Summer League - July 13th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Charlotte Hornets

The #SummerPelicans are back at it tonight!

🏀: vs Hornets
🕕: 6:30 pm CT
📺: NBA TV
📻: https://t.co/4QdSbs2hH2 and Pelicans app #SummerLeague | @Trip_A_Deal pic.twitter.com/OrFee0clOZ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) July 13, 2023

I hope Dyson and Brandon Miller plays. And Dyson guards him all game.

So watch they both sit. :rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEn-U3s2DJw

Is EJ gonna play? Or did they shut him down?

Dang. I feel a bit bad for Charlotte.

Impressed with Dyson.

Ok. Efff Charlottte. My emotional charity phase passed.

Seabron is making very strong arguments for himself.

Not only is Larry Nance in the middle of setting the NBA record for most summer league games attended in person by an active NBA player in Las Vegas, he was kind enough to give some quality insight on Zion and the Pels. https://t.co/SfpQTtpeUO

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) July 13, 2023

Hawkins struggling again. Anybody else hoping for one good game from him? Man he looks bad.

Wish we had James Nnaji. He's got a long way to go, but certainly has the body and athleticism.

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Originally Posted by Jaxpel

Hawkins struggling again. Anybody else hoping for one good game from him? Man he looks bad.

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He's been one of the worst players in Summer League

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Originally Posted by Silverfoxx

He's been one of the worst players in Summer League

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Not sure if I would say that, but he's definitely shot like it

Hawkins looking like straight booty. 29% from the field and 21% from 3 through 4 games on a ton of attempts.

He'll need to be 38%+ from 3 on volume in year three. We'll see how it goes. I think he has a better than 50% chance of getting there.

Well he's definitely crossed into "meh" territory after this one.

But with his skill set as a rookie, there'll be high peaks and low valleys. Fans will proclaim he's the next Klay at the peaks and pure trash at the valleys.

The bigger story is both Dyson and EJ look solid.

The good news is that shooting %ages in SL are completely worthless information, so you don't need to worry.

The whole story this offseason besides Zion was Pels need to get better from 3 which is why they drafted Hawkins who they proclaimed as the best 3 pt shooter in the draft. If he’s a bust after all the other busts Griffin needs to go. I was never a fan of Griffin who has accomplished nothing without Lebron James.

I realize that SL shooting percentages are not the most important thing in the world, but Hawkins’ shots are not even close a large majority of the time. For a guy drafted in the lottery primarily because of his shooting ability, I am more than a little concerned. He even looks overmatched in most other aspects of the game against SL defenders — his handle is very shaky, his mid-range jumper is off, and his finishing ability at the rim looks quite suspect.

Compare the current state of Hawkins’ game to Keyonte George’s, and I’m sure everyone here is wishing there were a draft re-do.

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Originally Posted by Spec3333

I realize that SL shooting percentages are not the most important thing in the world, but Hawkins’ shots are not even close a large majority of the time. For a guy drafted in the lottery primarily because of his shooting ability, I am more than a little concerned. He even looks overmatched in most other aspects of the game against SL defenders — his handle is very shaky, his mid-range jumper is off, and his finishing ability at the rim looks quite suspect.

Compare the current state of Hawkins’ game to Keyonte George’s, and I’m sure everyone here is wishing there were a draft re-do.

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Literally all of that was known coming in. I mentioned a ton to people that this is a prospect whose selling point is shooting and that everything else will need a bit of work and we'll see if it comes or not.

Many of us were wishing for a draft re-do immediately, because Hawkins wasn't our first choice - I'm included in that number. But he's who we got, and other than the %ages, he's been as-advertised. And no one should care about the %ages - as Luckyman pointed out earlier in another thread, Steph Curry shot like absolute garbage in SL. It was fine for him, I think he turned out alright.

Can we wait until the kid has a few years under his belt in the actual NBA before throwing around the bust tag? Yall are so impatient.

Talk about coming back from a tough game in the opener where he had 7 turnovers. Seabron has come back with a vengeance in the last three games. Yes, it is Summer League and he is far from perfect but he has played significantly better.

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Originally Posted by Lee2000

Talk about coming back from a tough game in the opener where he had 7 turnovers. Seabron has come back with a vengeance in the last three games. Yes, it is Summer League and he is far from perfect but he has played significantly better.

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Trajan and Griff seem to hit consistently on UDFA's. First there were Naji and Jose; now it looks like Seabron shows promise. My real hope, though, is that Liam Robbins turns out to be a player.

Our management team seem very able when identifying 'low end' talent.

My main concern with Hawkins right now is that he's 10/19 from the line. A 4 game stretch at 29% from the field even on high volume could just be written off as a slump, while unfortunately being the only sample size we have to this point in a Pelicans' uniform. But 10/19 from the line for someone who was nearly 90% in college is not a good look. Even during a slump, shooters still should be fine from the line. The NBA ball is the same size as a college ball so that can't be the excuse.

I don't think anyone should expect him to become a star guard. It's not reasonable to have that expectation for a mid first round pick at all. But a Miami Heat Ray Allen type of player (not in year 1 though of course) it's what I would hope for Hawkins to become. But like I said, the free throw shooting to this point is not a good sign.

The Ray Allen comp needs to die. I never used it. Ray Allen had a legit handle and could score from anywhere. Hawkins is more like Rip Hamilton or a smaller Klay.

He also still has the upside of having a decent handle and a 3-level scorer. He already displayed some of that ability despite the bad shooting and loose handle the last couple games.

