And — of course — they cleverly cut Huerter’s highlights to create a cameo in the “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video, pairing him with another beloved redhead, Rick Astley.
You’re reminded of that the other day,” a smiling Huerter, 22, said on a virtual news conference Tuesday.
The former Terp standout scored 27 points, a playoff career-high, to lead the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks to a Game 7 win over top-seeded Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
While star point guard Trae Young struggled with his shot for much of the evening, it was Huerter who stepped up, using his size advantage over Seth Curry to make 10 of 18 attempts in the series-clinching victory.
“And again, due to the number of injuries that we’ve had this season, Kevin has had to be a starter and guard the best at times.
Huerter’s professional trajectory has somewhat mirrored that of the upstart Hawks this season, who are 39-19 since McMillan took over in early March and knocked off two higher seeds to reach the conference finals for the first time since 2015.
We kind of laid out an option that it was a win-win situation in that, if he went, he could test the waters.
It wasn’t until an impressive showing at the NBA scouting combine and the reality of his first-round status that Kevin opted to remain in the draft and leave College Park.
“One of my first meetings with and all these people that made a jump and told me about their workout routine and how hard they worked.
Kevin started 59 games his first season, earning NBA All-Rookie second-team honors.
“When he was coming out of high school he was skinny.
By December of his rookie year, Kevin was routinely playing 25 minutes a game.
McMillan inserted him back into the starting lineup for the last four games of the Philadelphia series as Atlanta came back from a 2-1 deficit to advance to the conference finals.
“He’s always been that kid that was unassuming, that no one kind of expected to do what he does,” Tom said.
Tom said Kevin has acclimated well to the culture and liveliness of Atlanta.
He’s a driven individual that doesn’t necessarily need praise or doesn’t necessarily need a pat on the back every time he makes a layup.