Continuing with our Hawks player profiles is guard Kevin Huerter. Huerter is entering his third year as a member of the Hawks and looking to build on a solid second half of the 19-20 season.
Playing History
Huerter hails from Albany, New York, where he played for Shenendehowa High, set the school’s scoring record, won a state championship, and earned Mr. Basketball honors in the state of New York. He’s an absolute legend at his high school, where they changed one of their logos to his likeness. Baller.
Huerter played college ball at Maryland for two seasons, averaging 15 points per game as a sophomore and developing a reputation as a sharpshooter, which the Hawks noticed. They selected Huerter with the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Red Velvet impressed as a rookie, and expectations were quite high going into last season. However, he was hampered by a shoulder injury earlier in the year that kept him out of action. Still, when he returned, he started in 48 of 56 games, averaging 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists with decent shooting percentages of 41% from the field, 38% from 3, and 83% from the free-throw line.
Season Expectations
Look, Kevin Huerter will not make an All-Star team, but he can be a contributing player to a Hawks squad now looking to make the playoffs… I think. As mentioned in the Reddish article, there are only five guys allowed on the floor for 48 minutes of game time. Huerter will most likely come off the bench, backing up Bogdan Bogdanović but should still carve out a nice role as a three-point specialist. (But he’s much more than that!)
Huerter, only 22 years old, can improve across the board, but his most glaring weakness is on the defensive end, where he lacks the lateral quickness to keep up with quick 2-guards in the NBA.
Personally, I am quite high on Huerter, and he is only making 2.76 million dollars this season in the third year of his rookie deal. He can shoot, pass, and has good size. Signing Bogdanović signals that the Hawks might not believe in him as a starting-caliber player, but I believe Huerter can be just as good — if not better — than Bogdanović.
You must log in to post a comment.