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Wilkins was a megastar during his 17-year NBA career. In addition to making exceptional, athletic plays at breathtaking speed, the third overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft out of the University of Georgia, had career NBA averages of 24.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest. While Wilkins was a bright light before and during the Jordan-era of basketball, Wilkins tells Scoop B Radio, that he has a list of some of his favorite fellow small forwards “Oh man, you’ve got some winners in there,” he shared. “I always go with the guys who were there before us, you know? Elgin Baylor. Doctor J, Larry Bird. Bernard King, myself. Of course, LeBron. [Alex] English, [Adrian] Dantley. You got Mark Aguirre; that’s who people don’t even talk about. But you know when you talking about top guys like LeBron in this era here being the best small forward he’s apart of ANY conversation of one of the greatest small forwards EVER.”
Things worsened for Dominique Wilkins and his family once the McDonald’s All-American left the ACC. “First of all, if you were a great player in the state of North Carolina in those days, you don’t leave the ACC. It was like against the law to leave the ACC,” Wilkins said. “So, I signed a letter of intent with North Carolina State. The University of Georgia came out of nowhere. ... The thing is that I didn’t want to be compared to anyone. So when I made that decision, all hell broke loose. I got all F’s on my transcript, paint poured on my mom’s car, and I had a cross burning in my yard.”
Dominique Wilkins when he decided to leave North Carolina and play for the University of Georgia: ‘When I made that decision all hell broke loose. I got all Fs on my transcript, paint poured on my mom’s car and I had a cross burn in my yard. And I got arrested the next day.
Andy Greer and Rick Brunson are Thibodeau loyalists and have been with him for years. Brunson, especially, is his muscle, someone who will say whatever he believes with vigor behind it. Darren Erman has been in New York since Thibodeau took over. Mo Cheeks is joining the staff for this season. He and Thibodeau have never before worked together, but Cheeks is a Hall of Fame player, a veteran assistant with head-coaching experience and, more relevant to this topic, a longtime friend of Thibodeau. In some ways, the answer to this question may be Dice Yoshimoto, a second-row coach without the résumés of the aforementioned but who sticks to Thibodeau like glue. Yoshimoto was a video coordinator for Thibodeau in Chicago and went with him to Minnesota before taking an assistant job under him in New York. During the year Thibodeau took off between the Timberwolves and Knicks, he got Yoshimoto a job at University of Georgia, working for Thibodeau’s friend, Tom Crean.
In his first game in the G League, Alvarado had a game-winning steal. In the playoffs, Chris Paul caught him hiding in the corner and shouted at him to "get your ass back," but Alvarado got him with the GTA two games later. Alvarado also forced Paul, his favorite player, to commit two eight-second violations. "I'm sitting on my couch at home doing the Tiger Woods fist pump, basically," Saint said. Saint had seen that same ball pressure in Birmingham, and even in college, when he was an assistant coach at the University of Georgia and Alvarado was at Georgia Tech. "He was really annoying," Saint said. "And I just remember him. He just makes everything that you try to execute on your own offensive end very difficult. He just blows things up, messes up timing. He just plays fierce. It's a level above hard. It's fierce."
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Justin Kubatko: Anthony Edwards is the first player from the University of Georgia selected with the first overall pick in the #NBADraft. The last top-five pick from Georgia was Dominique Wilkins in 1982.
The Brooklyn Nets have signed forward/center Nicolas Claxton, the 31st overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, to a multi-year contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released. Claxton (6’11, 215) spent two collegiate seasons at the University of Georgia (2017-19). As a sophomore, the forward/center averaged a team-high 13.0 points, 8.6 rebounds (third in the SEC), 1.1 steals and 2.5 blocks (10th in the nation) while adding 1.8 assists in 31.6 minutes per game on his way to being named to the All-SEC Second Team. Overall, Claxton appeared in 65 games for the Bulldogs, averaging 8.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.9 blocks in 23.0 minutes per contest. The 20-year-old finished his career ranked No. 8 on UGA’s all-time blocks list (123).
Marc Weiszer: Asked UGA's Nicolas Claxton if he may test the NBA draft waters. Will he talk to his father about it? "We don't know yet," he said. Coach Tom Crean said: "I'm in a great place with Nic. We'll just ride all of that out."
Michael Cunningham: Update: Wagner out, replaced by Maten (UGA)
Hawks draft workouts for Tues: Bluiett (Xavier), E. Brown (Oregon), Frazier (Tulane), Stewart (USC), Wagner (Michigan), Wilkins (Virginia).
— Michael Cunningham (@MCunninghamAJC) June 4, 2018
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Kris Willis: Atlanta Hawks training camp toHawks to open training camp September 29 at UGA begin peachtreehoops.com/2015/9/15/9329…
For the third straight year, the Hawks will open training camp on the campus of the University of Georgia. The Hawks will hold media day in advance of the 2015-16 NBA season on Sept. 28. They will be at Georgia for the next three days from Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
But Popovich just ... wouldn't ... leave ... the Sagers ... alone. "He called me four or five times in the next month to check on me and my dad," said Junior, and remember, Pop and the Spurs were in the heat of the playoff run. Pop's timing was downright surreal, too. "He called the day of my sister Krista's graduation from the University of Georgia, because my dad couldn't make it," said Junior. "And this was before a game against Portland."
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