Author: Kevin L. Chouinard
ATLANTA -- Alex Len wasn't alive yet when the Atlanta Hawks toured the Soviet Union in the summer of 1988 and played one of their three games against the Soviet National Team in Vilnius, Lithuania. When his fellow countryman Alexander Volkov played for the Hawks from 1989 to 1992, Len still had not yet been born.
But even if those events predated him, they didn't stop Len from rooting for the Hawks as a kid.
"Actually, I grew up being a fan," Len said. "Our first Ukrainian NBA player was Alexander Volkov.