hunter involvement in the offense

-How much switching will we see on defense?

-Crazy overreactions on Hawksquawk!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

7 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Hate I gotta use VPN to watch this game 

I'll take advantage of Bally+ free 7 day trial, then make a decision going forward.

 

[lethalweapon3]

Plenty of side stories abound with the Rockets in town. There's the familiar face coming off the bench to spell Alperen Sengun:

Quote

Bruno Fernando spent two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks at the start of his NBA Career. 

The majority of Fernando's time was spent as a spectator from the sidelines. But Atlanta is where Fernando learned one of the most influential lessons of his career.

"[Clint Capela] told me once, 'every time you go into a new situation, look around and see what's missing,'" Fernando said. "Then ask yourself, 'if you can add that, then bring it to the table.'"

When the Houston Rockets acquired Fernando at the trade deadline from the Boston Celtics in February, he put his mentor's words into action — ironically for the same franchise where Capela began his career five years ago. 

https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/words_of_wisdom_helped_bruno_fernando_find_home_with_rockets/s1_17031_37959078

There's the kid who wanted to be the #1 pick in the draft (that other guy will be in town on Friday), but gets to kick off his official pro career back where it all began:

Quote

 

Jabari Smith Jr. will return to the basketball court Wednesday night, just in time for the Houston Rockets 2022-23 season opener against the Atlanta Hawks.

"I got to rest my legs a little bit — that's a plus," Smith said. "It hurt not being out there competing with my teammates. But it was fun watching them. I was still around practicing and learning while I was out."

... Smith stepped onto the foot of Bruno Fernando at practice, which sidelined him for two weeks. 

But instead of having jitters ahead of his official NBA debut, Smith will feel at home inside the State Farm Arena. While draped in Rockets gear, Smith will be playing 40 minutes from his hometown of Fayetteville, Georgia. 

 

https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/homecoming-jabari-smith-jr-houston-rockets-season-opener-vs-hawks

KPJ and Jalen Green will try to outdo the Dejountrae duo today, as Rox coach Stephen Silas fields similar questions about how much staggering we'll see. ATL prep stars like Jabari seem to soar up draft boards every year, and Sterling "Scoot" Henderson will be another NBA lottery prize in 2023. KPJ hopes to avoid that lottery linkup, if for no other reason than he goes by the same sobriquet:

Quote

Um, not necessarily like last game they played together most of the time, there was a time I think, it was the third quarter where I took Scoot out earlier than Jalen, or maybe the second quarter. I took Scoot out earlier than Jalen. Um, so it can depend game to game and I am really conscious of their rhythm, so I dont want to break their rhythm, but I also wanna make sure that they’re, uh, able to play their best which is you know, not 48 minutes.

https://www.thedreamshake.com/2022/10/16/23407651/update-from-houston-rockets-practice

 

10% of surveyed GMs felt AJ Griffin was the top draft steal, but another Rockets rookie, taken one pick later, drew even more votes. The latter will get plenty of burn after standing out in Summer League and preseason, and hopes he'll get chances to show those who passed him up what they're missing. One former Rockets first-overall pick has an idea:

~lw3

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I'll take advantage of Bally+ free 7 day trial, then make a decision going forward.

 

i didn't know it was available already?

[lethalweapon3]

No surprise but Bogi remains out.

Rocket reserve Jae'Sean Tate (sore ankle) and yet another rookie, TyTy Washington (sprained knee), are listed as out ahead of tonight's matchup. Second-year pro Daishen Nix (probable, sore back) won a G-League title with Houston's affiliate in Rio Grande Valley and may find some playing time in place of Washington, depending on the mid-game margin.

 

~lw3

[AHF]

What an opening gameday thread!

[shakes]

woke up and wished my wife a happy Hawks opening night day.   Someone remind me to text her later this morning and wish her a happy 9 year wedding anniversary as well.

 

Gonna celebrate by going out for an early dinner while the DVR works on the game and then back home to watch the game.  Gonna tell the wife that if she wants anniversary sex we can squeeze it in during the halftime show (unless its the asian lady who balances 1000 plates on her head while she's on a unicycle...not missing that!)

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I'll take advantage of Bally+ free 7 day trial, then make a decision going forward.

 

Houston doesn't have Ballys

[Diesel]

15 minutes ago, shakes said:

woke up and wished my wife a happy Hawks opening night day.   Someone remind me to text her later this morning and wish her a happy 9 year wedding anniversary as well.

 

Gonna celebrate by going out for an early dinner while the DVR works on the game and then back home to watch the game.  Gonna tell the wife that if she wants anniversary sex we can squeeze it in during the halftime show (unless its the asian lady who balances 1000 plates on her head while she's on a unicycle...not missing that!)

Mine too!!

[Guest]

Gonna' watch the game with my son (another big Hawks fan) up here in Chicago.
One of these days I need to go watch a game with Shakes sometime!

 

[JayBirdHawk]

I feel like a kid on Christmas!  I'm leaving work early to get to The Farm for gate opening time. Hit up the Hawks shop, the kiddo will want something, grab some grub then enjoy.

GO HAWKS!! 

 

[shakes]

17 minutes ago, LongTimeFan said:

Gonna' watch the game with my son (another big Hawks fan) up here in Chicago.
One of these days I need to go watch a game with Shakes sometime!

 

wait...are you my father?    

 

Agree on the second part...maybe we should go all out and do it at the UC?   

 

Monday, Jan 23 & Tuesday April 4....hmm.    Wish there was one on a weekend.  Not a huge fan of going to a game on weekday now that I live in the suburbs.