The Hawks made two roster moves on Monday, necessitated by the revelation that Mike Scott’s knee has a significant knee injury that will require outside medical attention.
Scott will miss at least four weeks for a series of non-surgical procedures on a sore left knee that limited the forward in training camp and prevented him from playing in the first two regular-season games. He missed his third contest, a game against the Kings on Monday, with a current timetable that wouldn’t have him back until the beginning of December.
With Scott out for a month and Tiago Splitter out at least a couple more weeks with a right hamstring strain, the Hawks waived center Edy Tavares and signed forward Ryan Kelly.
Tavares was in his second season with the Hawks. He appeared in one game, playing 3:36 against the 76ers on Saturday with two points and one rebound. He appeared in 11 games with the Hawks last season and averaged 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 6.6 minutes. The 7-foot-3 native of Cape Verde spent much of last season in the NBA Development League and played for the Hawks’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League each of the past two years.
Tavares needed to play to continue his development and with versatile big men Kris Humphries and Mike Muscala on the roster, playing time was again going to be limited with the Hawks.
Tavares was a likely candidate to be released before the regular season with the Hawks needed to trim their roster to 15 players. With the injury to Splitter and Scott hobbled, the team elected to release veteran guard Jarrett Jack and keep an extra front-court player.
Following his released, Tavares was reportedly close to signing with Barcelona to return overseas. Tavares played one season with Gran Canaria after the Hawks selected him in the second round (No. 43 overall) in the 2014 NBA Draft.
“Edy has been a very good player for us,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think he has a future. At some point, he has to get on the court and he has to play more. He and his people will figure out how best to make that happen.”
Kelly signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Hawks this summer and was on the training camp roster. He was waived on Oct. 18 after he appeared in all six of the team’s exhibition games and totaled 29 points (4.8 average), 16 rebounds and eight assists. Kelly was signed and released by the Celtics in a 24-hour period after being waived by the Hawks.
The Hawks like the way Kelly fit their style of play. He will likely still be a part of the plan when Scott is able to return. He played three seasons with the Lakers after being a second-round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
Kelly arrived from his home in Raleigh Monday afternoon and was available to play.
“I’m ready to help and do whatever I can to help this team win,” Kelly said. “Whatever role that becomes, I look forward to it. I’m not only going to come in just to be here but I’m going to work my butt off to play and help our team and compete. I approach it every day that I want to prove to everybody in this locker room and in this building and in the NBA that I belong here.”
The non-surgical procedures for Scott will be similar to the ones that kept forward Paul Millsap out of the first three weeks of training camp. The procedures could involve platelet-rich plasma injections. Scott’s knee experienced swelling during a team photo shoot prior to the start of training camp.
Scott averaged 6.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 15.3 minutes in 75 games off the bench last season.
“We are very hopeful with Mike Scott that we give him there period of time to get to where his knee and his entire body are feeling great and he is ready to produce for us,” Budenholzer said. “He’s been a great player for us. It’s not something you want to go through put it’s something that’s probably better to go through now rather than later.”
About the Author
