Official Game Thread: Timberwolves at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

To The Academy, For Your Consideration: “Thelma & Louise: A New Era” (2023) [PG-13]

 

I am not about to drag out much more of your time by rattling on about my lonGTime pinata, the alleged collegiate athletics program up the road in Midtown, now that the head men’s hoops coach has been put out to Pastner. Then again, indulge me a little, and please tune in, once more, to the McDAAG Boys Game, a March Madness appetizer in Houston, around the close of this month.

One All-American team will feature a 6-foot-4 PG, Isaiah Collier, who overtook the top spot in the High School Boys’ class of 2023 this past summer. He hails from Wheeler High School. Yes, the Marietta institution of secondary learning that begat the Abdur-Rahims, Shareef and Amir (congrats again to KSU!), and Jaylen Brown. The MVP of last summer’s Curry Camp and the Under Armour Elite 24 game, Isaiah narrowed his college list down to Michigan, UCLA, USC, Cincinnati and, for a touch of local intrigue… Alabama.

Collier could’ve gone anywhere. Smile, Onyeka Okongwu, because he chose to head to your neck of the woods and commit to being a Trojan Man. He won’t be there long, not if all goes as planned. After all, Isaiah’s projected to be the top PG off the NBA draft board in 2024.

Not far behind him in the one-and-done draft logs, on the opposing McDAAG team, will be a 6-foot-6 kid from the east side of Interstate 285. Covington’s Finest, Newton High’s Stephon Castle, may not get to follow Isaiah in pursuing the dreams of his namesake as a flashy point god, not if his 6-foot-6 frame continues to grow up and out. The gold-medalist swingman from Team USA’s U18 boys’ squad remains a probable lottery selection in 2024, once he departs the college program he selected.

Of course, I’m talking about UConn. Let’s see that toothy grin, Tyrese Martin! Castle just picked your Big East school over offers from a slew of SEC finalists, including Auburn, Arkansas, Florida and, just to keep interest a little closer to home, UGA. Nique, you tried your best, I’m sure.

2022’s top Georgia high-schooler, bulky 4-Star point god Bruce Thornton of Alpharetta’s Milton High just made it on the Big (Ump)Te(e)n All-Tourney team in his first season at THE Pretentious State University in Ohio. To his credit, Thornton at least had some ACC finalists on his final recruiting list. The Hokies, Wake Forest… crack a smile, John Collins! Your guys almost had him!

I don’t mean to cast aspersions on local yokels like Lance Terry and Kyle Sturdivant, kids who transferred into Tech after things didn’t work out elsewhere. Nor Miles Kelly, the Stone Mountain native from Gwinnett’s Lilburn High who earned consolatory ACC Player of the Week honors during Pastner’s push out the door (Kelly may feel inclined to voluntarily follow the same exit, soon). But as NBA pro-level prospects, these weren’t kids we could see coming from, virtually, a mile away.

Regrettably, it continues to appear as though the ATL’s bumper crop of surefire NBA prep athletes continues to bump Atlanta’s top on-paper college pit stop right off their recruiting lists, assuming they get visits at all by the program who wanted its players to “Get Old and Stay Old” in White and Gold. All things considered, they’d much rather head four blocks up the street and toil for Overtime Elite.

I don’t have answers, pertaining to the ongoing travails of the Yellowing Jackets in wooing top amateurs. But I do have ongoing fears, related to the winged-animal professional club that plays to its south.

Jami Gertz is on TV showing off the latest peachy-colored gear now available for rabid consumption at the HawkShop. Meanwhile, on this same past Saturday night, our somewhat road-weary Atlanta Hawks team was getting plundered by that Jaylen Brown, and his merry band of lengthy snipers. I keep hearing about academics being a hindrance over on The Flats for drawing quality blue-chippers. But how does Cal-Berkeley, and USC, get the taps into the Wheeler High-to-NBA pipeline that our Institute of Technology does not?

Out goes Brown, Malcolm Brogdon and the Celtics. In comes Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS North in MSP). Wash, rinse…?

