Kevin Huerter’s stats aren’t really THAT much worse than they were last year. He’s down a bit in the scoring department, but nothing outrageous. But that’s not what you want from your promising rookie who maybe could be a franchise cornerstone. You want improvement. Clear, definite improvement.
It’s possible that he’s simply refocused away from scoring and towards acquiring triple-doubles. He’s averaging 5 rebounds and 5 assists per 36, both up from last season. The fact that he does not yet have any triple-doubles, or any games above 10 in either stat, is not necessarily evidence that his attempt to change his game is not working. Did Russell Westbrook come into the league ready to get triple-doubles? No. So give it time.
That’s just a theory, though, and not a very good one. The simpler reason is that he’s suffering the widely-known phenomenon called a “sophomore slump”. Lots of good players have this happen to them, so it stands to reason that not-very-good players could also have that happen. But Huerter can’t afford to slump too hard, because… actually I guess he can. The Hawks will keep playing him whether he’s scoring well or not, and it’s not like anything he does well affect their winning chances, which are pretty much at 0 percent for most of the games they play.