I find myself rationalizing it, too, seeing it through navy blue Husky glasses. When I realize I am in the middle of that I slap myself on the wrist.
From what I have watched, Hawkins has been bad in the Summer League, but I will say I think he is working on things that he is weak at like the ball handling and finishing at the rim on his drives etc. The latter is really important because the opposing scouting reports are going to make taking away the 3 pt shooting the priority on Hawk.
I am praying to the Basketball Gods that Newton at least gets a two-way contract. From yesterday's game, not the game a few hours ago today, he went 1 for 9, but I actually thought the game was a net positive for him as he ran the offense and got 6 assists and his defense was really good, he got rebounds on offense as well as defense and he forced turnovers. He never let the bad shooting demoralize him or effect his effort which I thought reflected well on him. However, he really needs to turn the shooting around and I mean now.