Wake Forest Athletics
Wednesday Morning Basketball Report
10/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 28, 2009
With the National Basketball Association season-opening tipoff just hours ago, this marks the season's first Wake Forest Wednesday Morning Basketball Report. Each week, WakeForestSports.com will feature updates on the six former Demon Deacons now playing in the NBA.
The two newest Deacs in the NBA are rookies Jeff Teague and James Johnson. Both have seen significant playing time during the preseason and look to make an immediate impact for their respective teams.
Teague, the 19th-overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, is a reserve point guard for the Atlanta Hawks. In 26.9 minutes a game, Teague averaged 12.1 points and 4.3 assists in the preseason.
Teague will make his NBA regular-season debut tonight at 7 p.m. vs. Indiana. The game will be broadcast on SportSouth.
Johnson, a 6-9 forward, was the 16th-overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the draft. He has averaged 24.8 minutes per game in the preseason. One preseason highlight for Johnson was the Bulls' NBA Europe Live victory, 102-101, over the Utah Jazz on Oct. 6. Johnson hit the game-winning fallaway jumper as time expired on Oct. 6, in London's O2 Arena.
The Bulls open the season on Thursday in San Antonio. Watch Johnson's regular season NBA debut live on TNT beginning at 8 p.m.
Perennial All-Star Tim Duncan is now in his 13th year on the Spurs, playing in 898 games and averaging 21.4 points and 11.7 rebounds in each of those games. This offseason, the Spurs did some retooling, acquiring rookie DeJuan Blair, Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff. They open the season on Wednesday against Chris Paul, Darius Songaila and rest of the New Orleans Hornets squad at 8 p.m., in San Antonio. The game will be nationally aired on ESPN.
Paul returns to the hardwood to lead the New Orleans Hornets again this season. New Orleans also is a team that has added a lot of new faces including Songaila, who is entering his seventh year in the league. A Washington Wizard last year, Songaila was traded to Minnesota in June, then traded again in early September to the Hornets. New Orleans is the only team in the NBA to have two former Demon Deacons on the roster.
The Dallas Mavericks were one of four teams to host a game in the NBA's start to the season last night. Josh Howard did not dress for the game. Without Howard, the Mavs lost 102-91 to Washington. He has been unable to participate fully in practice after undergoing surgeries on his left ankle and wrist in mid-May. According to the Dallas Morning News, Mavs' owner Mark Cuban indicated that Howard could return in a few weeks.
Check back next week for another update on how the former Demon Deacons are faring in the NBA.
