THE FLATS – The NBA announced last week a return to action for 22 teams, concluding a regular season that ended abruptly on March 12 on July 31 and then conducting playoffs, all at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. Derrick Favors is the only one of the former Yellow Jackets in the NBA who will be a part of this restart, as his New Orleans Pelicans team is one of the 22 teams gathering at Disney.
This week’s #ProJackets Report compiles more of the latest news, stories and social media posts on former Jackets and their activities of the past week.
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LATEST NEWS
Last week, the league’s board of governors and the players’ union both approved plans — a 22-team, eight-game wrap-up to the regular season followed by a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed and playoffs — to resume the 2019-20 season on July 31 inside Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. Read more
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OKOGIE CONTINUES TO SUPPORT MINNEAPOLIS COMMUNITY
Josh Okogie continues to be a thoughtful, dedicated, articulate public voice and community servant in the Minneapolis area in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
He recently spoke to HoopsHype about what he has learned by getting involved with the movement and ways that basketball fans can support similar efforts. You can watch the entire video streaming via YouTube:
The former Georgia Tech star took part in a food drive in the Minneapolis area late last week. Kyle Rudolph of the Minnesota Vikings helped put this event together and recruited Okogie, Minnesota Gophers Football coach P.J. Fleck, Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter and several other professional and college athletes. Read more
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FAVORS AND PELICANS GET A SHOT AT THE PLAYOFFS
From The Athletic: Pelicans fans finally got their wish on Thursday when the NBA Board of Governors voted to resume the regular season in late July and give New Orleans a shot at making the postseason. They’ll be one of 22 teams headed to Orlando’s Disney World, with each team scheduled to play eight regular season games before the start of the playoffs. The Pelicans, who are currently 3.5 games out of the eighth seed, will be one of six teams fighting for the final playoff spot in the West.
Writer William Guillory wrote that at the time of the shutdown … “Their new starting five with Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball and Derrick Favors was the best five-man lineup in the NBA.”
Favors is one of four members of the Pelicans who have experienced the NBA playoffs. Read more
Elsewhere, The Bird Writes site examines a potential path to the playoffs for the Pelicans with the eight scheduled regular-season games remaining.
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THAD YOUNG HAS MIXED EMOTIONS AS BULLS’ SEASON ENDS
From NBCSports.com: Thaddeus Young has played in 51 career playoff games, including for the eighth-seeded 76ers when they upset the top-seeded Bulls in 2012 after Derrick Rose tore his left ACL. While praising the NBA for its handling of an unprecedented time, the father of two young sons offered broad perspective about the return-to-play format. Read more
In his end-of-season press conference, Young also spoke about the challenges of raising his children during the current unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Young, 31, is currently bunkered down in his family’s new home in Texas with his wife, Shekinah, and two sons. Parsing through the realities of a racially unjust world with his sons, to hear Young tell is, has been a balancing act. Read more
Listen to Young’s entire end-of-season media call
OKOGIE KEY PART OF WOLVES REBUILD AS OFF-SEASON OFFICIALLY BEGINS
From The Athletic: “There is a reason that Josh Okogie is one of just two Timberwolves to survive the great roster purge of 2019-20 … Looking at Okogie, one can see glimpses of the kind of wing stopper that every team needs … During discussions with three different coaches in the league over the last few weeks, Okogie’s name was introduced to the conversation unprompted as a player that would be vying for All-Defensive Team votes sooner than later.”
MITCHELL SIGNS WITH JAPANESE TEAM
Niigata Albirex of the B1 League in Japan signed 26-year old former Georgia Tech power forward Charles Mitchell (203-122kg-93). In his sixth season as a professional player, Mitchell played most recently at Bank of Taiwan in Taiwanese SBL league. In 30 games he had very impressive stats: 18.5ppg, 12.0rpg, 2.7apg and 1.3spg in 2019-20 season. Great year as he was named to Asia-basket.com All-Taiwanese SBL Honorable Mention and League Player of the Week. Mitchell also spent pre-season at Ferro (La Liga) in Argentinian league. He has played on three different continents (Europe, Latin America and of course North America). Mitchell has played previously professionally in Holland, Czech Republic (BK Olomoucko) and The Basketball Tournament (Angel’s Atlanta). The list of the past achievements is quite long as among others his team made it to the La Liga Semifinals in 2019. Mitchell was also voted USBasket.com All-UBA Center of the Year in 2019.
