I watched the Kansas game to see how Hawkins looked against Harris, the B12 Defensive POY. My biggest takeaway was his quickness and aggression. He took lots of chances on offense and defense, which led to points but also turnovers and allowing his man to get penetration. Thought he was a little bit lazy on perimeter D both challenging 3's and fighting through screens.
Payne will be his best friend if they develop chemistry like Hawkins had with Shy Odom, there were tons of lobs. Also we need to work on our backdoor cuts because I counted half of dozen of those where Hawkins delivered a beautiful pass.
I am really curious to see how Ben uses him because we've been a painfully slow team and the announcers specifically mentioned Howard is 3rd in turnovers because of their pace pushing the ball. Can Ben integrate Hawkins into his offense? I really hope he doesn't stifle him but can help limit the turnovers a bit. Overall I was impressed with him and think this was a very good get.
Hawkins scored 12 points on 5/11 shooting (3/5 FT, 2/6 3PT) with 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, and 7 (!) turnovers.
Opening possession, he has a nice looking drive that doesn't go in. Announcers go on to talk about his reputation for driving to the basket. They also note he is in a matchup with Dajuan Harris, the reigning B12 Defensive POY. Who is also a small PG at 6'1" 160.
Nice assist on a backdoor cut for the first points of the game:
Right after that last basket, he ties up the inbound pass for a jump ball (which Kansas retains)
Next time down the floor, another assist:
1st near-turnover, he starts a fast break off of a miss. Pushes the ball and makes a risky pass that gets knocked out of bounds. Definitely shows he is aggressive:
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