Thabo Sefolosha is moving on from the severe leg injury that ended his year and surely impacted the Hawks’ playoff run that ended abruptly in the Eastern Conference finals last season.
His next move could be into the Hawks’ starting lineup.
The Hawks have a vacancy at small forward after the departure of DeMarre Carroll. Sefolosha was cleared for all basketball activities, including 5-on-5, last week and was able to play in several open scrimmages before the start of training camp.
“I think there is a shot,” Sefolosha said Monday at Hawks media day. “I’m going to work hard and try to help the team in every way. If the coaches decide the (starting) spot is mine, I’ll gladly take it.”
Sefolosha suffered a broken right fibula and ligament damage while being arrested outside a New York City nightclub in April. The case is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 5. Charges against former Hawks Pero Antic, who was involved in the same incident, were dropped last month.
Sefolosha has plenty of starting experience, including deep playoff runs when he was with the Thunder. He came off the bench last season, his first with the Hawks, but missed time with a calf injury before the season-ending surgery.
“We’ll go into camp and try to figure out who are best starters are and who that fifth starter is,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think it could be any of those guys (Sefolosha, Kent Bazemore, Tim Hardaway Jr.). Stranger things have happened. A young player can come out of camp and proves he belongs with that group. We are pretty open-minded about who the fifth starter could be. Obviously, Thabo has a lot of experience starting on a lot of very good teams, including in the playoffs.
“We feel like we have several options.”
Sefolosha estimated he is about 75 percent recovered but he anticipates being 100 percent healthy by the start of the regular season. The Hawks will bring him along slowly during training camp and the exhibition season, Budenholzer said.
Kyle Korver (right ankle, right elbow surgeries) and Shelvin Mack (right shoulder surgery) have also been cleared for all basketball activities.
“It’s great to see Thabo back,” Korver said. “We’ve been playing 1-on-1 like every day. I want Thabo to be on my team again. He looks great. He’s shooting the ball really well. He’s going to have a great year.”
The Hawks are seeking to replace the defensive ability and intensity that Carroll brought in his two seasons with the team before cashing in on a lucrative free-agent deal with the Raptors. In addition to Sefolosha, Bazemore and Hardaway Jr., the Hawks have Justin Holiday as an option. Also, former second-round draft pick Lamar Patterson and undrafted free agent Terran Petteway are competing for a roster spot.
“I think there is going to be a team effort to make sure we are bringing the energy, the competitiveness and the edge that a guy like DeMarre Carroll brings,” Budenholzer said. “I don’t know that it’s going to be any one individual. There are guys on our team, the core group that has been here, they are probably going to have to raise their energy and intensity. When you have Thabo and Kent who have both been here and are, I think, elite wing defenders and have proven that in the NBA. It may look and feel a little bit different but their ability to have a similar impact is something that gives us confidence.”
Sefolosha enters camp, even limited, with the edge at the starting spot. Defense matters the most to Budenholzer and Sefolosha is a proven commodity with size and ability to play in the Hawks’ system.
“Thabo, his length defensively and the way he bothers people while still maintaining good defensive positioning and fundamental positioning, is pretty unique as a small forward,” Budenholzer said. “… Over the course of a season or course of a game, Thabo’s impact on a game was as great or greater than anybody on our team last year.”