Well, that was fun…
As heard on @wccoradio & Wolves Radio Network. pic.twitter.com/yWTdBWZP5R
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) October 24, 2019
.@CallMe_NonStop hustle.@JLayman10 dunk.
WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT IN A TWEET?!?!
🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺 pic.twitter.com/4IRickwolD
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 3, 2019
a couple steals and a LOUD assist for @CallMe_NonStop
Tonight’s @ShareCareInc Share of the Game pic.twitter.com/gyaPtyCqRs
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 30, 2019
.@CallMe_NonStop‘s passport says Nigeria, but that Euro is NAAAAAASSSSTTYYYY 😱 pic.twitter.com/g4i8vRIkQV
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 28, 2019
Among Point of Attack defenders, here are the players guarding All Stars with the highest percentage of their time on defense:
1. Holiday
2. Ferguson
3. Murray
4 White
5. Brogdon
6. Beverley
7. Harris
8. Joseph
9. Okogie
10. PaytonData from: https://t.co/JNxSDRxD8V pic.twitter.com/jdoGeouSFN
— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) June 6, 2020
MORE #PROJACKETS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
My #BlackBoyJoy ❤️ pic.twitter.com/4ukebe7gYJ
— Shekinah Young (@Mrs___Young21) June 6, 2020
This is where it starts for change…. 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 #GoVote pic.twitter.com/3XngsYOOUG
— Thad Young (@yungsmoove21) June 2, 2020
This is what it’s all about! #RebuildMinnesota pic.twitter.com/KkO3k5cOl8
— Josh Okogie (@CallMe_NonStop) June 5, 2020
To all the fans in Minnesota, I appreciate you all!! Trust me when I say this, the best is yet to come!! https://t.co/x7Xq4J0Hzi
— Josh Okogie (@CallMe_NonStop) June 4, 2020
#PROJACKETS IN THE NBA/G LEAGUE IN 2023-24
| PLAYER | DATA | NUMBERS | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|
 | JOSE ALVARADO Team: New Orleans Pelicans Number: 15 NBA Experience: 3rd year Years at Georgia Tech: 2017-21 Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y. Status: Active | 6-0, 179 lbs 2023-24 Stats 7.1 ppg 2.3 rpg 2.1 apg 41.2% FG | Record: 49-33 Standing: 7th place, -8.0 GB Streak: L1 Last 10: 5-5 |
 | JAMES BANKS III Team: Maine Celtics Number: 5 G League Experience: 3rd year Years at Georgia Tech: 2018-20 Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. Status: Active | 6-10, 250 lbs 2023-24 Stats 5.3 ppg 4.7 rpg 1.5 bpg 54.2% FG | Record: 21-13 Standing: 2nd place, -1.0 GB Streak: W1 Last 10: 8-2 |
 | MICHAEL DEVOE Team: Memphis Hustle Number: 10 G League Experience: 2nd year Years at Georgia Tech: 2017-21 Hometown: Orlando, Fla. Status: Active | 6-4, 183 lbs 2023-24 Stats 13.9 ppg 3.9 rpg 3.1 apg 47.4% FG | Record: 15-19 Standing: 12th, -9.0 GB Streak: W1 Last 10: 3-7 |
 | DERRICK FAVORS Team: Windy City Bulls (G League) Number: 14 NBA Experience: 12 seasons Years at Georgia Tech: 2009-10 Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. Status: Active | 6-9, 265 lbs 2023-24 Stats 6.2 ppg 4.7 rpg 0.7 bpg 66.7% FG | Record: 15-19 Standing: 13th place, -7.0 GB Streak: L1 Last 10: 4-6 |
 | JOSH OKOGIE Team: Phoenix Suns Number: 2 NBA Experience: 5 seasons Years at Georgia Tech: 2016-18 Hometown: Snellville, Ga. Status: Active | 6-4, 213 lbs 2023-24 Stats 4.6 ppg 2.6 rpg 1.1 apg 41.7% FG | Record: 49-33 Standing: 6th place, -8.0 GB Streak: W3 Last 10: 7-3 |
 | THADDEUS YOUNG Team: free agent Number: 30 NBA Experience: 16 seasons Years at Georgia Tech: 2006-07 Hometown: Memphis, Tenn. Status: Active | 6-8, 235 lbs 2023-24 Stats 4.2 ppg 3.0 rpg 1.7 apg 60.2% FG | Record: 49-33 Standing: 6th place, -8.0 GB Streak: W3 Last 10: 7-3 |