At least Edwards (past 3 games: 28.7 PPG) stayed in-state for his mandated sabbatical. But how did this kid from Atlanta’s Therell and Holy Spirit Prep highs get past Pastner like a ground ball past Buckner? Did Tom Crean learn how to Dougie or Wobble or something? I digress, as usual.

Can you tell how much NBA teams -- the staffs, the players, the fans -- absolutely adore their ATL-area players? Walker Kessler plugs into a long line of Utah rim-pluggers and looks like he’s been there since the days of Eaton and Postertag. Since the preseason, Bucks players were pleading with Villa Rican Jae Crowder: “Just stay in shape and chill! We’re coming to get you!”

Beating Miami in overtime yesterday, Wendell Carter (via Buckhead’s Pace Academy, and Duke, natch) shows promise for Orlando, when he, like half their roster, can stay healthy. Word to Chuma Okeke. The third-straight Georgia Gatorade POY, after Kessler and Sharife Cooper, to cross state lines for Okeke’s Auburn, the svelte Jabari Smith is proving to be worth the wait down in H-Town, just now stringing together some early-career nights for the down-and-coming Rockets.

Then, there’s Edwards, who has vaulted from first-overall pick to All-Star in three seasons. Coming off tough home losses to the Sixers and Nets, his T’Wolves (like ATL, 34-34; 3.5 games from 4^th in the NBA West, 3.0 games from 13^th) have work to do if they plan to become the first Minnesota team since 2004’s Conference Finalists to reach consecutive postseasons in the currently muddled NBA West. The hopeful prospect of Karl-Anthony Towns (sprained calf) returning from his months-long injury should aid in that regard.

But the Wolves have been hungrier on the road of late, notching W’s in both visits to the Crypt in LA, then following up the win over the Lakers the ensuing night with a game in Sactown that didn’t end with Kings fans beaming. They’ve had two off-nights to lick their wounds following Friday’s OT loss to Brooklyn. Having scored a modest 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting in his last visit home, a 134-122 loss to the Hawks back in January 2022, Edwards understands this is his time to shine, as will be next week’s rematch in Minnesota, with his Georgian friends and family watching from afar.

Go up the road to The Battery, where DeKalb kid and Stockbridge High alum Michael Harris is challenging other Bravos to become the Next Big Thing in the Major Leagues. Son of a Falcon Grady Jarrett, out of Rockdale High, wisely stiff-armed Tech Football in favor of ACC “rival” Clemson. But the Falcons were clever enough to reel him in, and he’s been holding it down for A-Town as well as any D-Lineman the Dirty Birds have had in ages.

Behind Grady, at least for now, there’s another I-285’er turned Clemson star, Westlake High’s A.J. Terrell, a perennial All-Pro threat in the Falcon backfield. If that’s not your favorite flavor of football, did you see North Atlanta High’s Caleb Wiley tearing up the pitch in Charlotte for Atlanta United this weekend?

I can’t foresee what the future holds for the current core of Hawks now under coach Quin Snyder’s watch and led capably in the backcourt by Trae Young (career-best 32.0 PPG vs. MIN; 53.2 FG% in last four games) and Dejounte Murray. What I do believe is that if there is to be some raving, ready-for-prime-time success in the future, a pledge prospect at the Alpha Tau Lambda basketball fraternity is likely to be at the center of it. A homegrown kid who is aggressively pursued via the draft (go, Landry, go!), and even more aggressively developed (go, Kyle, go!) to be ruthlessly competitive under his team’s True To Atlanta banner.

If we can surge up the draft boards and mix it up with other trade partners to claim a De’Andre Hunter, we should be able to do the same assertive packaging to nab an Edwards, or a Jabari, or swing a deal for a Wendell. There will be ample opportunities for Landry Fields’ front office scouts (go, Teague, go!) to give our local up-and-comers a strong look-see ahead of the coming NBA drafts.

