Hurley says Jackson, Hawkins have chance to be 1st-round NBA picks

[HooperScooper]

Hurley said NBA scouts are high on both the 6-foot-6 Jackson, a high-flying wing who averaged 6.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists last season, and the 6-5 Hawkins, who averaged 5.8 points and 2.0 rebounds.

“There’s a lot [of scouts] coming, probably the most since I’ve been here,” Hurley said.

Junior big man Adama Sanogo is also attracting attention. He could also be the Big East Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds last season. Hurley called him “the best big man in the league.”

“There’s multiple guys in the program beyond those three guys,” Hurley said. “We’ve got some great young players in [Donovan] Clingan, Samson [Johnson] and [Alex] Karaban.”

UConn's Dan Hurley says Andre Jackson, Jordan Hawkins have chance to be 1st-round NBA picks | Zagsblog

By ADAM ZAGORIA WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — […]

www.zagsblog.com

 

[dannyHAM]

If everything goes as planned we will lose a good amount of guys. Completing the 2023 class is becoming more crucial by the day

 

[navery12]

If everything goes as planned we will lose a good amount of guys. Completing the 2023 class is becoming more crucial by the day

Transfer portal

 

[MDHuskFan]

Transfer portal

Which also will coincidentally get easier depending on how our transfers & players develop this year

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Transfer portal

I will forever stand by coaching our own guys. We have an amazing 2023 class coming in. I want to see those guys play, personally.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Lose Hawkins and Andre Jackson. Insert Castle and Stewart.

 

[auror]

My main takeaway from this is that I've been too low on Clingan's impact. I've been expecting 5-10 min due to Sanogo hogging minutes, but sounds like Hurley thinks he can contribute right away. 1-2 punch is not saying "potential", it's talking this year impact.

 

[HooperScooper]

My main takeaway from this is that I've been too low on Clingan's impact. I've been expecting 5-10 min due to Sanogo hogging minutes, but sounds like Hurley thinks he can contribute right away. 1-2 punch is not saying "potential", it's talking this year impact.

Who knows with Hurley? Last year he pumped up Johnson and then never played him.

 

[willie99]

That might mean AJ has a J

 

[auror]

Who knows with Hurley? Last year he pumped up Johnson and then never played him

He said he had "wall potential" and called him a pterodactyl, and said he'd probably not play all 4 years or whatever. Key word there being potential. There were a lot of "eventually's" in his descriptions of Samson. Have to parse Hurley's hype carefully. He's pretty careful with his words. It was clear before the season from chatter and insiders that Samson's situational and defensive scheme awareness needed to improve to get regular PT considering the depth in front of him. I had him estimated for 10 minutes a game before the season in Oct and he got 5.2 (and it was very much a sporadic 5.2).

We'll see what other Clingan tidbits we get as official practices start, etc. But 1-2 punch implies actually seeing the court on a regular basis as a freshman, which is more than he ever implied for Samson to my memory. That and we don't really have another backup center, so it's just a matter of what the minute split will be. I'm leaning towards 28-12.

Here's one quote for example:

Jordan Hawkins, Samson Johnson: “You look at them and project the next couple of recruiting classes in ‘23 and ‘24, because you just don’t think you’re gonna get a full four years with either of those guys. They have so many traits that project to the NBA from a skills standpoint. Jordan has a chance to make bigger impact sooner, because of what we lost on perimeter with James, as opposed to Samson.... And Samson is what you would hope your stretch four man to look like. He’ll eventually be able to guard all five positions, eventually be a competent to good 3-point shooting. And the things he does above the rim, and his cutting are elite.”