Atlanta Hawks: Jenkins on way back; Korver awaiting birth of child

Vivlamore reporting from Hawks shoot-around.

As I  tweeted first (got to follow me on Twitter!) this morning, the Hawks will bring rookie John Jenkins back from the NBA Development League today after a two-game stint. They are hopeful that he arrives in time for tonight’s game against the Nuggets.

Jenkins scored a game-high 29 points for the Bakersfield Jam Tuesday night in a win over the Los Angeles D-Fenders. He was 10 of 21 from the field with four rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.

In his two games, Jenkins combined for 51 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“That is who John is,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said Wednesday morning. “In looking at the stat sheet, John can score. He was a scorer in college. He can score the basketball. I think both games were really good for him just from the psyche of playing, playing competitive and getting into some type of a rhythm.”

Mike Scott did not play Tuesday due to an illness and will remain in the D-League. The Hawks want the rookie to get healthy and then play in a few more games before making a decision whether to return him the NBA.

In other news:

* Kyle Korver is not with the team as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their first child.

Korver, who has been out with back spasms, left before practice Tuesday upon getting the news that his wife was in labor. The couple was in the hospital as of Wednesday morning. I will update with any news on the arrival of a new shooting guard.

* DeShawn Stevenson, who left Tuesday’s practice after taking an elbow to the head, will play tonight. He was a full participant in the team’s shoot-around.

* Drew said he has yet to make up his mind on a starting lineup against the Nuggets. In the decision to go big or small, Drew said he hasn’t decided if Devin Harris will take Korver’s spot at shooting guard.

“We looked at a couple different lineups during shoot-around,” Drew said. “(I) haven’t decided between big and small lineup. Looking that them, they do start a big lineup. It’s something we’ll talk more about this afternoon.”

* Today is Josh Smith’s 27^th birthday. In a stat courtesy of the Hawks’ public relations department, Smith has averaged 15.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.3 steals in his 613 career games. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Smith is the only player in NBA history to have career averages of over 15.0 points. 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals. The league did not begin keeping block and steal statistics until the early-1970s.

* I asked Drew about the team’s poor rebounding numbers that I detailed yesterday. The coach said he is concerned by the statistic.

“When you talk about rebounding, first of all rebounding is dirty work,” Drew said. “It’s just a matter of getting your body on people and just being relentless in pursuing the basketball. It’s not just with our big guys, it’s our perimeters as well. We are going to have to be better in that area. It’s a matter of making a conscious effort of boxing out and then pursing the basketball, coming up with loose balls, going after long rebounds. This Denver team, when you watch them play, they have guys who are just relentless in going to the glass.”

* The Nuggets begin a five-game road trip against the Hawks. When the trip is over, Denver will have played 17 of their first 23 games on the road.

* A reminder that tonight’s game is an 8 p.m. start and will be broadcast by ESPN.

- Chris Vivlamore