Just seeing his interviews you can tell the kid is nervous. He kinda mumbles at times. Him struggling from the FT line is further proof that his nerves are not quite settled.

He'll be fine with time. He's a good draft pick. In his last 3 games, that kid Podziemski for the Warriors has shot 7-36 and was drafted as a very efficient shooter out of college.

It's summer league. Hawk will be fine. Relax.

Jordan Hawkins... Get ready to learn Birmingham buddy

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Originally Posted by Tim Floyd

Jordan Hawkins... Get ready to learn Birmingham buddy

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You’re not wrong. No way he gets more than 5mpg this season in the big league. If he does we’ve had another year of a slew of injuries and we’re in full tank mode.

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Originally Posted by SeapeaNOLA

Can we wait until the kid has a few years under his belt in the actual NBA before throwing around the bust tag? Yall are so impatient.

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This.

The kid JUST won a championship. You know how out of shape I would let myself get from partying, over eating, not sleeping, and workout skipping I'd be after winning a championship?

Summer League is weird in that I expect big things from vets but for rookies I'd rather they go in and get humbled. We'll know more by seeing how he improves these deficiencies over the year and into next Summer League than we would have by just seeing him be good on SL. And he's currently like our 10th to 12th player on the roster so we don't need him to step up right away. He was always destined for Bama.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

This.

The kid JUST won a championship. You know how out of shape I would let myself get from partying, over eating, not sleeping, and workout skipping I'd be after winning a championship?

Summer League is weird in that I expect big things from vets but for rookies I'd rather they go in and get humbled. We'll know more by seeing how he improves these deficiencies over the year and into next Summer League than we would have by just seeing him be good on SL. And he's currently like our 10th to 12th player on the roster so we don't need him to step up right away. He was always destined for Bama.

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But, but Griffin said he was our answer for shooting.

Unfortunately next year's draft looks like ********.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

The Ray Allen comp needs to die. I never used it. Ray Allen had a legit handle and could score from anywhere. Hawkins is more like Rip Hamilton or a smaller Klay.

He also still has the upside of having a decent handle and a 3-level scorer. He already displayed some of that ability despite the bad shooting and loose handle the last couple games.

Just seeing his interviews you can tell the kid is nervous. He kinda mumbles at times. Him struggling from the FT line is further proof that his nerves are not quite settled.

He'll be fine with time. He's a good draft pick. In his last 3 games, that kid Podziemski for the Warriors has shot 7-36 and was drafted as a very efficient shooter out of college.

It's summer league. Hawk will be fine. Relax.

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If anything I?m more encouraged that he is also struggling from the line so badly and hitting everything short- because that indicates it is obviously nerves and probably fatigue as I mentioned earlier. It is something that can be fixed with more exposure. It is a tad concerning, but I think it can easily be rectified.

Just put it this way, a great 3 pt shooter and great free throw shooter doesn’t miss THAT badly. He didn’t suddenly become a bad shooter. He’ll just need to adjust to the lights

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

Just put it this way, a great 3 pt shooter and great free throw shooter doesn’t miss THAT badly. He didn’t suddenly become a bad shooter. He’ll just need to adjust to the lights

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THIS. The kid was an 88% FT shooter last season. He didn't all of a sudden forget how to shoot.

Did anyone else think we were going to draft Cam Whitmore when the saw him slide on draft night?

I did. Hawkins skill-set was much more alligned with what we needed; but in the NBA you cant draft for need when such a high percentage of draft choices are total bust. You just gotta draft a the best player available.

I say this cause i saw he dropped 26 points and 8 steals in a game the other day, and wished we had him

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Originally Posted by fullcourtpress

Did anyone else think we were going to draft Cam Whitmore when the saw him slide on draft night?

I did. Hawkins skill-set was much more alligned with what we needed; but in the NBA you cant draft for need when such a high percentage of draft choices are total bust. You just gotta draft a the best player available.

I say this cause i saw he dropped 26 points and 8 steals in a game the other day, and wished we had him

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Yeah, at the time I was kinda hoping they would take a shot on him, but admittedly did not know what the medical concerns were that they were speaking of.

I think most people would agree that you take BPA. Still, if Hawkins calms down and shows what he showed in college he is exactly what we needed. We can criticize the pick once we see him in a structured offense.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

I think most people would agree that you take BPA. Still, if Hawkins calms down and shows what he showed in college he is exactly what we needed. We can criticize the pick once we see him in a structured offense.

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I dont necessarily think im right or anything. It just seemed like a no-brainer to someone like me, who was ignorant to the facts regarding his medical history...... and still is

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Originally Posted by fullcourtpress

I dont necessarily think im right or anything. It just seemed like a no-brainer to someone like me, who was ignorant to the facts regarding his medical history...... and still is

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I do think in most cases you go BPA. I’m not sure what turned so many people away from Whitmore, but maybe he wasn’t considered BPA as a result of it and teams passed on him. Who knows. I think draft picks are one of those things that barring a major injury that destroys their athleticism (aka Oden situation), you can judge a pick in hindsight as opposed to right away. These organizations see these players every day, had private workouts with them, etc. There is a reason why some teams get a bust every year and some find gems at the tail end of the draft. They either have an eye for talent or they don’t. That or the coaching makes all the difference. So far under Langdon, Griffin and co. We have been pretty decent on picks. We don’t normally go after a player like Hawkins so I wonder if Griffin had more of an influence on this pick or not. I hope he ends up a lights out shooter because that could take us up a notch.