Atlanta Hawks’ Player Awards for November
By Dallin Duffy
Handing out Hardware to the Atlanta Hawks for first full month of the season.
November wasn’t so kind to the Atlanta Hawks.
They won just 2 games on the month (maybe three, as I wrote this before the Hawks’ November 30th match up with the Rockets), and lost 9 in a row.
Further, their star forward John Collins was suspended and their sharpshooting guard, Kevin Huerter was sidelined with injury.
Ugh.
Still, we like to look on the bright-side here at SDS, and decided to give out some player awards for the month.
Let’s Begin, shall we?
MVP- Trae Young
Was their ever any doubt?
The 2nd-year point guard has played not unlike a league MVP through the month of November, putting up gaudy offensive numbers.
#11 averaged 28.3 points, 8.8 assists per game and recorded 6 double-doubles and 1 triple-double.
He did so by shooting 43% from the field, and 35% from deep. He also drained 85% of his free throws.
I won’t throw too much more praise towards the scoring guard, as it’s all been said before. The kid has arrived, and is one of the NBA’s biggest offensive heavyweights already. He’ll still need a few more years to contend for a league MVP, but for now, he’s defiantly team MVP.
Defensive Player – Evan Turner
This one was a bit tougher.
Rookies De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish could have easily taken this title, as could of vet DeAndre’ Bembry.
But Evan Turner was equally solid on D, and had the better statistics overall.
The 31-year-old had himself a nice first full month with the Hawks, averaging .5 steals and .6 blocks per contest, which is more impressive when you realize he averaged just 13 minutes a contest.
His defensive rating of 104.3 was beat only by another rookie, Bruno Fernando.
Another advanced stat showed that Turner allowed only 25 fast break points (178 for Trae Young for comparison’s sake). The Hawks turn the ball over a lot, and give up a lot of points in transition, and Turner was one of the only recorded to help reduce that number.
His veteran defense is appreciated.
Rookie of the Month – De’Andre Hunter
Don’t look now, but De’Andre Hunter is starting to fully transfer into the NBA world.
The Virginia produce averaged 13 points a game in his first full month of pro ball, which was 3rd on the team behind Trae and Jabari Parker.
He also found his stroke from deep, making 39% of his threes.
That, combined with his improving, tough defending and knack to grab a good amount of boards for his size/position, has the future looking promising for the #4 overall pick.
His best career game came back on November 20th, when the rook scored 27 points and collected 11 rebounds.
6th Man – DeAndre’ Bembry
Some, if not most, thought Bembry would get a starting job this year, espically with Kevin Huerter injuried.
Alas, Lloyd Pierce has stuck with bringing the 4th-year forward off the pine, and that has paid off.
Bembry consistently provides good defense and energizingly athletic plays when he’s spearheading the B-team.
He averaged just over 7 points a contest, but is and was always a quality over quantity guy, making 52% of his selected shots.
Only Trae averaged more assists per game, and only Jabari averaged more steals.
Next. Hawks/Pacers Recap. dark
He’s the perfect kind of high-energy, team-first player that works great off the bench.