I’m sure I’m not the only one who was expecting a little more out of Kevin Huerter this year. He hasn’t regressed too badly, just a small dip in percentages and slightly fewer minutes, I would hardly qualify it as a regression at all, but just standing pat is not what young players are supposed to do. Especially ones whose games are as aesthetically pleasing as Huerter.
It’s not like there’s any players standing in the way of him doing better, either. If he was a beast as I hoped he would be this year, there would be no limit to his playing time. The Hawks are desperate, especially with Trae Young temporarily sidelined, for someone, anyone, to put the ball in the hole with regularity (and not necessarily efficiency).
Can we blame Lloyd Pierce for this one? I don’t know much about his coaching tendencies, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a system in place to get guys open looks, with the bulk of the offense being “give Trae the ball and see what happens”. Huerter strikes me as a guy who would benefit from an organized offense. I mean, all players would benefit from an organized offense, but him more than usual.
If Mike Budenholzer was still around in Atlanta, he’d probably have Huerter averaging 15 per game by this point. He’d also have killed Young in a fit of rage for not playing any defense at all.