“It’s a long season”.
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It’s obviously a big deal and glad to see he’ll get his shot. He went from zero to nine pre-draft workouts after his agent, Austin Walton, convince teams he was an National Basketball Association quality defender. He did extensive time in the D-League.
“A lot of hard work. I think it was a very emotional night”, Bazemore said. “My mom’s here, my dad’s here”. “He’s such a great competitor and I think sometimes he’s got to slow down and let it come to him”.
Bazemore averaged 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game in his season with the Hawks.
“Eighty one games left, though”, Bazemore said. They’re both high-energy players known for their defensive prowess, though Bazemore is 3 inches shorter and may have trouble matching up with a few of the small forwards he’ll be facing in what is essentially a three-guard lineup. As did Budenholzer’s comments about their use.
“I guess I need to call him on his way home”, Budenholzer quipped after practice Monday.
At the offensive end, Bazemore’s game is still a work in progress. In all, he finished with five points, two assists, and a rebound in 18 minutes of action.
He wasn’t drafted in 2012 after his college career at Old Dominion. He landed a spot with the Golden State Warriors Summer League team, which turned into a contract.
To take nothing away from Detroit, Atlanta simply looked out of sync and unsure of their collective team identity in Tuesday’s regular season opener.
The decision to put Bazemore in the starting lineup was not a surprise following training camp and exhibition games.
Bazemore was something of an understudy to Carroll, who bounced around the league before finally getting his big break in Atlanta.
Bazemore struggled, but as Korver joked with reporters after the loss to Detroit, “Do you remember the first game last season?”
Swingman Lamar Patterson, a 2014 second-round pick who played last season in Turkey, claimed the final roster spot. Bazemore said. “First game goes by and then we go 17-0 January…. We all got a lot of getting better to do”.
Considering where he started from, Bazemore has already shown tremendous progress.
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