It took some traveling, including an extended stay in Spain, but Mike Muscala finally made his professional home debut Wednesday at Target Center.
Muscala is a 6-11 center who played for Roseville High School before going to Bucknell, where he finished with a school-record 2,036 points to go with 1,093 rebounds and appeared in two NCAA tournaments in four seasons.
A second-round pick (44th overall) by Dallas in last year's draft, he quickly was traded to Atlanta. But he wound up signing to play in Spain. That's where he was when a slew of injuries to big men prompted the Hawks to bring him back with a multiyear deal that is at partly guaranteed.
Muscala made his NBA debut March 2 and has played sparingly in 10 games, although he had career highs of eight points and 24 minutes in Atlanta's 107-83 loss.
"This brings back a lot of memories of watching KG [Kevin Garnett] and Wally [Szczerbiak] — that was my favorite player growing up," Muscala said.
As a player who didn't reach his full height until relatively late, Muscala played a lot of small forward growing up, and he has a nice mid-range shot to show for it. With the Hawks he has been asked mostly to provide defense and energy.
"I think, on the court, he's somebody we're excited about," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "He's someone who is going to grow and improve and starts with simply how hard he plays. He's versatile for a young guy."
For Muscala, this is really a second homecoming. While with Bucknell, he played the Gophers at Williams Arena in his junior year.
