Atlanta Hawks: Big Men Lucas Nogueira, Mike Muscala Off To Spain For 2013-14
By Phil Watson
The Atlanta Hawks were one of the busier teams on draft night in June, making four selections and three trades. Three of the Hawks’ four picks won’t be in Atlanta when training camp starts at Philips Arena on Oct. 1 and two of the picks the Hawks got from the Dallas Mavericks on draft night won’t be there either.
The Atlanta Hawks acquired the rights to Brazilian big man Lucas Nogueira on draft night. (Wikimedia Commons)
On draft night, the Hawks traded 18th overall pick Shane Larkin out of Miami to the Dallas Mavericks for second-year guard Jared Cunningham and two picks, the No. 16 overall pick Lucas Nogueira and 44th overall selection Mike Muscala.
Nogueira, a 7-footer out of Brazil, and Muscala, a 6-11 big body from Bucknell, will both be playing in Spain this season.
Nogueira, 21, will be returning to Estudiantes Madrid, where he has played the last two seasons. Last year, he averaged just 13.6 minutes per game, with marks of 5.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per contest.
He did play for the Hawks’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League, starting all five games and averaging 6.4 points, six rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.2 steals per game in 21.8 minutes. He reached double figures in points once, scoring 10 points against the Los Angeles Clippers in the opener, but generally didn’t look to score a bunch, taking just 24 shots in five games and making 15 of them. More concerning is that he didn’t get to the free throw line at all in the final three games he played. Then again, after going 2-for-7 maybe he didn’t want to get to the free throw line.
The key words with Nogueira are “raw” and “underdeveloped.” At 7-feet, he’s just 200 pounds and the blocked shots (nine in the final two Summer League games) show his potential, but he’s going to have to get bigger and learn the game more.
Mike Muscala is Bucknell’s all-time leading scorer and flashed some potential in the Las Vegas Summer League, but will play in Spain in 2013-14. (Photo by Aurimas Liutikas/Wikimedia Commons)
Muscala, meanwhile, shot just 40.6 percent in Vegas, averaging 5.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 18.4 minutes in five games coming off the bench. His averages are skewed a bit by playing just five minutes in the finale against the Sacramento Kings. He did have 12 rebounds in 28 minutes against Portland.
Muscala signed at the end of July with Obradoiro CAB in the Spanish League. He was a four-year player at Bucknell, finishing as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,036 points.
The Hawks wound up with an influx of new frontcourt players for this season, despite losing Josh Smith to the Detroit Pistons in free agency. Atlanta has added Paul Millsap, Elton Brand, Pero Antic and Gustavo Ayon to incumbent bigs Al Horford and Mike Scott.
The Hawks will retain the rights to both Nogueira and Muscala while they play overseas and both will get the opportunity to play regular minutes, which can only help improve their games.
The only draft pick who will be in Atlanta’s camp is German guard Dennis Schroeder, taken No. 17 overall. Larkin was traded to Dallas, No. 47 overall pick Raul Neto was dealt to the Utah Jazz for a second-round pick in 2015 and 50th overall selection James Ennis was swapped to the Miami Heat for a future second-round pick.
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