Jordan Hawkins Prospect Watch: The Deadeye Sniper

The San Antonio Spurs season is almost over (mercifully) and they are guaranteed a bottom-three spot in the league. The NCAA men’s championship also just finished and featured a dominant UConn team that won it all. The Huskies are going to have a couple of guys on that team get drafted, but the most notable might be sophomore Jordan Hawkins.

The 6-foot-5, 195-pound shooting guard definitely raised his draft stock in that six-game postseason run. He was hitting difficult shots, showing off his athleticism, and playing some solid defense to help his school win its fifth national championship. Here are his stats from the entire season.

• 16.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.7 SPG
• 40.6 FG%, 38.6 3P%, 88.3 FT%
• 20.0 PER, 123.8 ORtg, 98.7 DRtg

Jordan Hawkins Breakdown

If there’s one thing Hawkins proved this season and especially in March, it’s that he can shoot it from deep. He has a lot of later career Ray Allen in his game. Hawkins runs around screens, tires his defender out, and eventually gets the shot he wants. He always gets squared up to the basket well, has a quick release, and isn’t afraid of a quick closeout. He can get into the midrange off a dribble or two for a quick pull-up as well, which should serve him well on hard closeouts from defenders.

An area of weakness for Hawkins is going to be shot creation and advanced ball handling. He has enough ball-handling skills to get to the rim on a straight-line drive, but he doesn’t have any spins or go-to moves when the direct drive isn’t there. This also makes it difficult to create space for himself to get off a shot. Right now, he relies heavily on screens and losing defenders with his boundless energy.

Hawkins will undoubtedly have to get stronger to be able to defend more guards at the NBA level. However, he has some solid athleticism and length to work with already. He’s shown himself capable of becoming a better defender so working with him on that in his first couple of years will be a great development opportunity for whichever team drafts him.

After going on one of the most dominant runs in NCAA Tournament history, this UConn Husky will likely go in the lottery. His play even in the last month has solidified this and barring any injury or particularly bad workout performance. Expect his name to be called by pick 14.