Are we sleeping on Kevin Huerter?

[Spud2nique]

Have you all noticed Nique loves it when Huerter is aggressive in the lane? He gets excited on a different level that you hear in his voice. He always says something like, “that’s what Kevin needs to continue to do, take advantage of his defender because he usually has a few inches on him” or something along those lines.

 

@kg01 He is definitely a better playmaker over Book. The only thing Book really has on him is natural god given genes of having a bigger frame 🖼. But Huerter should use his inner Dikembe bony elbows and punisher defenders that way instead of with his butt like Book. 

[kg01]

11 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Have you all noticed Nique loves it when Huerter is aggressive in the lane? He gets excited on a different level that you hear in his voice. He always says something like, “that’s what Kevin needs to continue to do, take advantage of his defender because he usually has a few inches on him” or something along those lines.

 

@kg01 He is definitely a better playmaker over Book. The only thing Book really has on him is natural god given genes of having a bigger frame 🖼. But Huerter should use his inner Dikembe bony elbows and punisher defenders that way instead of with his butt like Book. 

You 'member when he bully-ball'd Zion that one play where Zion clearly just tripped over his foot.  Heurt-dog has it in 'im. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

His drive and pull up game is getting so much better.

[MarylandHawk]

Yep. Kevin seems to be the one person motivated by all this competition. His shot may not fall every night, but his high effort level has been the most consistent of all the wings. 

[Gray Mule]

On 2/10/2021 at 12:31 PM, Gray Mule said:

"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.

These Hawks continue to grow.  We seem to be posed to enter the playoffs this season and to make some noise before we exit.  Hang on.  Our time is not yet.  We are not good enough to compete for the grand prize.  On the other hand, what team in the east is going to say, "I sure hope we get to play Atlanta.  That will be an easy win in the playoffs!"

How long, how many games have we played at full strength?  None, I believe.  Yet, we make noise right now.  Fully healthy, which I doubt we ever achieve, we are a beast in the east.  Just wait until we're full grown!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Nice!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[Atlantaholic]

On 2/9/2021 at 6:38 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Those numbers are wrong though. Huerter is nowhere near those numbers since Hunter went down. Or is this since the second time he went down?

Huerter's best month so far has been April and he's at 14ppg on 51-40.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Atlantaholic

[ATLHawks3]

50 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Those numbers are wrong though. Huerter is nowhere near those numbers since Hunter went down. Or is this since the second time he went down?

Huerter's best month so far has been April and he's at 14ppg on 51-40.

The original tweet was from February 9th. Hunter first got injured on January 29th. So I think he was talking about that 1.5 week span from the time he was first injured.

[Atlantaholic]

2 hours ago, ATLHawks3 said:

The original tweet was from February 9th. Hunter first got injured on January 29th. So I think he was talking about that 1.5 week span from the time he was first injured.

ah, missed the date. Yea, that makes sense. Anyway, Huert has been playing great in April after that mini slump where he got benched for Bogi. If Hunter never gets back this year we still have got something there as long as Bogi and Huerter can keep it up.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

No injury Jinx please!  Good article on his progress this season!

 

 

[hawkman]

34 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

No injury Jinx please!  Good article on his progress this season!

 

 

I'm not sure I 100% agree with the consistency part as far as his play is concerned, but Huerter has looked really good in April. I'm seeing parts of Bogi's game rubbing off on him which is a good thing. I feel like he's creating shots like he did at Maryland. It's good to see that part of his game translate.

[benhillboy]

I never slept on Velvy.  Even through his struggles with aggression and lateral defensive movement his “coach’s son” style always shines on the floor and in his numbers to me.  $2.7 milly for a .531 eFG, damn near 3:1 assist to turn ratio, and a neutral defensive box in a 6’7” package is actually highway robbery.  
 

Bogi has surely had a great impact upon him, same as Clint with John.  Dare I say Solo helped with Dre’s improvement?

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

Quote

Because you just mentioned defense, Nate (McMillan) has talked about how the coaching staff has challenged you to be better defensively this year. I think it’s been noticeable that you’ve been better on that end of the floor this season. What do you attribute as the biggest difference for yourself this year defensively? 

I feel stronger. I’m trusting my body more to be physical with guys. I’m moving my feet better. Watching film and just being in the right spots — that’s off the ball and learning the game and other teams — on the ball, I’m trying to be more physical and trying to make guys more uncomfortable and move my feet a lot better.  We’ve watched film in years past where I was getting beat and it wasn’t always because of the lack of agility and foot speed. A lot of the times it was because my feet were in a bad position and I was giving them an angle and they were already by me. The little nuances like that have definitely helped me. I also think it’s been a mindset change, and not just for myself. I think everybody has been better defensively. It’s easy to get up and pressure the ball when you have Clint (Capela) in the back and blocking everything for you. I think my individual defense has gotten better but across the board, it’s gotten better defensively.

You mentioned how you were watching film and noticed how your feet were angled poorly sometimes. How do you go from taking that from the film room to implementing it in games where it’s second nature for yourself? 

I literally would do this after practice with a couple of our player development coaches. We would spend like four or five minutes just playing defense where the focus would just be on feet positioning and beating them to a spot and watching different guys on film who are really good at it in the NBA. We would watch how they’d find the right angles and how they could recover. It’s all of that little stuff that matters. Someone who is an unbelievable defender because he’s good at that little stuff is Jrue Holiday. Jrue Holiday gets beat, but he knows how to recover. You’re in the NBA, and everyone is going to get beat, but it’s about how you recover. It’s something I’ve watched on film and then got my reps in practice for four or five minutes. When you go into games, you try to be as best as you can be and then watch the film over again, practice it, and it’s just a repeated process.

 

Quote

When you guys signed Bogdan (Bogdanovic), I think a lot of people, myself included, felt your role was going to end up being diminished from what it was last year. Did you feel like you had something to prove coming into the year to show your worth?

I feel like I have something to prove every time I step on the court. When you bring a player of Bogi’s caliber and you pay him what he’s getting, from the outside, it looks a certain way. For me, it was just about continuing to get better. I think I’m a player who can play in a lot of different roles on a lot of different teams and really fit in and do a lot of different things that a coach wants me to do, so I was only trying to control what I can and continue to work hard. This year has really been a good example of it because my role has changed so many times during the course of this year. I’ve been in the starting lineup. I’ve been out of the starting lineup. My minutes have been up and down. You go into the day and treat it the same. You’re always ready and available. You have to have that approach. At the end of the day, I believe in myself and know I belong in this league. It doesn’t matter who we have; I always think I can compete and prove my worth.

 

[macdaddy]

Kevin has improved.  There is no denying that.   He's definitely stronger this year and his defense is pretty good.   Those are huge steps forward.   If he can improve his finishing in the lane then he's going to be dangerous.   And he can do it.   You his ability when he has clear paths.  He just has to get comfortable going to the rim with contact.   He still jumps away from the hoop a lot to avoid contact. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[ATLHawks3]

Bogi has been a really good influence on Huerter. His shot creation off the dribble in the midrange is really good.

[bleachkit]

Kevin adding that mid range shot of the bounce has helped him a lot.

[JayBirdHawk]

Huerter is #19 in the NBA in steals - WOW - didn't see that coming.  He has been sneaky good with those timely steals, always seem to get them when we most need them to. What I like about them is he isn't a gambler with those steals, he does well reading plays and stepping in at the right moment.