Are we sleeping on Kevin Huerter?

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, marco102 said:

But we can pay everyone.  Why are you worried about Tony's money.

That's what teams like to say. Often that's not how it goes.

[marco102]

Just now, bleachkit said:

That's what teams like to say. Often that's not how it goes.

What does this mean?  What you are attempting to say is the Hawk won't pay the young guys, because they CAN pay any  players they draft the max.  They just go in the Luxury tax.

[bleachkit]

13 minutes ago, marco102 said:

What does this mean?  What you are attempting to say is the Hawk won't pay the young guys, because they CAN pay any  players they draft the max.  They just go in the Luxury tax.

I'm aware of that. But did we just give JC the max? No we didn't. There might be limits to Ressler's luxury tax tolerance. It's not of concern right now obviously.

[marco102]

2 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I'm aware of that. But did we just give JC the max? No we didn't. There might be limits to Ressler's luxury tax tolerance. It's not of concern right now obviously.

No, but out of the young guys, who else would be asking for a max as of right now. If Kevin wanted 4 years $50 million they'd do that in a heartbeat. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Wretch]

I slept on him.  I used to see Huerter as just an expendable/replaceable bit player, but I'm really hoping we keep him here long term.  He is hitting his ceiling as a reliable scorer off the bench and I'm comfortable seeing him situationally closing games out.  Looking serviceable as a secondary ball handler too. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

My big thing with Kevin, is that he needs to have so much confidence in his shot, that if he's open, he MUST shoot the damn basketball.  His rookie year drove me crazy, because he did not see himself as the guy who should be knocking down a high volume of 3s.

Last year, I was worried that he had plateaued as a player, after only Year 2.

This year, he's been much more aggressive and actually looking to shoot the ball when open.  I think the key is that he's ready to shoot the ball every time he touches it.

His next progression, from a shooting standpoint, is to become a guy who can flat out break a game open with consecutive 3s . . like a run of 3 or 4 in a row, in a very short period of time.  If he gets to the point where his teammates are looking to get him the ball ( ala how we did with Kyle Korver ), that may take his game to the next level.  The downside to that is that it will also put him on everyone's radar once he becomes a free agent.

In the meantime, let's hope Kevin keeps progressing offensively and defensively.  He's playing with the most confidence in his career right now.

[KB21]

2 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

My big thing with Kevin, is that he needs to have so much confidence in his shot, that if he's open, he MUST shoot the damn basketball.  His rookie year drove me crazy, because he did not see himself as the guy who should be knocking down a high volume of 3s.

Last year, I was worried that he had plateaued as a player, after only Year 2.

This year, he's been much more aggressive and actually looking to shoot the ball when open.  I think the key is that he's ready to shoot the ball every time he touches it.

His next progression, from a shooting standpoint, is to become a guy who can flat out break a game open with consecutive 3s . . like a run of 3 or 4 in a row, in a very short period of time.  If he gets to the point where his teammates are looking to get him the ball ( ala how we did with Kyle Korver ), that may take his game to the next level.  The downside to that is that it will also put him on everyone's radar once he becomes a free agent.

In the meantime, let's hope Kevin keeps progressing offensively and defensively.  He's playing with the most confidence in his career right now.

I feel like he has really stepped up his game as a secondary ball handler as well.  

[JeffS17]

2 hours ago, KB21 said:

I feel like he has really stepped up his game as a secondary ball handler as well.  

Also as a defender.  He had some possessions last game that were real nice -- forced some rushed decisions and bad shots.

[Gray Mule]

"SLEEPING ON HUERTER?"

Heck no.  I remember all those trade ideas from other NBA reams.  Seems that everyone wanted the Hawks to trade them _____________ and Huerter for whoever they were trying to sell us on!  Just throw in Huerter and we will call it a deal.

I quickly determined that Huerter wasn't a player that we would give away.  I still believe in our Red Head.  Like all our young crew, he had a lot of growing to do.  And, they all need to grow some more.  When this team reaches full maturity, other NBA teams will want to avoid the Hawks.

[JayBirdHawk]

He's had some ups and downs this season, but I'm still a fan.  I think we forget he is still only 22 years old.

He is one of our most versatile/swiss army type players: playing off the bench or starting, playing 1, 2 and 3.  Not many players can so easily transition without so much if a ripple.  He still needs work and can make some boneheads mistakes, but I'm sure it's not easy transitioning between the different roles tasked to him.

This article is worth the read.

 

 

Quote

Huerter, 6’7” with reliably quick but unhurried shot, is a watchful player. In his two and a half seasons with the Hawks, Huerter has shifted regularly and fluidly between roles, developing his own overall versatility as much as he is helping to shape a young team working toward what its fixed identity could be. Huerter has said he enjoys not being pigeon holed into a specific role on court, a characteristic his former coaches attribute to his cerebral approach to the game. For Huerter, that analytical approach developed in learning from his dad, current AAU coach Tom Huerter, as much as it did out of early necessity...........

