Huerter anxious to begin NBA career following special draft night
While many first-round NBA Draft picks strolled through the Barclays Center in custom designer suits, awaiting to hear their names called so they could shake NBA commissioner David Silver's hand and do live interviews on national television, Maryland's Kevin Huerter watched the draft from the comfort of home wearing a polo shirt and kaki shorts.
It isn't that Huerter wasn't invited to New York City to shake David Silver's hand; he was. But the Clifton Park, N.Y. native decided it was more important to share the moment with all of the family, friends, coaches and teammates that helped him get to that moment.
With Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon, former Terps assistant Dustin Clark, former teammates Bruno Fernando, Andrew Terrell, Travis Valmon, Reese Mona and his agent all behind him, Huerter looked on with his family by his side as he got the news that he had been selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 19 pick in the draft.
"I knew it was going to be Atlanta after San Antonio picked," Huerter told reporters Thursday evening. "My parents wanted it to be a surprise but I kind of wanted to know to get a little heads up. My agent slapped me on my shoulder behind me. I got the jitters a little bit waiting for those five minutes to go down for them to say my name but when Commissioner [Adam] Silver came out and finally said my name, there was a lot of relief."
Initially choosing to declare for the draft and participate in the combine to simply get feedback from teams around the league heading into his junior season, Huerter chose to stay in the draft after being promised he would be a first-round selection.
That didn't make the waiting on draft night any easier.
"It was crazy," Huerter said. "It really felt that after you try to trace every single pick that every player that was picked there was kind of like an ‘ohhhh’ behind me. Waiting nine picks, once I got good advice, it was the longest nine picks, 45 minutes of my life. Every single team, you didn't know if you were going to be called. When it finally did happen and they said my name, it was an unbelievable feeling. One of the best feelings I've ever had in my life. Just hearing that uproar of the people around me and the emotion of everyone that was there, my family especially. Everyone I grew up with sharing that with me, it was special."
With the draft now behind him, Huerter is ready to focus his attention on getting back to full strength after opting to have surgery on a torn ligament in his right hand earlier this month that had been aggravating him since the NBA Draft Combine.
“We knew what it was; it was a torn ligament in my hand," said Huerter. "The original feedback we got was that I wanted to avoid surgery because it heals itself with time and rest. But with the timing of it with the combine and workouts I couldn’t rest it, I was still working out every single day. And then finally after I worked out with LA it didn’t feel right. It seemed like I got the feedback again that if it’s an injury you think about every time you step on the court and you’re aware of, then you need to get it looked at again. And every time I was stepping on the court it was bothering me. So I got a second opinion from a great doctor in New York and she recommended that I did need surgery or it wouldn’t heal properly and it would always be something that bothered me. So I saw her on a Monday, got surgery on a Tuesday and it’s been a couple weeks since.”
Once he is cleared to get back on the court, Huerter will have some catching up to do since he will miss summer league play while recovering from his hand surgery.
“I think right now with my hand it really just made the rest of my summer really busy," said Huerter. "I think this would have been a time that I would have been working out every single day, getting ready for summer league with whatever team it would be, but it’s been frustrating not being able to play. I haven’t been able to play basketball the last three weeks. Eventually I’ll start shooting again, I still have a couple more [weeks] to go. When I’m finally going to be cleared I have to make up for the last month and a half that I missed. So after summer league I’ll be ready to start working hard.”
Along with Huerter, the Atlanta Hawks also selected point guard Trae Young in the first round with the No. 5 overall pick in the draft. The two have some history together.
“I was actually on a team with Trae on the U-18 USA team when we played Chile for the FIBA Americas," said Huerter. "Everyone knows Trae’s a dynamic scorer. He’s a kid who can put up big numbers really quick. Some of that especially offensively he’s really, really good. I’m expecting to obviously build a better relationship with him and get to know him a little bit more playing with him.”
Atlanta General Manager Travis Schlenk is likely hoping that Huerter and Young can build on some of that same magic they had two summers ago in Chile-- winning gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship--at the NBA level as the Hawks' backcourt of the future.