Bruno Fernando

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Atlanta Hawks

Usually when a team rumbles back from a 30-point deficit for a comeback win, a number of players make noteworthy contributions, and the Hawks Monday were no different.&nbsp;

De'Andre Hunter led the team with 24 points and hit the dagger three. Vit Krejci made play after play in the third quarter and scored a career-high tying 16 points in the game. Dejounte Murray also tied a career-high with 15 assists while once again shouldering the heavy load of being the team's catalyst while a number of Hawks have remained out due to injury.

But when Quin Snyder started ticking off the list of players who made an impression, he got to Bruno Fernando quickly, perhaps more quickly than one might have expected.

"Bruno's emotion just stood out to me," he said.

When Fernando entered late in the third quarter, the Hawks had already compiled a 13-0 run and an 8-0 run to chip away at Boston's lead. But the Celtics had countered with their own run, and the Hawks needed to redouble their efforts to fully come back from 30 points down. Fernando's performance was key.

He started by sneaking up on Jaylen Brown's blind side and picking his pocket as Brown tried to post up Krejci. He followed that by scoring in the low post after a defensive switch left him with an advantage on a point guard. He later slipped a screen and dunked, and he had a&nbsp;gorgeous fake handoff&nbsp;that he finished with a spin move.&nbsp;

In total, the Hawks outscored the Celtics, 24-15 during Fernando's second-half stint, and when he exited, the game was tied.&nbsp;

All that Bruno Fernando really needed was a chance.&nbsp;

Clint Capela is Clint Capela, and Onyeka Okongwu can stake&nbsp;a&nbsp;claim as one of&nbsp;the&nbsp;top backup&nbsp;centers in the league. As a result, Fernando, the third-string center in his fifth NBA season, did not play any meaningful minutes as a rotation player until Feb. 5 when the Hawks called his&nbsp;number due to injury. Since then, he has contributed in a number of ways&nbsp;as the backup center, averaging 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 22 games. He has also racked up totals of 20 steals and 19 blocks over that span.

Fernando reflected on his professional path after scoring a career-high 25 points in a 41-point win over Charlotte Saturday.&nbsp;

"But man, when I just think of it, it's such a gratifying thing for me," he said. "I'm just thankful for every moment, every opportunity. I never put my head down. I never complained. I never pointed fingers. I just always owned up to everything that I've been through."

Snyder's offense puts the center at the elbow often, a place where Fernando thrives. The strength of his offensive game lies in his ability to time and place his handoffs&nbsp;well while screening and re-screening&nbsp;to free his teammates who&nbsp;curl around him at that elbow.&nbsp;

When called on to roll after setting one of those screens, he often finds himself with the ball and a chance to make a play at the rim. He makes audacious choices at the rim – occasionally getting blocked, but more often than not,&nbsp;slamming home a dunk over the fingertips of the defender.

"Once you gather, you gather," he said of&nbsp;that approach. "There is not really much more that I can do. I can't twist and turn in the air. But it sets the tone of being aggressive offensively. I'm trying to boost the confidence of the team and myself as well."

Fernando certainly doesn't have to use the word 'try' there. By bringing a positive energy on and off the court, he has most certainly boosted the confidence of his teammates, and his&nbsp;recent play proves that he belongs as an NBA player.&nbsp;

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Bruno Fernando's emotion, energy, & effectiveness providing major boost to Hawks

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Bruno Fernando drops career-high 25 PTS in Hawks 132-91 Win vs. Hornets

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Bruno Fernando drops career-high 25 PTS in Hawks Win vs. Hornets

Bogdan Bogdanovic, Patty Mills, and Bruno Fernando are slated to begin play in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup this weekend. 

The 32-team tournament begins Friday and runs through Sep. 10. The first portion of the event features group play with the field broken into groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each of the eight groups advance to play in the next phase, which amounts to a 16-team, single-elimination event (with the inclusion of additional games among the top-eight teams to determine the exact finish from 1st place to 8th place).

For the first time in the event's history, the tourney is spread across three different host nations: the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.&nbsp;

Bogdanovic will lead Serbia into battle in Group B in Manila. They face each of the teams in their group once over the next week: China on Saturday, Puerto Rico on Monday, and South Sudan on Wednesday.&nbsp;

Serbia finished&nbsp;fifth&nbsp;in the previous iteration of the same event in 2019, although that team included two-time NBA MVP and reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, who is resting this summer after Denver's long playoff run. Nevertheless, Bogdanovic will have the help of some longtime Serbian team stalwarts like Nikola Milutinov as well as some rising young stars like Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat.

Serbia went 4-1 over the past month in friendly warmup matches leading up to the World Cup. Bogdanovic averaged 15.8 points per game over that stretch, including a 19-point effort in a win over the same Chinese team that they face Saturday.

