UConn in the NBA: Oct 24/25

[auror]

Hawkins on fire.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Hawkins with a team high 24 in a Pelicans win over Portland

 

[auror]

Led the Pelicans in scoring, 22 points in the 2nd half. Pelicans kept him in through all the clutch time despite opening the game on the bench.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Led the Pelicans in scoring, 22 points in the 2nd half. Pelicans kept him in through all the clutch time despite opening the game on the bench.

Was awesome to see him on fire in the 4th. And such a joy in the post game interview too

 

[Waquoit]

Led the Pelicans in scoring, 22 points in the 2nd half. Pelicans kept him in through all the clutch time despite opening the game on the bench.

That'll get you some PT.

 

[caw]

JJ with another ATO taken directly from our playbook.

UConn ran it better.

Seriously though it makes sense Reddick would call these types of plays. He was in love with UConn’s sets.

 

[444JR]

Same statline as posted before, but love this postgame image of Hawk

 

[UCann]

What a night for Hawk! DC was quieter, but there were some good flashes in just 14 minutes. 4 blks 6 rebounds. On another note, what a bummer to see that Ajax and Adama were both DNPs in the Bulls-Bucks game.

 

[UConnKev]

 

[UConnKev]

 

[JonnyRI]

Yeahh, the one thing you worried about with Edey -- which, kudos to him for defying the critics and earning himself a lottery pick when many said he wouldn't go in the first round -- was that the quickness of the game would be too much for him. This isn't the Ewing/Shaw/Olajuwon/Robinson era. Centers have to be able to move.

6 fouls in 15 minutes is a big concern. 2-4 shooting, 1 turnover, OK, 1-5 at the line, he's better than that, 5 rebounds is nice, but no blocks or any other stats. Obvious caveat that it's just one game.

Did you ever see Hakeem play??? He was amazingly quick.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Ayton is so bad. Clingan won't take over his job for a while likely due to conditioning reasons, but it'll happen eventually.

Clingan still looks pretty uncomfortable on the offensive end. That side of the floor seems to be moving a bit quick for him still. I have no doubt he’ll adjust. Defensively, it was night and day. Challenging way more shots at the rim and just turning guys back without even attempting the shot.

 

[Kolumbo]

DC was at the 3 point line when the shot went up...
I don't know how he was fouled though

 

[Mr. French]

He’s so good in transition too and has pace way beyond his years. It took Kemba 3 years to develop good pace.

It’s a skill to know when to pass the ball in transition that he does easily. He doesn’t give the ball to guys at the wrong time.

Very true. Gunning a baseball pass to a big on the sprint usually doesn’t work well.

He’s just a smart player who’s always had a natural feel for the game and good pacing. He’s always played with the qualities of a good PG.

Oh yeah, and he’s 6’7, strong and athletic.

 

[UConnKev]

 

[HailUConn]

Hawk worked his ass off this off season. If Coach/team starts running sets to get him open more and looking for him more, watch out.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Some nice early in the shot clock long 2s mixed in there too

Really happy for Hawk getting this opportunity this year. Looks like he’s really worked hard to expand his game. His jumper is such a thing of beauty

 

[MexicoHusky]

Hawkins was incredible. Career changing skills were on display.

Donovan was a bit better than game 1. But I think he was helped by the predictability of Zion at times. Zion was taking it to the hoop and I think it simplified Clingan's job. That said, Clingan has definitely shown he's going to be able to block shots at the NBA level. Likely at an elite level. But he needs to get stronger. Move just a bit quicker. I hope he and the Blazers have him working his *** off in the gym. Because his ceiling is very high if he improves his strength and conditioning. To me it looks like he has a similar capability at the nba level that he had in college. Dominate the paint.

Blazers are an odd team. Ayton in particular. Despite how bad the Blazers were in game 1, I thought Ayton looked mobile and active. I thought, Donovan is not ready to put this guy on the bench. In game 2 Ayton started ok. Not incredible or anything like that, but once again active. He looked like a good player and I thought, Clingan needs to improve to bench this guy.