Earlier this year, former Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce urged Huerter to balance out his length, intelligence and positioning with physicality. With De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic out for much of the early season, Huerter was tasked with guarding Bradley Beal and James Harden back to back at the end of January. Two tough defensive assignments under optimal conditions, let alone with a thin roster behind him, but Huerter held Beal to 26 points, his lowest scoring performance up to that point, and was able to pressure deflections from the perennially cool-headed Harden.

Some of Huerter’s improved in-game physicality comes from a shift in his diet this season, he’s cut gluten and fried foods completely, and from tapping into his natural vigilance and narrowing that scope on a hapless mark. But much more of it has come from study. Specifically, game tape — hours of it.

While the act of watching tape might be considered passive, the application of it is painstakingly physical. A millimeter tweak of an elbow here, the pivot of a foot there, the process of taking what are essentially split-second mistakes and adjusting them real time as the habits of your brain and body try and override you at every turn.

“It takes time,” Nate Babcock, special assistant for the Hawks says over the phone, “Because sometimes these movements aren’t natural to them, or something that doesn’t come naturally to them, they need to physically feel it. Sometimes they need to actually visually watch themselves do it. Kevin luckily doesn’t have a lot of bad habits. But he has some, and trying to re-break those down and build them back up again, it takes a little time.”

 

[bleachkit]

5 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

He's had some ups and downs this season, but I'm still a fan.  I think we forget he is still only 22 years old.

He is one of our most versatile/swiss army type players: playing off the bench or starting, playing 1, 2 and 3.  Not many players can so easily transition without so much if a ripple.  He still needs work and can make some boneheads mistakes, but I'm sure it's not easy transitioning between the different roles tasked to him.

This article is worth the read.

 

 

 

Plus an extremely high character person, who will do anything the coaches ask and anything to help his teammates. 

[Atlantaholic]

13 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

He's had some ups and downs this season, but I'm still a fan.  I think we forget he is still only 22 years old.

He is one of our most versatile/swiss army type players: playing off the bench or starting, playing 1, 2 and 3.  Not many players can so easily transition without so much if a ripple.  He still needs work and can make some boneheads mistakes, but I'm sure it's not easy transitioning between the different roles tasked to him.

This article is worth the read.

 

 

 

Yup Huerter has been big for us but it drives me a little crazy that for a shooter, he always seems to miss the easy wide open looks in transition and after great ball movement... in fact this year, which he has gotten more of those wide open looks than any other year, he's making just .36% of this threes, which is comfortably below his career average of .38%.  However the rest of his game has developed subtly. He is making much better decisions with the ball in his hands, and he has found a few other spots on the floor that he can go to, like that little elbow turn around jumper which has quietly become money for him. His defense has also improved to the point where it has given us the chance to deploy the Huerter - Bogi wing pairing next to Trae which has turned out to be huge for us. Overall the way I feel about Huerter is that versatility has been a big asset, but his inconsistency keeps him from being an ideal everyday starter. The way this team is constructed though he won't have to be that any time soon, and in the meantime he'll have a perfect player to model himself after in Bogi who pretty much has the exact same skill set as Huerter but with much more polish. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Atlantaholic

[Atlantaholic]

8 hours ago, bleachkit said:

Plus an extremely high character person, who will do anything the coaches ask and anything to help his teammates. 

I feel there are a lot of those guys on this team atm. During Nate's stretch as coach I've seen a lot of unselfish play and gestures by the team. 

[macdaddy]

I don't really understand why Heurter still won't drive into contact.   The guy has some mamba-like skills but really has to be more physical on the offensive end.  

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

Yup Huerter has been big for us but it drives me a little crazy that for a shooter, he always seems to miss the easy wide open looks in transition and after great ball movement... in fact this year, which he has gotten more of those wide open looks than any other year, he's making just .36% of this threes, which is comfortably below his career average of .38%.  However the rest of his game has developed subtly. He is making much better decisions with the ball in his hands, and he has found a few other spots on the floor that he can go to, like that little elbow turn around jumper which has quietly become money for him. His defense has also improved to the point where it has given us the chance to deploy the Huerter - Bogi wing pairing next to Trae which has turned out to be huge for us. Overall the way I feel about Huerter is that versatility has been a big asset, but his inconsistency keeps him from being an ideal everyday starter. The way this team is constructed though he won't have to be that any time soon, and in the meantime he'll have a perfect player to model himself after in Bogi who pretty much has the exact same skill set as Huerter but with much more polish. 

This^^^.

He's leading the team in steals - and these aren't the gambling type, it's really from good anticipation and reading plays.

 

21 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't really understand why Heurter still won't drive into contact.   The guy has some mamba-like skills but really has to be more physical on the offensive end.  

I think he lacks confidence to finish through contact.....his body still needs work.

Look at this move:

 

 

[bleachkit]

58 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't really understand why Heurter still won't drive into contact.   The guy has some mamba-like skills but really has to be more physical on the offensive end.  

Maybe he's trying to avoid injury. 

[kg01]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

I don't really understand why Heurter still won't drive into contact.   The guy has some mamba-like skills but really has to be more physical on the offensive end.  

If Heurter had Trae's confidence, he'd be Devin Booker.