JHawk

[HuskyHawk]

He really needs to improve his defense. The word on him as a recruit was he was a + defender. He seems to be playing too tight outside, and letting people get by him. I think his offense will come. Would like to see him do the little things. Rebound better. Take care of the ball. Make some passes. He's going to be very good, just needs to dial in some of the fundamental things and have confidence.

Side Note: JHawk is not a good nickname for reasons that should be obvious.

 

[imno1]

A bench of Akok, Polley, and Hawkins is pretty darn good. It's really too bad Gaffney or Diggins cannot not provide dependable backup minutes for RJ. We are probably that one player away from being elite

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Agree that he needs to clean up his defense more as one part of getting more minutes. It will happen.

I was very curious to see how he would respond after the one inbounds play where he took the pass on the sideline and bounced it off his leg out of bounds.

Didn't seem to have as much negative response as per usual. Though the stakes at that point were not as high, as we were comfortably ahead.

Still, maybe a sign of progress of not letting those things derail him.

 

[CL82]

At whose expense? I think Coach is bringing him along just fine. Hawkins entered early last night, played well and got extra minutes. This is a stretch of games where Jordan can prove he's ready for extended minutes.

And, coincidentally, this is the time of year when things start to click for freshman.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He really needs to improve his defense. The word on him as a recruit was he was a + defender. He seems to be playing too tight outside, and letting people get by him.

This. He and AJax (though he's calmed a lot of of this down recently), play super tight on the outside to the point that they just can't move their feet quick enough when the guy they're guarding makes the first move. There have been way too many blow-bys or fouls caused by letting their man get the first step on them. They're both pretty long players. Take a step back and contest if they go up for the shot.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Hawkins definitely making progress, yet as I mentioned in another thread I'm anticipating a tale of two cities with best of times at home & struggles on the road. Progress isn't always linear, but maybe back-to-back vs same team the away court doesn't matter and he makes the semi-leap we are all hoping for.

 

[TeasenDonut]

This. He and AJax (though he's calmed a lot of of this down recently), play super tight on the outside to the point that they just can't move their feet quick enough when the guy they're guarding makes the first move. There have been way too many blow-bys or fouls caused by letting their man get the first step on them. They're both pretty long players. Take a step back and contest if they go up for the shot.

It takes a lot of space to shoot over Jackson… and contested mid range shots are not high percentage. I would love to see them ease up and stay in front of ball handlers a tiny bit more.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This. He and AJax (though he's calmed a lot of of this down recently), play super tight on the outside to the point that they just can't move their feet quick enough when the guy they're guarding makes the first move. There have been way too many blow-bys or fouls caused by letting their man get the first step on them. They're both pretty long players. Take a step back and contest if they go up for the shot.

I'm going to speculate that this partly comes from Hurley's view that a layup is no big deal, but a made 3 is the end of the world. He seems to hate giving up 3s. And if he can keep his shot blockers in or around the lane, he might be right. But yeah, they are long enough to play a tiny bit further off.

 

[wheelerdog]

When he rushes he's not good, when he takes his time he's effective.

 

[UconnU]

He really needs to improve his defense. The word on him as a recruit was he was a + defender. He seems to be playing too tight outside, and letting people get by him. I think his offense will come. Would like to see him do the little things. Rebound better. Take care of the ball. Make some passes. He's going to be very good, just needs to dial in some of the fundamental things and have confidence.

Side Note: JHawk is not a good nickname for reasons that should be obvious.

He plays like a really talented kid who had bad coaching at the high school level. Except he played for Mike Jones at DeMatha who was a legend before leaving for VT. He was playing public before transferring to DeMatha though.