Then Ayton entered the game in the 4th. The game looked very winnable. Suddenly Ayton played as bad as one can play for about the next 7 or 8 minutes. He arguably lost the game with his horrendous offense. He took bad shots, missed a wide open dunk and a layup. I thought he was tankng the game.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Hawkins was incredible. Career changing skills were on display.

Donovan was a bit better than game 1. But I think he was helped by the predictability of Zion at times. Zion was taking it to the hoop and I think it simplified Clingan's job. That said, Clingan has definitely shown he's going to be able to block shots at the NBA level. Likely at an elite level. But he needs to get stronger. Move just a bit quicker. I hope he and the Blazers have him working his *** off in the gym. Because his ceiling is very high if he improves his strength and conditioning. To me it looks like he has a similar capability at the nba level that he had in college. Dominate the paint.

Blazers are an odd team. Ayton in particular. Despite how bad the Blazers were in game 1, I thought Ayton looked mobile and active. I thought, Donovan is not ready to put this guy on the bench. In game 2 Ayton started ok. Not incredible or anything like that, but once again active. He looked like a good player and I thought, Clingan needs to improve to bench this guy.

Then Ayton entered the game in the 4th. The game looked very winnable. Suddenly Ayton played as bad as one can play for about the next 7 or 8 minutes. He arguably lost the game with his horrendous offense. He took bad shots, missed a wide open dunk and a layup. I thought he was tankng the game.

Obviously this wasn’t all because of Clingan and Ayton, but I believe NO went on a 13-0 immediately after Clingan left the game jn the fourth.

 

[Boost'ED]

Just watched the highlight clip on Jordan, and his shot release looks smoother compared to last season.

Not to say you can discern player confidence in a shot release, but it looks like money all the time.

He will represent our program well into the future!


Damn shame Adama gets no PT, despite producing double-double efficiency whenever he does play.

A better organization would be wise to play him.

 

[gtcam]

Just watched the highlight clip on Jordan, and his shot release looks smoother compared to last season.

Not to say you can discern player confidence in a shot release, but it looks like money all the time.

He will represent our program well into the future!


Damn shame Adama gets no PT, despite producing double-double efficiency whenever he does play.

A better organization would be wise to play him.

100%
AS would look nice in Celtic green

 

[HuskyFich]

 

[MexicoHusky]

I missed almost all the Spurs game. Caught the last 11 seconds. The game was close. Rockets have the ball and Castle is in. Presumably for his maturity and defense. Especially his D.

The idea the Spurs consider a 19 year old Castle to be a defensive stopper kinda blows my mind. Not that i believe Castle isnt that. He 100% is.... but hes 19. Its nba game 2 for Castle. And hes playing the closing minutes because they want his D on the floor.

This is such a unique thing. It blows my mind a little bit. Rookies in their 2nd game are almost never treated like this.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I missed almost all the Spurs game. Caught the last 11 seconds. The game was close. Rockets have the ball and Castle is in. Presumably for his maturity and defense. Especially his D.

The idea the Spurs consider a 19 year old Castle to be a defensive stopper kinda blows my mind. Not that i believe Castle isnt that. He 100% is.... but hes 19. Its nba game 2 for Castle. And hes playing the closing minutes because they want his D on the floor.

This is such a unique thing. It blows my mind a little bit. Rookies in their 2nd game are almost never treated like this.

I was surprised to see Pop go with Castle over Barnes in the final minutes. Loved seeing it and Castle did a pretty solid job.

Pop seems all in on investing in Castle’s development as much as possible including challenging him in situations like these. He also ran the offense a lot even with CP3 on the floor.

 

[caw]

I was surprised to see Pop go with Castle over Barnes in the final minutes. Loved seeing it and Castle did a pretty solid job.

Pop seems all in on investing in Castle’s development as much as possible including challenging him in situations like these. He also ran the offense a lot even with CP3 on the floor.

Castle did not shoot the ball well at all, but his two buckets were very impressive. He had a few passes that got really open looks for his teammates but were missed badly. He's making the right passes at the least. His defense was solid except for one play.