It’s crazy how much I like Kings center Spencer Hawes. I remember very specifically the day he was drafted. I was driving home from work and turned on sports radio to have the draft read back to me. With the 10th pick in the draft, Sacramento selects Spencer “Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!! Not the white guy!!!!!!!!!” I screamed while pounding on the steering wheel, Hawes.
How wrong I was. You see, society has warped my mind into thinking that white guys aren’t athletic, and that’s simply not true. Shawn Bradley threw off the whole curve, is the problem. OK, and a lot of other clumsy guys. But Spencer isn’t like them. He’s got more athleticism than I thought he would, even at 7 feet, can score, pass and is getting better as a defender. He could’ve fit in nicely with the 01-02 Kings.
Hawes had a quiet rookie year, but showed promise, and is beginning to live up to it in year two with Brad Miller gone to Chicago. In 28 minutes, he’s averaging 10.5 points per game and 6.9 rebounds, and I expect those numbers to go up next year. The dude can play inside and out, as shown by his 28 three-pointers made this season, 35 percent (for a center). There aren’t a whole lot of 7-footers that can do that. As bad as the team has been (I think they’re 1-63), I still feel good about their future because of guys like Hawes.
They’re young, and still need to learn how to finish a game. That may be a cliche, but if you’re watching the games, you know how many ways they’ve found to blow it at the end – 5-second violations, backcourt violations, scoring on the wrong end of the court.
In an overtime loss to the Cavs last night, the final minutes of regulation into overtime included one dribble off the leg and out of bounds, two passes that went to nobody (one out of bounds, one saved), one horrible pass due to an elbow to the head from a teammate that led to the tying score, and two airballs. The final airball came on the final play of the game as Kevin Martin tried to draw a foul and couldn’t. They blew a double-digit lead midway through the fourth, and had no chance in overtime. They’re more of a first half team.
Zuri
/ March 14, 2009That fourth quarter and overtime against the Cavs was painful. Just painful to watch. Even though I was betting against the Kings, I totally wanted them to win. But Lebron just took over. How can you worry about finishing when you’re not worried enough about stopping the probable MVP this season? And what was up with the playcalling toward the end of the fourth. Nat was just thinking a plain old isolation for Kevin Martin was gonna cut it. It was sorry dude. Sorry.