College Park Skyhawks look to add talent with open tryout

The College Park Skyhawks, the NBA G League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks, held an open tryout for the team last Sunday. Skyhawks head coach Steve Gansey spoke on the atmosphere of the event full of players chasing an NBA G League dream.

“It was a great day. I loved the energy,” said Gansey. “There’s definitely a great opportunity for these guys to come out here and showcase and depending on what our training camp roster looks like, some of these guys will have the opportunity to come right to our camp and make the team.”

Headlining the event was College Park native and GRAMMY award-winning recording artist 2 Chainz. The platinum artist spoke to the players about the pursuit of dreams, citing his own story.

Gansey, who was hired to coach the Skyhawks in August, emphasized the significance of his guest’s words, especially considering their pertinence to some of the players at the tryout.

“He’s all about the community. He’s all about just giving people opportunities. One of the things he spoke today with the entire camp was he didn’t get started or break through until he was 30 and you’ve just got to keep grinding. This is a dream and just him saying that to the guys, I definitely think it opened some eyes and really pushed those guys to continue to chase their dream in basketball, obviously, because he played,” said Gansey. “He’s obviously a big figure in the community and being from College Park, it’s just great that he’s on board and he’s with us.”

The head coach also commented on a couple of his “key contributors” for the upcoming season.

“Depending on how many games they’ll be with us, we don’t know that yet, but definitely I love our guards in Sharife Cooper and Skylar Mays,” he said. “Those guys are some great tools in the toolbox, and they can definitely do a lot of different things. I love our speed with those guys. I love our ability to play pick and roll, both those guys can handle. It’s just great to see what those guys are going to do together.”

Mays, who was drafted with the 50th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, has impressed in summer leagues and the G League while seeing limited action with the Atlanta Hawks thus far. Cooper, the 48th pick in the 2021 NBA draft out of McEachern, will look to make a similar splash in his rookie season this year.

Both guards were spectacular for Atlanta in the 2021 NBA Summer League. In four games, Mays averaged 26.1 points per game and 5.2 assists per game. Cooper averaged 21.4 and 10.5, respectively.

“Sharife, the one thing I do love about him is his quickness, his ability to push the ball. In our league, especially in the G-League, it’s a fast league and I think giving him the opportunity to play with space and play with a lot of randomness and freedom, I think that will be great,” said Gansey. “We’re definitely going to utilize him in pick-and-rolls because in the NBA and in the G-League, you see 70 to 80 pick-and-rolls in a game.

“Skyler Mays, he can do a lot of different things. He can handle it, he can shoot, play pick-and-roll, can get to the basket, can do a lot of different things. I’m really excited about him and both of these guys can really get after it on the defensive end, too, so I’m looking forward to switching different things up on the defensive end with those guys.”

Gansey also mentioned guard Ibi Watson and forward AJ Lawson as guys he looks forward to having in College Park this season.

The head man’s excitement continues to grow as the club’s first regular-season action since March 11, 2020, inches closer by the day. Gansey’s Skyhawks, who will tip off against the Maine Celtics on November 5, are itching to get back in front of their hometown fans.

“I think a lot of people are going to get behind us and really show that support. It’s great to see,” said Gansey. “I’m super excited about playing in the Gateway Arena. That place is unbelievable. … It’s a beautiful arena, so I can’t wait to see all of our fans go in there and cheer for us and hopefully get a lot of wins to end the season.”

© Kat Goduco Photo