Daniel Shirey – USA Today Sports Images
In the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft, with the 49th overall pick, the Atlanta Hawks decided to go with young Ukranian guard Sergey Gladyr as their pick. Gladyr didn’t play with the team in Summer League with the team that year, but did so in 2010 and this summer as well. He has yet to come from overseas to play in the NBA, though.
Now 23 years old, the Hawks still hold the rights to Gladyr, who played in Spain for Balnocesto Fuenlabrada last season. In 26 games last season in Europe, Gladyr averaged 9.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 20.8 minutes per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and an impressive 41.5 percent from beyond-the-arc.
As of right now, though, Gladyr is playing with his native Ukraine at Eurobasket 2013 and has helped them to the second round, even though it seems like that’s as far as they’ll go. Though Ukraine lost on Sunday to Lithuania, Gladyr submitted arguably his best game of the tournament thus far.
Gladyr saw the floor for just 27 minutes on Sunday, but still managed to put up an impressive 18 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Moreover, he shot a decent 6-14 from the field and a nice 5-11 from long-distance. Gladyr had another impressive game earlier in the tourney as he put up 25 points, three rebounds and one assist in 27 minutes on 8-16 shooting from the floor and 5-10 shooting from three.
Gladyr’s overall numbers for the tournament have been far less striking. Through eight games he has averaged 13.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.8 steals in 28.5 minutes per game, but has shot only 38.8 percent from the floor and just 33.9 percent from distance.
However, Gladyr’s two hot-shooting days at Eurobasket show why he could potentially be of value to Atlanta. He has a nice looking jump shot and gives good effort on the defensive end, creating turnovers and such. With the Hawks restructuring their roster this summer and with them likely to continue doing so in coming years, Gladyr is a guy who could make his way over to the Hawks in the relatively near future.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
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