Taurean Prince will be a Hawk.
Just not for a couple of weeks.
The Jazz made the selection of Prince, the Baylor wing, with the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday. The Hawks obtained the selection from the Jazz for point guard Jeff Teague in a three-team trade agreed to Wednesday that also involved the Pacers. The pick was made by the Jazz, and they will hold Prince’s draft rights until the trade is finalized when the NBA moratorium ends July 6.
The Hawks plan to keep Prince and not trade him as part of a package.
Prince, 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, played four seasons at Baylor. As a senior, the 22-year-old averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 30.6 minutes in 34 games. Prince ranks 13th all-time in school history with 1,321 points scored. He also ranks ninth all-time in school history with a 37.6 3-point percentage.
Prince was first-team All-Big 12 as a senior. He was named the conference’s top sixth man as a junior.
Prince said he worked out for the Hawks twice and had a feeling he might end up in Atlanta.
“Man, those guys are great, straightforward, which I love,” Prince said after he was drafted. “No gray (area). It’s black-and-white type of guys, and those are the type of guys you need to be behind you, that’s going to tell you when you’re wrong and let you know when you’re right. I love those guys up there, man. They brought me up for a second workout so I knew that they were really interested and we were vibing the whole entire time and I enjoyed every single minute in Atlanta.”
According to the NBA Draft media notes, Prince’s strengths are listed as “has excellent size and length for a small forward. Has good mobility, fluidity and explosiveness. Very good three-point shooter with NBA range. Versatile and effective defender.”
Prince said he was surprised after the pick since he heard he could go somewhere between the 20-25 picks.
The Hawks were not done in the first round. They selected wing DeAndre’ Bembry from St. Joseph’s with the No. 21 pick, their original first-round selection.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Bembry was an early entry candidate after three seasons at St. Joseph’s. As a junior last season, he averaged 17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 37.3 minutes in 36 games and was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He was also an Associated Press honorable-mention All-American.
“He is a player who we have watched for quite some time,” Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox said Thursday night. “Great deal of versatility. Very good passer. High basketball I.Q. Very good person. Very hard worker. We are excited to bring him to the Hawks family.
“He is a very accomplished college basketball player, but I think our focus of all of our young players is pretty much the same — get him in the program, get him working with our coaches and athletic-performance team and really focus on helping him improve. As it relates to any young player, I don’t think we have any expectations. We are a good team. We have depth at that position. We say it in our (draft) room. He is a good Hawks’ fit.”
Bembry will turn 22 next month. He did not attend the NBA Draft in Brooklyn after his brother, 20-year-old Adrian Potts, was shot to death while visiting Charlotte. N.C., earlier this month.
“It’s been a very rough time for me and my mother,” Bembry said. “It seems unreal that my brother isn’t here. … He was my best friend.”
The Hawks expect both players to participate in the Las Vegas Summer League next month.
The Hawks actively tried to combine their two first-round selections to move up in the draft. However, in the end they were unable to make a deal and chose to keep both picks.
In the second round, the Hawks selected French shooting guard Isaia Cordinier at No. 44 and then selected Oakland guard Kay Felder at No. 54 and traded his rights to the Cavaliers. The 19-year-old Cordinier, 6-5, is under contract with the French Pro B team Denain ASC Voltaire.
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