Virginia Basketball: Breakdown of De’Andre Hunter’s Summer League debut

Bottom Line

Not all rookie debuts go smoothly, such as has been the case for most, if not all, of the rookies that are participating at this year’s Las Vegas Summer League. Just as is the case with the likes of UNC’s Coby White and Nassir Little, fellow ACC counterpart De’Andre Hunter isn’t finding initial success in such a chaotic basketball setting.

That’s OK. Rookies aren’t expected to truly dominate the field, outside of the outlier exceptions such as Zion Williamson and Brandon Clarke, the two top performers of the 2018-19 men’s college basketball season.

Hunter’s game is more subdued, as he’s defense- and team-first, not necessarily a player who typically stands out. It’s only one game, after all, so conclusions shouldn’t be drawn.

Yet, concerns can be noted. Hunter struggled with his shot, which wasn’t unexpected and isn’t itself notable, but the slow mechanics, ill-timed passes and issues defending shifty guards are red flags that cannot be ignored. They aren’t new concerns, however, but it’s nonetheless irksome that they’re still present in a (semi-) NBA setting.

De’Andre Hunter is far from a complete product, although he was incorrectly labeled as an NBA-ready producer due to his success at Virginia. He has a ways to go offensively, and although his on-ball defense is solid technically, there are still improvements that are to be made.

His role with Atlanta will of course be small, merely playing within the flow of a pick-and-roll and transition heavy scheme revolving around Trae Young’s shooting and passing gravity. Hunter won’t be tasked with taking pull-up jumpers on the regular, but he will need to be relatively effective shooting spot-ups and attacking closeouts whilst making smart plays off the dribble. Atlanta didn’t force anything unreasonable on him in his NBA debut, letting him play within the flow of offense while also letting him try things out on his own. While his on-ball presence in the NBA is limited, it’s OK to try things out right now while the games don’t matter.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of Summer League goes for the rook. A sudden outburst in scoring is unlikely, but improvements in his off-ball activity and decision-making on offense are possible, and such developments would be welcomed. Going 2-of-8 from the field and struggling taking care of the ball aren’t positive impactors for one’s confidence, but it was nonetheless encouraging to see Hunter willingly experiment as an on-ball creator, albeit in a limited manner with mixed results.

Hopefully in De’Andre Hunter’s next appearance at Vegas Summer League, he won’t fade into the background nor struggle with basic offensive and defensive principles, as further struggles would bleaken viewers’ future outlook — both on Hunter himself and the Hawks as a whole. They took a big bet on Hunter, and, fair or not, fans will want to see a return on this investment sooner rather than later, even if it’s in the form of a good Summer League outing.