Mills and Australia play&nbsp;in Okinawa in a deep Group E alongside Germany, Finland and Japan. Australia finished in fourth place in the event in 2019, and Mills will be joined on the roster by a number of NBA players, including Josh Giddey, Matisse Thybulle, Dyson Daniels, and Joe Ingles.&nbsp;

Australia went 4-1 in their friendlies, while Mills averaged 9.4 points per game in those contests. They face Finland on Friday, Germany on Sunday, and host country Japan on Tuesday.&nbsp;

The Hawks acquired Mills, a 14-year NBA veteran and 2014 NBA Champion, in a July 12 trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Mills also helped Australia win&nbsp;a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Australia’s first medal in their Olympic men’s basketball history.

Angola returns to the event for a ninth time, with Fernando leading the way in the paint. They play in Group A in Manila, facing Italy in the tournament's first game Friday, followed by a match against host country the Philippines Sunday, and finishing against the Dominican Republic Tuesday.&nbsp;

Fernando had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in Angola's&nbsp;final tuneup before the tournament, a 75-65 loss to Japan in Tokyo.

While Bogdanovic and Mills are certainly aiming for the top spot on the podium for their teams this summer, they would probably not mind a repeat of their individual performances from 2019. Bogdanovic led the event with 183 total points scored and Mills finished second with 182. It should be quite a sight to see the two snipers resume international play this week.

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Three Hawks representing home countries in 2023 FIBA World Cup

Atlanta Completes Trade With Houston; Acquires Bruno Fernando and Garrison Mathews in Exchange for Justin Holiday, Frank Kaminsky, and Future Draft Considerations

ATLANTA&nbsp;– The Atlanta Hawks acquired center Bruno Fernando and guard Garrison Mathews from the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Justin Holiday, Frank Kaminsky and 2024 and 2025 second round draft picks (Oklahoma City’s own).

Fernando has appeared in 31 games (four starts) with the Rockets this season, tallying 4.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 block in 11.7 minutes (.516 FG%, .682 FT%). The center from Luanda, Angola has rejected two-or-more shots in eight games this season, including two four-block outings.

Selected 34th&nbsp;overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA Draft, Fernando’s rights were traded to Atlanta on July 6, 2019. Over the course of his four-year career, Fernando has suited up for Atlanta (2019-21), Boston (2021-22) and Houston (2021-23). He owns career averages of 3.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 150 games (17 starts). Fernando was the first native of Angola ever drafted into the NBA.

Fernando played two years at Maryland (2017-19), seeing action in 64 games (53 starts), recording 12.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.6 blocks in 26.4 minutes of play (.595 FG%, .763 FT%). He left Maryland ranked second all-time in field goal percentage (.595 FG%), tied eighth in career blocked shots per game (1.6), tied ninth in career double-doubles (25) and 10th&nbsp;in rebounds per game (8.7).

Mathews, a career .366% three-point shooter, has appeared in 45 games for Houston this season, averaging 4.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes. During the 2021-22 campaign, the 6-5 guard averaged career bests of 10.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assist, seeing action in a career-high 65 games, while making a career-high 33 starts.

Undrafted in 2019, Mathews signed a two-way contract with the Washington Wizards on July 3, 2019 and re-signed as a two-way player with Washington on Nov. 21, 2020. He signed a training camp contract with Boston in September 2021 and was claimed off waivers by the Rockets on Oct. 18, 2021 and signed to a two-way contract, which was converted to a standard NBA contract on Dec. 18, 2021.

In his four NBA seasons, Mathews has appeared in 192 games (57 starts), notching 6.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in 18.6 minutes of play. He also saw action in three postseason games with the Wizards during the 2021 NBA Playoffs.

The Franklin, Tenn., native spent four seasons at Lipscomb (2015-19) and finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer in the Division I era with 2,478 points.&nbsp;

Holiday was acquired by Atlanta on July 6, 2022, via a trade with the Sacramento Kings. He has appeared in 28 games for the Hawks this season, averaging 4.5 points in 14.7 minutes of action. Kaminsky signed with the club as a free agent on July 12, 2022. In 26 games played this season, Kaminsky is averaging 2.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 6.8 minutes.

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Hawks Acquire Bruno Fernando and Garrison Mathews

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When a reporter asked Charles Barkley about the United States' first opponent in the lead-up to the 1992 Olympic Games, Barkley didn't equivocate about how his Dream Team squad would match up.

"I don't know anything about Angola, but Angola's in trouble," he deadpanned.

Twenty-seven years later, on the cusp of becoming the first player from Angola to play in the NBA, 21-year-old Bruno Fernando – a man fiercely proud of his home country – took a pragmatic approach to analyzing the match between his countrymen and a team populated by the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. 

