quote:
When you can play, it’s obvious from the get go. It doesn’t matter if you are playing on a lottery bound team or a contender, if you can ball as a rookie you will play. It’s as simple as that.

Hawkins played 9 games this season where he got 30 minutes or more:

21 points per game
5.5 rebounds per game
3 assists per game
1.4 steals per game
1.8 turnovers per game
44.9% FG%
38.4% 3pt%

Not saying he needed 30+ a game, but it sure seemed like he played better when he was in the rotation with solidified minutes.

quote:
I know Hawkins didn’t play as much down the stretch, but I think it’s obvious they see something in him as well.

But why can't we have guys we see something in in our rotation? Other teams do it, and they deal with the bumps and bruises along the way. Like it was said, other than Herb, we just don't do it.

Hawkins showed he belonged when we gave him a chance, and we just took him out of the rotation entirely.

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Posted by TeddyPadillac

Member since Dec 2010

25939 posts

Posted on 5/2/24 at 10:16 am to shel311

quote:
Hawkins showed he belonged when we gave him a chance, and we just took him out of the rotation entirely.

It's baffeling to just about anyone, fans and media alike.
I know the defense wasn't great, but it sure as shite can't be much worse than CJ's.
and i know his on/off stats were pretty bad and likely the reason for sitting later in the season when we got more into playoff rotations.

The big thing i liked about Hawkins was he made the effort to try to rebound. You don't always have to get the rebound to make a difference. Challenging from behind and preventing the offensive rebound is just as good as getting the rebound yourself. That's something Trey and Herb have always done, and we finallly started seeing it from Zion too. Hawkins did the same.
He's learning on the defensive side, and he'll always have a battle on that end b/c of his small frame in 1on1 situations with bigger guys, but being smarter and just being in the right place is the best he can do with his size, talking about off ball defense, and that can make a world of difference.

He's not quite the ball handler CJ is, that's something he needs to work on so he can get off shots easier when run off the 3 point line, but if he's playing with Zion and another creator like Murray or Sexton (or BI this year), then i don't see the big difference between CJ and him being in the game.

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