Hawks’ Ayon out 4-8 weeks with shoulder injury

By Chris Vivlamore

Oct 9, 2013

The Hawks are not immune to the injury bug that has severely bitten Atlanta sports of late.

Just one week into training camp, the Hawks announced Gustavo Ayon will be out four to eight weeks after an MRI exam revealed he has inflammation and a rotator-cuff strain. The forward/center injured his right shoulder in the first quarter of Monday’s exhibition opener against the Heat in Miami. When the Hawks flew to Asheville for Tuesday’s exhibition against the Bobcats, Ayon returned to Atlanta for the examination. The exam was performed by Dr. Michael Bernot at Peachtree Orthopedics.

The Hawks claimed the 6-foot-10 Ayon off waivers from the Bucks in July. He is fresh off an MVP performance in leading Mexico to the FIBA Americas tournament championship this summer. Ayon was scheduled to compete for minutes in a crowded Hawks frontcourt with Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Elton Brand, Pero Antic and Mike Scott.

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said the injury won’t have a great effect on the team in the long term, but in the short term others will get increased minutes.

“The week that we had up in Athens (for the start of training camp) was excellent in that Gustavo was one of the guys who stood out,” Budenholzer said. “He earned all his teammates’ respect. He earned my respect. Gustavo has a way about him that we all took to quickly. I don’t want to say I know him yet, but we all got a really good feel for him in that short time.

“I think all of our bigs are very similar in that they have high IQs; they are good passers. He is a little more inside. He’s a little more rugged. Us knowing him and him knowing us, quite a bit happened in those first five or six days.”

The 6-foot-10 Ayon, who the Hawks claimed off waivers from the Bucks during the offseason, has had an injury-plagued career. He has played 109 NBA games over two seasons with three teams.

“Last season, was too much injury,” Ayon said at the Hawks’ media-day event to kick off training camp. “First I broke my toe, next month my knee. Every time (it was something).”

Ayon was not the only Hawks player Bernot saw Tuesday. John Jenkins underwent an MRI exam that was negative, but confirmed lower back pain. The shooting guard did not make the two-game trip after suffering back spasms Sunday.

Jenkins missed the past two months of training after it was discovered he had a ligament tear in his back. The injury caused some fluids to leak and a bulging disk.

Jenkins said the injury was discovered after he returned from the Las Vegas Summer League in July. He declared himself at 100 percent on the eve of camp.

Lou Williams made the road trip to continue the rehabilitation of the torn ACL in his right knee. He played two-on-two following the shootaround and he continues to get closer to full contact five-on-five work.

Hawks pull out victory: Dennis Schroder's layup with 2.1 seconds remaining gave the Hawks an 87-85 victory over the Bobcats in Tuesday night's exhibition game. Scott scored eight fourth-quarter points, including two 3-pointers, as the Hawks improved to 1-1. The Hawks led by as many as 13 points in the second half before the Bobcats made a late run against mostly bench players. The Bobcats tied the score 72-72 with two 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter. The back-and-forth final quarter was tied again when Ramon Sessions made three free throws, the last with 43.3 seconds remaining for an 85-85 tie. Schroder, who shot 4-of-15 from the field, won it as the shot clock was about to expire.

Scott led the Hawks with 19 points, a day after being their leading scorer with 13 points against the Heat.

Horford did not play in the game, along with Shelvin Mack, Adonis Thomas, Jared Cunningham and Antic. Budenholzer said there is no injury with Horford. He just wanted to rest the center on the second of back-to-back games. Brand started in his place.

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