DeAndre Hunter emerging as a future 6MOY?

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Man, this thread feels like forever ago.

Get well soon, DH.

Read on Twitter

[jayu70]

Will he make the cut? I think he should.

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Get well soon, young buck...

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Every NBA Team's Most Underrated Player

Atlanta Hawks: De'Andre Hunter



Incidental underappreciation is a thing. De'Andre Hunter is proof.

Right knee issues—plural—limited him to a combined 28 appearances through the regular season and playoffs, turning his sophomore campaign into a fit of abridged starts and protracted stops. The idea of his skill set is not underrated: a 6'8" wing who can switch across four positions and move the offensive needle with a touch more than just floor spacing. But not everyone outside Atlanta has seen the application of that value in large enough doses to grasp Hunter’s ceiling.

Prior to suffering the first of his right knee injuries, he was in the onset running for Most Improved Player, averaging 16.7 points through his first 13 games on better than 50 percent shooting inside the arc and a 40 percent clip from beyond it, all while showcasing an extra gear of put-it-on-the-deckism.

Wrapping that combination of spacing and functional shooting into a big, strong combo wing who unlocks dangerously shifty small-ball units that won't wilt on defense is terrifying—for the rest of the league. And it's part of why the Atlanta Hawks are working off such a stellar offseason despite not doing much beyond roster maintenance and late-draft dice rolls: They still have a clear path toward demonstrative internal improvement.

Bleacher Report

[HMFFL]

De’Andre Hunter (knee) won’t be a full participant in camp, according to Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Hunter underwent surgery on his lateral meniscus in mid-June and was expected to make a full recovery in advance of training camp. However, the Hawks have no reason to rush back their promising young forward. Atlanta does anticipate Hunter will be ready to rock when the season begins.

SOURCE: Atlanta Journal Constitution

Sep 25, 2021, 2:28 PM ET



Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[HMFFL]

De’Andre Hunter (knee) was able to go through a full practice without any restrictions on Thursday. 

Hunter played just 23 games last season and looks to head into the new season completely healthy. He’s well on his way and should have no issue being ready for opening night, and he could very well find himself in the starting lineup due to his defensive ability alone. The Hawks are loaded offensively, however, so this caps his fantasy ceiling a bit, but there are worse guys to take past pick 100 on draft day.

SOURCE: Chris Kirschner on Twitter

Sep 30, 2021, 8:18 PM ET



Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[shakes0]

De’Andre Hunter (knee) was able to go through a full practice without any restrictions on Thursday. 

Hunter played just 23 games last season and looks to head into the new season completely healthy. He’s well on his way and should have no issue being ready for opening night, and he could very well find himself in the starting lineup due to his defensive ability alone. The Hawks are loaded offensively, however, so this caps his fantasy ceiling a bit, but there are worse guys to take past pick 100 on draft day.

SOURCE: Chris Kirschner on Twitter

Sep 30, 2021, 8:18 PM ET



Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

making it through a full practice is great, but the real test is how he feels today.

[jayu70]

Read on Twitter

Solomon Hill, whom Hunter calls a big brother, believes that if Hunter were healthy, the Hawks possibly could have won the title. Hill isn’t the only one who feels that strongly about Hunter’s importance. Throughout the Hawks’ postseason run, multiple players mentioned how having Hunter on the floor changes things. That’s why everyone in the organization is hoping that Hunter’s 19-game stretch before his first meniscus surgery was just the start of a promising career.

“He’s self-motivated and self-driven,” Hill said. “He’ll come out here and miss some shots and be more mad than anyone in the gym. He’s just a workaholic. He was a champion (at Virginia). He knows what it takes to win. What he was able to do for that first quarter of the season, he was probably one of the most consistent players we had on the court. Defensively, he’s locked in. He’s no bitch on the defensive end. I believe in him and Cam (Reddish) as two-way players. I love ‘Dre. I know what he can do out there. I believe if we had ‘Dre, our chances are through the roof.”


Vince Carter, Hunter’s teammate in his rookie season, mentioned last season how noticeable and different Hunter’s level of confidence was. Hunter agreed that he felt more comfortable last season. He trusted the work he put in prior to the season was going to translate, and it did.
When Hunter was told that Hill said he felt like he was the missing piece for the Hawks’ title hopes last season, he responded with confidence.

“I just have to prove him to be right,” Hunter said

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

Atlanta Hawks X-Factor: De’Andre Hunter

Hunter was on his way to a breakout sophomore campaign, averaging 15 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game on 48.4/32.6/85.9 shooting, but knee issues plagued him all season, limiting him to 23 games in the regular season and a torn meniscus ended his first postseason [early].

Hunter will be the biggest addition to the roster we saw in the Conference Finals — and his two-way ability has the potential to keep the Hawks in the conversation of East contenders.

Hunter’s impact defensively is tremendous. In 678 minutes (an admittedly small sample), the Hawks had a defensive rating of 105.9, while without him (a much larger 2,803 minutes) the team’s defensive rating was 113.0. Even factoring the noise of on/off defensive rating, the Hawks are significantly better when he’s on the floor thanks to his considerable gifts as an on and off ball defender, with versatility to guard 2-4. Adding him back into the lineup will, if nothing else, be a boost defensively, but it’s on the offensive end, where Atlanta is already terrific, that Hunter has the biggest questions.

