Atlanta Hawks center Walter Tavares, who is also commonly referred to as "Edy," has looked a step or two behind in summer league play and figures to be a work in progress for the team, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.
Tavares, who stands at 7-foot-3, was a second-round pick of the Hawks in 2014. The team reportedly agreed to a multi-year deal with the Cape Verde native earlier this month after stashing him in the ACB League of Spain last year.
In the team's first two games of the Las Vegas Summer League, Tavares is averaging 5.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 19.0 minutes. Although his numbers don't jump off the page, his coaches understand the transition he has had to make:
- "Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson had some very interesting comments about Tavares following Sunday night’s game. 'This is just the feedback I’m getting from him, I think the pace of the game is so different than Europe and he is just adjusting to the pace, number one, and then adjusting to what we are doing,’ Atkinson said. 'He forgot a lot of what we are doing last year. His team in Europe was playing a totally different pick-and-roll coverage. But we are on him.'"
