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The hardest part of NBA draft night for Kevin Huerter was keeping a straight face.
He knew Rickey Jackson Jersey , moments before virtually anyone else did, that he was about to become a professional basketball player. Dozens of friends and family flanked him, all their eyes intently on the television screens as they waited for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to stand at his lectern in New York and give the word that they all came to hear.
But Huerter had gotten a tip through his agent moments before, after a call from New York to his draft party at a country club near his home in an Albany suburb, that his moment was near. So he sat back and waited to see – would it be San Antonio at No. 18 or Atlanta at No. 19? The answer arrived when the Spurs took Miami’s Lonnie Walker IV at No. 18, and with that, it was time to await the next sentence from the commissioner.
”The Atlanta Hawks select Kevin Huerter,” Silver said.
And there it was. The Moment.
There was yelling, there was jumping, there even were a few tears. Huerter hugged his mother, then his father, then his brother and then his sisters. The 19-year-old who left Maryland after two seasons had just become the No. 19 pick in the NBA draft, off to the Hawks as their second first-round selection of the evening after they wound up with Oklahoma’s Trae Young following a trade earlier.
Draft day for Huerter was remarkably normal, which was by design. He worked out, went back to his old school and talked to kids, took a dip in his parents’ backyard pool, then sprawled out on a couch to watch an Ace Ventura movie.
”This is who Kevin is David Bakhtiari Jersey ,” said Tony Dzikas, Huerter’s coach at Shenendehowa High. ”Laid-back, special kid, wants to share moments with the people who matter most to him. But on the floor, he knows exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. He’s special there too, just in a very different way. The Atlanta Hawks got a winner tonight.”
He could have gone to New York and been with other draftees, but Huerter instead decided to invite about 200 friends and relatives to share the moment with him. They had burgers, chicken and hot dogs, plowed through some desserts, some sipped drinks and others just showed up to say that they were there to see one of their own make it big.
Plenty of his former coaches were in attendance: Dzikas, along with Maryland’s Mark Turgeon and the Albany City Rocks’ Jim Hart from his AAU years. So were a slew of his former teammates, including a carload that drove up from Maryland earlier in the day just to be there for the big moment.
The Hawks’ initial assessment of Huerter suggests that he’ll be part of the rotation as a rookie.
”He’s a 6-foot-7 wing so he has good size,” Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said. ”He has great ball skills, really good shooter, shot over 40 percent from 3 during his college career. Has ability to put the ball on the floor and get in the lane, so we’re excited about his playmaking ability.”
For a day that carried such significance, it started about as low-key as possible.
Thomas Huerter Sr. Brett Favre Jersey , Kevin’s father, left for a workout around 7 a.m. About an hour later, Erin Huerter, Kevin’s mother, was folding his laundry in the kitchen. Upstairs, the soon-to-be-draftee was sound asleep in his bed until shortly before his 10 a.m. session at a nearby gym.
At lunchtime, when the whole family – both parents and all four kids – gathered for sandwiches with the Argentina-Croatia World Cup match playing in the background, not a word was said about the draft. It wasn’t a conscious choice, and the draft wasn’t a forbidden topic or anything. There were just other things to chat about, none of it amounting to much more than small talk.
On the biggest day of Kevin Huerter’s life to date, he was unfazed.
”Deciding between four shirts,” he said.
That was his biggest decision of the day.
He has handled the draft process in about as low-key a fashion as possible. On his last night before officially becoming an NBA player, Huerter helped his parents set up the backyard of their home for their draft after-party, then went inside and sprawled out on a couch for some apple pie around midnight while watching replays of Giancarlo Stanton’s game-ending home run for the New York Yankees.
No entourages coming over. No wild parties. No talk of what to buy first.
”That’s my personality,” he said. ”I don’t get fazed by a lot of moments, even when it’s on the court.”
—
DETROIT (AP) — Davis Webb took a step toward restoring confidence that he can be a capable backup quarterback for the New York Giants.
Webb took advantage of his opportunity to play for Eli Manning, throwing a go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter to help the New York Giants beat the Detroit Lions 30-17 Friday night.
“Everyone says that wins don’t matter in the preseason Davon Godchaux Jersey , but they leave a much better feeling in the locker room,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said.
Webb was 14 of 20 for 140 yards with an 8-yard TD pass to Wayne Gallman Jr., who scored for a second time later in the game. Webb showed poise in the pocket and touch down the field, connecting on a perfectly lofted 40-yard pass to Russell Shepard to set up Aldrick Rosas‘ 55-yard field goal in the second quarter.
“I just wanted to hit the reset button on everything that happened last week,” Webb said.
Manning, a two-time Super Bowl MVP, was a healthy scratch.
Webb, a 2017 third-round pick, played well after performing well last week. He was 9 of 22 for 70 yards, sailing passes over open receivers in the preseason opening loss against Cleveland to raise some concerns about whether he’s ready to be the team’s No. 2 quarterback.
“I was very happy to see Davis Webb bounce back that well as a starter,” Shurmur said. “He made significant improvements from last week to this week, and that shows why we have so much confidence in him. I thought he was calmer and he did a very nice job.”
The Giants rested rookie running back Saquon Barkley with a strained hamstring and didn’t test receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s surgically repaired ankle.
Giants rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta, a fourth-round pick, scrambled and scored on a 10-yard run in the third quarter to put the Giants ahead 17-3. Gallman took an inside handoff and bounced to the outside on an 11-yard run to put New York up by three TDs early in the fourth.
The Lions started Matthew Stafford after sitting him in last week’s game at Oakland and he didn’t have much time to make plays behind a porous offensive line. Stafford was 2 of 5 for 51 yards and was sacked twice and hit once as he threw.
Detroit coach Matt Patricia, though, refused to blame the guys up front.
“I don’t think we played particularly well at any position,” he said.
Jake Rudock replaced Stafford in the second quarter and finished 23 of 30 for 171 yards with a TD. Rudock came back in the fourth Reggie Nelson Jersey , relieving veteran Matt Cassel, who threw an interception.
Even though it was just a preseason game, Patricia was clearly not happy with his players, staff and himself.
“We got to do a better job and it starts with me,” he said. “We’ve got to get these guys ready to go. We obviously have a lot of work to do.”
INJURIES
Giants: RB Jalen Simmons left the game in the second half with a concussion. Shepard left the game in the fourth with a finger injury.
Lions: LB Steve Longa appeared to hurt his right knee when he tried to tackle Lauletta on his TD run in the third quarter. After being evaluated on the field, Longa walked off the field slowly and went toward the locker room.
HE’S BACK
Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah played for the first time this preseason, coming back from an undisclosed injury that kept him out of the beginning of training camp.
“I noticed him on a couple plays,” Patricia said. “It was good that he was out there, working hard.”
NATIONAL ANTHEM
There were no player protests during the national anthem. The Lions, as they did last week, stood on the sideline with their arms locked together. The Giants all stood at attention and many players held their right hand over their heart.
PREGAME CHAT
Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders met Barkley before the game, chatted briefly and posed for some pictures.
“He’s put together,” Sanders said.
UP NEXT
Giants: Face the Jets on the field they share, technically as the visitors on Aug. 24.
Lions: Visit Tampa Bay on Aug. 24.
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