New Orleans Pelicans rookie Jordan Hawkins has experienced a whirlwind of an NBA season after just 24 games. He got the first career start just three games into the schedule, sank seven three-pointers (31 points) against the defending champion Denver Nuggets, then poured in 25 points to beat the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA In-Season Tournament group stage game. That was just the first three weeks of his professional journey.
The first month was downright historical. The last few weeks have been harder on the rookie and the coaching staff. The return of CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III meant a minutes crunch was coming for the Pelicans, especially since Green wants to keep the rotations tight around 9-10 core players. Still, there are plenty of the schedule left to play and even more reasons to be encouraged. Though minutes have been harder to come by recently, the DeMatha Catholic (MD) alum is averaging a very respectable 11.9 points on 38.7 percent shooting and 36.6 percent from 3-point range in 26 minutes per game.
Hawkins makes history, Green makes ‘tough decision'
“Those are some of the tough decisions that I have to make. I’ve had some talks with Hawk, and he’s been fantastic. It’s nothing he’s done. It’s more about ‘Can I play 11 guys? Can I play 12 guys?' and that’s tough to do sometimes,” Green explained after a bounce-back home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“My message to him is to stay working. Your opportunity is going to come around again, and we can all see that he has a bright future with us, and that’s just the deal. It’s a long season, I’m sure we’ll have some guys in and out and he’ll get another opportunity to come in and impact this team.”
Hawkins logged just 15 minutes in Murphy III’s return versus the San Antonio Spurs, a 121-106 home win. Then came the dreaded DNP-CD against the Sacramento Kings in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals. Green emptied the bench in the blowout semifinal loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and Hawkins played 12 minutes. The rookie got only one minute against the Timberwolves in Monday night's win.
Offense, not defense, more worrisome for Pelicans
Jordan Hawkins has cooled down since his fast offensive start and is being hunted on defense more often. The young Pelicans' wing leads all rookies in three-point shots defended at 5.4 per game (16th overall) and opponents are knocking them down at a 34.7% clip.
The UConn product sits ninth in two-pointers defended by rookies, including just over four shots per game at the rim. Those rim-pressuring plays work 57.1% of the time Hawkins is the closest defender. Furthermore, 55.1% of all two-point shots are going in which negates any offense Hawkins brings to the rotation. He has the third-worst plus/minus on the Pelicans, just ahead of a hobbled Larry Nance Jr. and two-way signee Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
Those numbers are to be expected though, especially from a rookie. It's just going to be hard for Green to find time for Hawkins as long as other Pelicans are posting better shooting numbers. Hawkins bumps up the volume but this team needs quality not quantity to notch a winning record.
Entrenched veterans McCollum and Jose Alvarado are both undersized if not slight defenders who have figured out how to make things work. Hawkins is still learning while the statistical anomalies round out back to the mean. Matt Ryan (47%), Naji Marshall (42.5%), McCollum (37.8%), and Alvarado (39.4%) all have better three-point percentages after two dozen games.
Zion Williamson is listed as questionable for Wednesday night's road game against the Washington Wizards (3-19). Even without their two-time All-Star, the Pelicans have a formula for winning games against lottery teams. If ever there were a stretch of games to get Hawkins on the court with McCollum, Murphy III, and Brandon Ingram, it is this current road trip. Las Vegas won't be laying lines for bets but Pelicans' fans should expect to see more of Jordan Hawkins celebrating during comfortable wins this week, not sitting on the sidelines sweating out close games.
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