"I mean, they were in trouble," Fernando said with a grin. "Obviously, it wasn't easy to play against the Dream Team. I think the competition was there. Our basketball program back there has evolved and grown so much since then."

A 116-48 loss to the Dream Team may not have seemed like a step in the right direction, but in a sense it was. Angola qualified for that Olympics with a victory over Senegal in the 1992 FIBA Africa Championship, their second consecutive victory in an event that they came to dominate. From 1989 to 2013, Angola won 11 out of 13 African titles.

Fernando earned a spot with his country's esteemed national basketball program during that era of dominance. After first picking up the sport as a tall nine-year-old, Fernando joined the Angolan junior program within five years and eventually helped the team win the 2013 FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship.

That tournament win qualified Angola for the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Dubai. It was there that Fernando caught the eye of many basketball observers with a strong game in the paint opposite a US team that featured Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Josh Jackson. Bruno scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against the eventual gold medalists, and in that performance, he paved the way to two years at top US prep schools and two seasons at the University of Maryland.

Now, after being selected with the 34th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, the challenge for the 6-foot-10 forward/center is to expand his offensive game beyond what he was able to do in college, where he averaged 13.6 points and 10.6 rebounds last season largely on the strength of what he was able to do inside.

"We feel like there was more there than you were able to see at Maryland," President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Travis Schlenk said at Fernando's introductory press conference. "You're going to see him step out and shoot threes. He's going to be a good three-point shooter in this league."

In his two seasons at Maryland, Fernando attempted just 13 threes from the shorter NCAA three-point line and made four of them. At the same time, he demonstrated a scorer's touch on midrange jump shots from 10 to 15 feet. He also made 76.3 percent of his free throws as a collegian, an outstanding overall mark and one that might indicate the ability to stretch his shooting range outward.

Fernando wouldn't be the first center to add the three-point shot during Schlenk's tenure. Former Hawk Dewayne Dedmon converted 133 of 358 threes in his two seasons in Atlanta after only attempting a single three in his first four NBA seasons. Current teammate Alex Len, who also played his college ball at Maryland, made 74 of 204 threes (36.3 percent) last season – his first in Atlanta – after only converting six in his first five years as a pro. 

Len noted that it took time to earn the respect of opposing defenses, but once earned, the opportunities abounded in an offense centered on pick-and-roll plays run by Trae Young and John Collins.

"The bigs couldn't help on the roll and J.C. was getting wide-open dunks," Len said of the way teams changed their defensive coverages of him. "If the bigs did help on the roll, it was a wide-open three for me."

By no means is the three-point shot the only challenge facing Fernando, even if it is the one most different than what he experienced at Maryland. He must also adjust to facing off against bigger, stronger players at the NBA level. He has to figure out how to communicate with teammates in a defensive scheme that he himself is just learning. He needs to improve at defending without fouling and protecting the ball when he has possession of it in the paint. 

Of course, most (if not all) of these sorts of things can be said of every rookie pivot.

In the five games of the preseason, small steps of growth were evident in all of these areas. Fernando finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists in 80 minutes played. He tied for the team lead with four blocks. 

Fernando also shot a sturdy 60 percent from the field in the preseason, making 5 of 7 twos and 1 of 3 threes. 

"It was a good feeling. I'm not going to lie," Fernando said of his first professional long-distance connection. "I was wide open. I just caught the ball and shot it. I had a lot of confidence when I took the shot, and I knew it was going in."

If Fernando keeps making those shots, he might not be wide open for long – and that will be a good thing for both Bruno and the teammates with whom he shares the court. 

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Bruno Fernando: From Angola to the NBA

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2019 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot: Bruno Fernando

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ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks have acquired the draft rights to forward/center Bruno Fernando, the 34th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for the draft rights to guard Jordan Bone (the 57th overall pick) and two second-round draft picks, it was announced today. 

“Bruno is a talented, young big man who has improved during his time at Maryland,” said Hawks General Manager and Head of Basketball Operations Travis Schlenk. “He has a nice combination of size, length and athleticism, and a strong work ethic, so we’re excited to add him to our roster.”

Fernando, the first native of Angola ever drafted into the NBA, played in 34 games last season for the Terps (33 starts), averaging 13.6 points, 10.6 rebounds (second in the Conference), 2.0 assists and 1.9 blocks in 30.0 minutes (Conference-best .607 FG%, .779 FT%). He was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and was First Team All-Defense.

In 2017-18, he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team after putting up 10.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 22.4 minutes, appearing in 30 games (20 starts), hitting .578 FGs and .740 FTs. He started his prep career at Montverde Academy (FL) before transferring to IMG Academy. Fernando was born in Luanda, Angola.