Prior to the injury, Hunter was shooting 36.6 percent from three in the first 18 games of the season (his 1-of-13 stretch in the last five games of the regular season brought his percentage down considerably) and he was emerging as more of an on-ball threat in his second season. If he can sustain that moving forward, Hunter makes the Hawks a far more dangerous, balanced team no matter who he is paired with on the wing between Bogdanovic and Kevin Huerter, who had a breakout of his own in the postseason.

Uproxx

[Jamaaliver]

Nice return to action by DH.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[hawks_fan25]

I think Deandre is going to be one of the best on-ball defenders in the league and Cam is that sneaky, get hands in passing lanes and on drives to the lane, type of defender that will get a lot of steals. Great having a lockdown wing and a ballhawk both with great length and quickness to disrupt almost any kind of wing player. I'll be really interested to watch these two against the Nets and the other teams with great wing scorers.

[jayu70]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

“We feel like we can be elite defensively,” Collins said. “We have length. We have youth. We have athleticism. Now we have some experience. We’re trying to put that all together and let it sit and jell well. I feel like the one big thing we were missing (last season) was true chemistry, a true feel for playing with one another throughout the season. If we stay healthy and build that chemistry, we’re going to be an elite defensive team.”

Hunter’s ability to guard as well as he does on the ball allows Collins and Clint Capela to control the paint because the other guys don’t have to come over and help. When and if the ball does get into the paint, defenses are forced to collapse, which then snowballs into open 3s and poor rebounding positioning. Dallas shot 13-of-34 in the paint against the Hawks.

Thursday was a master class in defense from the Hawks and a continuation of where they left off in the playoffs after leveling up on that end. Collins has shown continual growth defensively in the frontcourt. He’s gone from a question mark to someone who McMillan trusts to guard three positions. In limited minutes last season, when Collins, Hunter and Capela shared the floor, those lineups allowed only 95.5 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning The Glass.

[jayu70]

Love these:

[jayu70]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

De'Andre Hunter is helping power the Hawks' turnaround



Since Hawks F DeAndre Hunter re-entered the starting lineup 11 games ago, Atlanta sports the sixth-ranked offense, 16th-ranked defense and seventh-ranked Net Rating.

Across those 11 games, the third-year wing is averaging 14.7 points and 4.0 rebounds on 58.7% True Shooting (.475/.419/.732 splits), providing necessary two-way zeal for a team craving it.

Narrow the parameters to six games — when Clint Capela returned after a 10-day absence — and the numbers are even rosier for Atlanta: eighth-best offense, fourth-best defense and third-best NET. Over that time, the Hawks have faced four of the Eastern Conference’s top-nine teams; Atlanta has wins over three of them, including the Miami Heat, who are mere percentage points behind the No. 1 seed.

Hunter is easily the club’s premier point-of-attack defender. Alongside Capela, his presence revolutionizes its pick-and-roll coverage. The big man is tasked with fewer responsibilities and 2-on-1 pickles because Hunter excels at wedging himself between ball-handlers and screeners to stay attached.

A ripple effect of Hunter’s presence is downshifting everyone else in the perimeter defense hierarchy. Kevin Huerter is a good perimeter defender, but not so much when tasked with stopping the other team’s top option. Empowering him to wrangle with secondary creators — a massive difference from primaries for most teams — or provide help at the nail, where he’s comfortable, is a much more optimal allocation of his talents.

On the ball, Hunter is physical, yet disciplined against fakes and sudden movements, as to heed against foul trouble. He proficiently flows around screens and frustrates opponents with his strength. Nobody else on the Hawks can consistently flummox All-Star creators like him.

Hunter's [defensive] aptitude significantly reduces how frequently Atlanta is putting out fires caused by breakdowns at the point-of-attack. Help on drives, ball-screens and face-ups is less imperative. The defense isn’t routinely playing catch up. That’s always valuable, especially so on a team where the communication and coordination off the ball can be rather lackluster.

The third-year swingman has drilled 41.9% of his triples since returning, can attack off the catch and keenly migrates around the arc to open driving lanes, passing windows or space for jumpers.

Over this span, his pull-up has been clicking too, having canned 51.6% (16 of 31) of his off-the-dribble attempts. Young is a foremost advantage creator in the NBA. Through a bevy of ways, Hunter knows how to amplify that skill, and he’s exemplified it in recent weeks.

Operating next to a (justifiably) ball-dominant initiator like Young isn’t universally seamless for ancillary players. Yet, with decisiveness, mid-range touch and a torrid outside jumper, Hunter is thriving as an off-ball scorer right now.

Whether it be face-up touches or strength-fueled drives, he’s a budding mismatch scorer. The Hawks lack many guys who tout both the creation chops and size to punish seemingly advantageous assignments.

As many teams embrace switch-heavy defenses (it feels like more than last season), Hunter adds utility to relieve pressure from Young, who sometimes encounters issues against effective, rangy switching schemes (think Miami, per se).

While Hunter's handle isn’t dexterous enough to flood pick-and-rolls, he’s also flashed capacity for the occasional ball-screen in proper settings. He’s refining his craft using screens, and the high release point on his jumper opens the door for some side pick-and-rolls.

Many of the Hawks’ perimeter players force them to make concessions on one end of the floor. By fashioning surplus impact on both ends as of late, Hunter doesn’t. He’s been critical to their improved play, even if he’s not some perfect wing.

The Hawks' hopes of a sustainably credible perimeter defense hinge on Hunter, and he’s a distinct, malleable outlet offensively. Atlanta’s recent seven-game win streak wasn’t solely due to him, but there’s undoubtedly a correlation. Expect that to continue moving forward.

Basketball News

[Jamaaliver]

He's getting hot again...

Read on Twitter