NBA
#4 – DeAndre Hunter – Atlanta Hawks
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
After sending picks eight, 17, and 35 to the Pelicans, the Hawks have selected DeAndre Hunter as their next guy. He’ll be combining his special talents with John Collins and Trae Young – two very gifted, young players in their own right. The Hawks have added DeAndre to their already promising and youthful core and look to be continuing their incredibly successful rebuild.
Hunter is coming off a highly-successful college campaign where he was an NCAA Champion and ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He anchored the well-built defensive unit in Virginia and was a key piece – if not the most important piece – to their epic tournament run. He was huge throughout their big dance showing hitting many clutch shots and putting Virginia on his back when the going was tough. It’s easy to see he is no stranger to the spotlight.
He will be an instant help to an Atlanta defense that mightily struggled on that end of the floor last season. His frame will allow him to guard multiple positions and he will fit in seamlessly on that end of the court. Three-and-D players have become a major necessity in this league, so if Hunter can continue to develop his shot he will be in the league for many years to come and potentially help the Hawks reach playoff success sooner rather than later.
