Kingston Flemings Identifies Biggest Area for Growth Before Hawks Debut

Three of Kingston Flemings' eight misses were blocked on Oct. 12, when the Atlanta Hawks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a preseason game at State Farm Arena.

Thunder rookie Aday Mara, Anthony Pritchard, and Andrew Holifield each got one. Flemings shot 3-of-11 in 28 minutes of the 113-110 win and went 1-of-2 at the free-throw line.

The eighth overall pick plays his first regular-season game Wednesday at the Orlando Magic, with tip-off at 7 p.m. ET at Kia Center.

Everything has slowed down for Flemings since the Oct. 5 preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.

"I get downhill great, and I'm always in the paint kicking out," Flemings said Monday. "But me and [a Hawks coach], a lot of it's just working on finishing at the rim. I've gotten there a lot, so being able to add some more to my game, being able to finish, just adds a new layer to the team."

Hawks coach Quin Snyder said Monday that the staff has seen Flemings get to the rim and push in the open floor in practice.

At Houston, Flemings averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in 37 starts. He shot 47.6% from the field and 50.3% on 2-point attempts.

He went 109-of-129 at the free-throw line, 84.5%, and averaged 3.5 attempts per game.

His best night came Jan. 24 at Texas Tech. Flemings scored 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting and went 8-of-10 at the line, setting Houston's freshman single-game scoring record.

Four days later at TCU, he scored 27 and went 9-of-9 at the line. He had 8 steals against Florida State on Dec. 6, the second-most in program history.

Drawing contact is the part Flemings is still working on.

"Just trying to get me to work on just playing through contact," Flemings explained. "I'm honestly not great at drawing fouls. So we've been working on that a little bit more."

"But just going to the rim strong, finish with good contact," Flemings added. "The ref calls it, they call it. If they don't, try to finish."

Flemings went 4-of-4 at the line in Friday's preseason finale, a 135-111 win at the Dallas Mavericks. He finished with 10 points and 6 assists off the bench.

Through his first four preseason games, Flemings dunked three times. All three came off steals and in transition.

In San Antonio on Oct. 8, he took 8 shots and made 6 for 15 points.

He started twice in the preseason, both times with CJ McCollum unavailable, and came off the bench in the other three games.

Atlanta drafted Flemings out of Houston on June 23. He was the first freshman in program history to earn All-America honors.

Houston's season ended March 26 in a 65-55 loss to Illinois in the Sweet 16.

At Summer League in Las Vegas, he shot 33.0% from the field and averaged 6.5 assists. ESPN's Zach Kram ranked him ninth among rookies after Summer League and called him the best defender among the lottery guards there.

After Orlando, the Hawks host the Houston Rockets in their home opener Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena.