Atlanta Hawks: De’Andre Hunter has taken a leap this season.
The Atlanta Hawks are loving De’Andre Hunter’s defensive mindset.
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Hunter came back to his second season in the NBA wanting to take greater responsibility on defense. Well, coach Lloyd Pierce has given him this wish. He has taken on Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward twice this season. He has really had his colors lowered by Hayward once, otherwise, he has been superb.
He was originally selected by the Hawks in last season’s draft with the fourth pick because of his two-way potential. Now that he has Clint Capela beside him, Hunter is even more dangerous defensively. His defensive rating has gone from 113.6 last season to 104.6 this season.
Another example of Hunter’s intensity on the defensive end is that he is collecting more defensive rebounds per game. Last season he collected 3.8 per contest. This season he has increased that to 5.7 per game which is an impressive increase considering he has the NBA’s second-leading rebounder playing beside him this season in Capela.
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One thing is for certain this season, Hunter has not stopped developing his game. He is going to continue to build defensive chemistry with Capela and John Collins, which is going to be a very difficult frontcourt to score against. The future is exciting for the Hawks and Hunter is a very big part of that.