DeAndre Bembry caught a 6 a.m. flight from South Dakota to Atlanta Monday in time to join the Hawks for practice after playing an NBA Development League game Sunday night. A minus-6 degree temperature will wake you up in a hurry.
The Hawks recalled Bembry from the D-League after a one-game stint with the Salt Lake City Stars. The rookie guard/forward played at the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce.
Bembry has had two one-game assignments with the Stars. In those games, he has totaled 54 points on 24 of 37 shooting (.649). He has also totaled 12 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and one block in 71 minutes. He is 2 of 7 (.286) from 3-point range.
“It went pretty well,” Bembry said Monday after Hawks practice. “It’s a fun group to play with. A good coach. The offense isn’t too different from ours. There is a lot of reading and reacting. I felt pretty comfortable out there.”
Bembry expects to make more D-League assignments in the future, especially when the Hawks have a break in the schedule as they just did with three days without a game. He figures he’ll be back with Salt Lake, the affiliate of the Jazz, who play a similar offensive and defensive system.
“I talked to their coach (Dean Cooper) and he’s pretty comfortable with me coming whenever I want to so I think in the future I’ll probably end up just playing with them.”
Bembry scored 35 points for the Stars in his first stint with the team.
“I’m not going to say it was easy but it might have been the easiest 35 I’ve had ever,” Bembry said. “I was just having fun. Reading and reacting. My teammates were finding me and I was knocking down shots, getting to the rim. Just playing my game and I ended up with 35.”
The Hawks routinely assign young players to the D-League when the schedule allow to get playing time.
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