Villanova product experiences rocky transition with Hawks
BROOKLYN >> It isn’t so much the oncourt memories that Omari Spellman misses at Villanova, which is saying something given that he was a big part of helping them to a national title in 2018.
Now that he’s in the NBA, selected with the final pick of the first round, 30th overall, by the Atlanta Hawks in this year’s draft, it’s the little things away from the game he misses the most.
“Honestly, the fondest memories have to come from not even being on the basketball court,” Spellman told The Trentonian.
“Getting to be with those guys at the ESPY’s, doing all the things we got to do together as a team, obviously those are the dopest memories. The dorm room times, going out and having fun, those are the times that you miss. The times in hotel playing video games, just being kids. It’s a lot different when you get to the NBA, there’s a lot more responsibility. College, everything was laid out for you. You just had to go out there and compete.”
The 6-foot-9, 245 pound power forward has found opportunities to do just that coming few and far between lately, having struggled with the adjustment to the pro game. After getting doubledigit minutes in 19 of the Hawks’ first 23 games, including eight starts, a decrease in playing time turned into falling out of the rotation completely.
On Dec. 30, he was assigned to the developmental G-League’s Erie BayHawks, where he averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds in nearly 33 minutes per game in a one-week stint before being recalled.
“My time in the G-League was great,” said Spellman, who didn’t play in Atlanta’s 116-100 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
“I don’t know if I’m completely done with the G-League, I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. It was getting some minutes, getting some good reps, getting confident and just understanding you can’t take anything for granted . ... You’ve got to remain on your game and remain being a professional, or the game finds a way to take care of you. I don’t want to be one of those guys who gets taken care of in a negative way . ... I understood in being real with myself the things that I haven’t been doing, and I wanted to make that the first step in being a better professional than I had been being at the start of this year.”
“Any time you can see old video of when you were young and spry and springy and all of that good stuff, it’s always great to see,” Carter said. “It’s cool, and I’m very thankful that they even considered doing it. When it was mentioned to me, I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ It wasn’t in this building, but the feeling is still the same of my five years here. It was a lot of fun. JKidd made it a lot of fun up and down and to create a lot of those highlights and memories. It was awesome to see.”
Despite his status as the league’s oldest player — he’s got a year and 144 days on the next-closest, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki — Carter has still been a solid contributor, averaging 7.2 points a game off the bench in 17.4 minutes per game. He’s also embraced a role as a mentor to younger players like Trae Young; for example, Carter was the first player from either team on the court prior to the game, working on his shot more than two hours before tip-off.
“I enjoy it,” he said. “All of our young guys, whether it’s rookies or guys in their first couple years, I always sit and talk about a lot of different things; techniques and things to think about. I just try to give them as much knowledge as possible, and they listen. They ask for it, they want feedback and it’s worked for us.”
Back at the peak of his “Half-Man, Half-Amazing” days, Carter wasn’t only one of the top stars in the league, but around the globe. Carter was a member of the gold medal-winning American squad in the 2000 Olympics, but it’s his legendary dunk over Frederic Weis – literally, over him — that transcended the game and certainly has made it easier for him to find that younger audience to impart his knowledge on.
“The Olympics, that dunk in the Olympics, I’ll never forget that,” said Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce.
“That first time watching it, the first time seeing it, you’re like, ‘No human being is ever supposed to be able to do something like that.’ That’s probably the best moment, but just looking at our sport and understanding it, sometimes you look back at moments guys have had, and that’s probably the top one of any player that I’ve ever seen.”