Atlanta Hawks: D-League Update On Mike Scott and Taurean Prince
The Atlanta Hawks sent Mike Scott and Taurean Prince to the D-League recently. How have they been performing?
No player in the NBA wants to be sent to the D-League. Obviously, they’d rather be getting minutes in the NBA. Still, it can be a positive thing. Especially for a rookie like Taurean Prince.
This is Prince’s first stint in the D-League. In his first game with the Long Island Nets, he scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds on 7-for-14 shooting.
He also knocked down 2-of-5 from three-point range. Prince did this in a tidy 25 minutes of action. It was a solid performance, and one that shows why Atlanta was so high on him after draft night.
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He was even better on Monday afternoon. Prince finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds on 12-for-20 shooting. He again made 2-of-5 three-point attempts. He led all scorers, and looked like the best player on the floor. Despite his performance, the Long Island Nets fell to the Delaware 87ers 109-106.
Mike Scott is also on assignment with the Nets. Entering Monday’s game, Scott had already participated in four D-League games this season. In those four games, he was averaging 14.3 points and 4 rebounds per game on 45.5 percent shooting.
On Monday, Scott scored 18 points and collected 7 rebounds on 8-for-20 shooting. He shot 2-for-6 from three-point range. He was the Nets second leading scorer, tied with Yogi Ferrell.
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These are two players at different points in their career. Prince is trying to get his career off the ground, after being taken 12th overall in last summer’s NBA Draft. The Hawks are excited for his long-term potential, and are using this assignment to help his development.
With few minutes to go around in their rotation, sending Prince to the D-League gives him a chance to play regular minutes.
Scott, however, is an NBA veteran. The 2016-17 season is his fifth in the NBA. Being sent to the D-League after four seasons as a regular rotation player has to be disappointing. Despite that, this is an opportunity for Scott to find his shooting stroke in a less stressful environment. If Scott starts shooting near 40 percent from three-point range again, I imagine he’ll sneak his way back into the rotation. You can never have too many shooters.
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The Nets play again on Wednesday Jan. 4. Whether or not Scott and Prince are still with them at that time remains to be seen.