Atlanta Hawks: Kevin Huerter Showing Growth with Extended Minutes
By Chris Guest
A look at the recent returns of the rookie season of Kevin Huerter through the lens of his play with the Atlanta Hawks over the past month.
The Atlanta Hawks selected Kevin Huerter with the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, and they are still celebrating how he’s played to start his career. Many fans and outlets are starting to take notice as well, as Huerter was recently ranked all the way up at 10th overall to the Philadlephia 76ers in a recent Bleacher Report 2018 NBA re-draft.
However, that’s purely fantasy, and Atlanta Hawks fans are the ones that get to enjoy the exploits of Red Pepper on a night-to-night basis.
Watching him grow and feel out his game every night has been enjoyable and rewarding, and that’s what makes young players so engaging and fun to watch when they enter the league.
In Huerter’s case, his recent uptick in minutes has led to some impressive numbers of the past month, and the Hawks have been rewarded. In a loss to the Wizards on January 2, Huerter played a whopping career-high of 44:26.
More recently, Huerter delivered a stirring near triple-double against the Miami Heat in which he piled up 10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and even adding 3 steals for good measure.
Though Huerter needed 16 shots to obtain those 10 points, Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce was effusive in his praise for Kev, per Kevin Chouinard of NBA.com:
Lloyd Pierce last night on Kevin Huerter: "Kevin was 4-for-16 from the field today and he played great." pic.twitter.com/NhwzTR8Je5
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) January 7, 2019
Ever since Coach Pierce has put more faith in Huerter and openly stated his goal of trying to get Huerter more shots, Red Pepper’s play has improved.