Please, let’s not wait until they’re past their primes (hey, Lou!) and sell-by dates (howdy doody, Dwight!) to trot them out before Hawks crowds as “Atlanta’s Own!” Like Newman’s Own, that local-kid-makes-good label can turn a bit saucy (‘sup Josh?), particularly given the veneer of Atlanta Sports lore. Some kids may struggle with the pressures of repping their home NBA club, then trend more toward wilting than becoming the next Wilt (how you been, Randolph?). But prepping the kid for proudly repping his city, and skirting all the potential pitfalls that task entails, ought to be baked into any modern-day development of the whole player.

Embracing All Things ATL is swell when it comes to just surfing swag, and Swiss Family Ressler has proven quite good in that department. My worries come with the suspicion that there’s at least one tyke growing up in Hawks Country, having a ball at these games at State Farm Arena, dreaming of NBA glories, hitting a timely growth spurt, then blazing a trail toward a decades-long, Hall of Fame career with the Trail Blazers. Or, worse, the Hornets! Whew. Cold sweat. Along the way, kid, can you at least swing by North Avenue for a minute and grab yourself a Varsity Frosted Orange?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Bogi's back is still tight (DNP vs. BOS, questionable for today), so if Saddiq Bey needs a camel clutch or something to stay loose lemme know. The Killer B's have been shooting that thang!

Also questionable on the other side of the ledger is Rudy Gobert, having soldiered through the fourth quarter and OT during Friday's loss to the Nets despite a sprained ankle, as well as Austin Rivers (back spasms). Towns may be back in time for the March 22 rematch with the Hawks, but not for tonight. The Hawks frontcourt should be ready to deal with the wondrous play of Naz Reid and the

slow

stylings

of

Kyle

Anderson.

~lw3

[Guest]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

I am not about to drag out much more of your time by rattling on about my lonGTime pinata,

Whew... I thought you were about to go off on me!

[NBASupes]

Battle of the mids

[djjob23]

Refs scheduled for tonight's game and the career team records (with rankings based on career records of all teams they've reffed) when they are reffing during either a Hawks or TWolves game:

• Crew Chief: Scott Foster #48 - MIN (13th 52-49), ATL (14th 55-54)
• Ref: Mitchell Ervin #27 - MIN (24th 10-13), ATL (22nd 12-15)
• Umpire: C.J. Washington #12 - MIN (23rd 7-11), ATL (10th 14-11)

I have the Hawks getting their 6th straight win against the TWolves tonight! However, with these assigned refs and the issue Hawks have when the other team has starters out, there's a 24% chance that an upset occurs tonight.

GO HAWKS!!!

[Gray Mule]

Two teams in perfect balance.  Both have won and lost half their games.  Someone will go over one and the other will go under one.

After our last terrible game Hawks are expected to be able to bounce back.  Different officials, I  believe.  Question:  How are these Wolves at shooting the three ball?  After all, the Celtics doubled up on us from afar - They hit 20, we hit 10.  Can't allow that tonight.

Defend home turf!  GO ATL HAWKS!!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

Thanks lw3. I got screwed in 2K! I’m in a funk. I’m still learning Q’s offense! 
 

Go Hawks!

[JayBirdHawk]

BigBangBogi

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

After tonight's game we do not play again until Friday vs GSW.  3 days of practice time for Quin and the team.

[Guest]

This is our 7th game in 11 days.

[Peoriabird]

John has to stop taking that 3 point shot

[MaceCase]

That Clint block on Gobert was filthy 

[JayBirdHawk]

Murray has such a high loose dribble and he cannot run a fast break...geez!

Clint with the  on Goberated!

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Murray's defense is becoming a HUGE PROBLEM folks.

[JayBirdHawk]

Move the ball and get back on defense!!!!

[Peoriabird]

Murray has been god awful!!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

down 14 already 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

What is wrong with Murray?

Was he at Magic City last night?

[MaceCase]

6 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Murray has such a high loose dribble and he cannot run a fast break...geez!

Clint with the  on Goberated!

Watching Murray only makes me appreciate what Trae does at PG even more.