THE FLATS – Josh Okogie and Karl Anthony-Towns are the only two Timberwolves left from the 2018 roster … Derrick Favors anchoring Pelicans’ turnaround … Chris Bosh is bothered by not making it into the Basketball Hall of Fame … That and more in this edition of the Georgia Tech #ProJackets Basketball Report.
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From Fox Sports North: In the short 19 months Josh Okogie has been a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, he has already had two different head coaches, been part of two significant franchise-altering trades and has had 30 different teammates. In fact, Okogie and perennial NBA All-Star Karl Anthony-Towns are the only remains of the 2018 Wolves’ roster.
“The fun part is me trying to readjust to the team that I’ve stayed on,” laughed Okogie while at the recent All-Star weekend, where he played in the Rising Stars game. “I think it’s kind of weird, I tell everybody all the time it felt like I got traded, too, because I’m in a whole new team as well. Like I said, the fun part is trying to readjust and to just learn about the guys and try and get used to them.”
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From the Pelican Debrief: The New Orleans Pelicans have rallied around their soft-spoken center, whose veteran presence has helped the young team through some tough times. Walk into any New Orleans Pelicans’ practice and you may not even know Derrick Favors is there. If not for his 6’10, 265 pound frame he would get lost in the sea of chatter and joke telling among his teammates. Coach Alvin Gentry joked in January that Favors had only spoken his 31st and 32nd word to him since the team acquired the center via trade back in July, but Favors presence has been felt by the young New Orleans Pelicans.
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From USA Today: Chris Bosh is not hiding his frustration about not being a finalist for this year’s enshrinement class for the Basketball Hall of Fame. The former Miami and Toronto forward released a video statement on social media Tuesday, using some version of the word disappoint — be it “disappointed,” “disappointment” or “disappointing” — no fewer than 15 times in 5 minutes.
Bosh was a surprising omission last week from the class of eight finalists announced by the Hall as still being under consideration for enshrinement this year, a list that included contemporary players Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. The class of inductees will be revealed in Atlanta on April 4 at the men’s college basketball Final Four, and the Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony is in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Aug. 29.
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Point guard Adam Smith (185-77kg-92, college: Georgia Tech) left PAOK Thessaloniki (A1). In 18 games , the 27-year-old recorded very impressive stats: 16.3ppg, 2.1rpg and 1.9apg this season. He also played 14 games in where he averaged remarkable 17.4ppg, 1.5rpg and 1.9apg. The last season Smith played at Basket Ravenna Piero Manetti (Serie A) in Italian league. In 33 games he had high stats: 24.0ppg, 3.9rpg, 2.9apg and 1.1spg. Great season indeed as he was voted to Eurobasket.com All-Italian Serie A2 Honorable Mention and League Player of the Week. The list of the past achievements is quite long as among others he was voted Eurobasket.com All-Italian Serie A2 Player of the Year and Eurobasket.com All-Italian Serie A2 Import Player of the Year back in 2017. Smith has played also professionally in France (Chalon/Saor), Turkey (Socar Petkim) and Italy (Orlandina Basket Capo d’Orlando and Orzinuovi).
