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MANRAM!
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: NORCAL
Age: 24
Posts: 18,070
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Re: Spencer Hawes
A tall order: Kings rookie center Hawes tries to live up to high expectations
Quote:
He grew up being able to see the future.
As a boy, Spencer Hawes' dream was to become a basketball star. He could look to his father and, especially, his uncle for constant affirmation that it could happen.
As a high school junior, the dream developed. And he could stand in the backyard and gaze at the University of Washington across Lake Union.
Hawes was raised in Queen Anne, a neighborhood just north of downtown, and was brought up with limitless possibilities.
His family name was synonymous with Seattle basketball. His high school team had two future NBA lottery picks his junior season and won the state championship the next, and he was a major recruit for the Huskies. Being encouraged by his parents to think on his own would come into play as well.
It happened in such a cozy way, his going from Queen Anne to Sacramento King. Home to Seattle Prep in about a mile, home to UW in two, home to Uncle Steve's house in a mile.
The NBA, ordinarily transition enough, is also his first move outside Seattle. As if that isn't enough, it comes with the spotlight as the No. 10 pick in the draft and the planned successor to Vlade Divac and incumbent Brad Miller, two All-Star centers for the Kings.
Just to increase the expectations, Hawes missed training camp and his first five NBA games because of a knee injury that eventually required surgery.
On the other hand:
"I don't think it's any different than what he experienced the last three years," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
Basketball in their blood
He was already the next in line.
Jeff Hawes, Spencer's father, was the highest-scoring high school player in the state in his division as a senior and played forward at Washington. Steve Hawes, Spencer's uncle, played at Washington and 10 seasons in the NBA for five teams as a forward, including 1975-76 with the Portland Trail Blazers and teammate Geoff Petrie – the Kings' basketball president.
When you're a Hawes, you're tall and you're in Seattle, it's an automatic spotlight.
Spencer Hawes already had the trumpeted arrival. He developed into a college recruit of national prominence before his junior season at Seattle Prep. He was named the No. 1 prospect in the West as a senior in the prestigious annual survey by the Long Beach Press-Telegram and chose Washington over North Carolina, with Stanford third.
During his junior season, Hawes' Seattle Prep team, which included 2005 lottery pick Martell Webster, failed to qualify for the state playoffs in its division. Seattle Prep and Hawes won the state title the next year without Webster.
And there was the college setback. As a freshman, he lost 20 pounds while battling a stomach virus, though he missed only one game. He still finished fourth in the Pacific-10 Conference in shooting and third in blocks.
All this before he was an NBA lottery pick and the second center off the board, behind No. 1 overall selection Greg Oden.
"It's not all been fireworks and glory," Steve Hawes said. "He's had to keep his head above water when times have been tough."
A competitive desire
All fireworks and glory? They know better around Queen Anne.
He is not actually Spencer Hawes, for one thing. His name is Spencer Reynvaan-Hawes, hyphenated to include his mother's maiden name. He pulls out his Washington driver's license to prove it. The shortened version he uses in everyday life is to avoid complications.
Hawes, before he became a basketball millionaire at age 19 and a major investment for the Kings, waded in conflict. His mother, Lisa, said, "He came out arguing."
All the Haweses are fiercely driven, not just the ones who gained recognition. It's just that Spencer swung his competitiveness with intelligence and wit.
Spencer was worldly, having traveled abroad for family vacations and for basketball, and conversations at home would center around current events. Sometimes he would instigate solely for the chase, even if it meant offering opinions he didn't truly believe.
"That drew him," Lisa said. "He knew he would be in the minority. He found early on he could stand up and talk people into the ground. He likes the debate."
"And to bait," Jeff Hawes immediately added.
Spencer loved the competition so. He would inflame and laugh to himself at the same time. If someone could poke him back, all the better for the spirited moment.
One of the assistant coaches at Seattle Prep, seizing on the personality, would push Hawes during practice by referencing the infallible greatness of Oden.
"Oden's not missing shots like that."
"I'm not sure you could get in a pickup game with Oden now."
'An easy kid to coach'
At Washington, teammate Jon Brockman would roll his eyes in sighing response to some comment of the moment. Brockman would do it in a disbelieving, joking way, but it would stoke Hawes even more.
"Spencer, he's a unique dude," said Webster, the Trail Blazers' starting small forward. "But you've got to understand him for who he is. He's a smart kid. Very intelligent.
"His joking around may seem like he's just being (a jerk). But he's really not. He's really a good guy. I grew up with him, played high school ball with him. Cool, cool. Really funny, too. Some people just don't understand."
Said Mike Kelly, the Seattle Prep coach: "I don't know how strategic he was at 17, trying to rile people. But I do know that he didn't hesitate to speak his mind.
"But as the basketball coach, I never got the sense he was trying to get out of line to test the boundaries. One of the things I always liked about him was that you knew where you'd stand with Spencer. You always knew. He's consistent. He was an easy kid to coach."
Yet even Kelly had to answer questions about Hawes.
"Could I walk into the teacher's lounge as the basketball coach and hear someone say, 'What the hell is up with Spencer?' Yeah, that could happen. Does he open his mouth sometimes and you just cringe? Yeah. The words I would use would be, Spencer, can you just have some more tact?"
Hawes recalls all this with pride, but he recognized he was mostly going for a reaction. A smirk sometimes broke out even if the victim of the moment didn't see it.
That made it easy to dial down his attitude as a freshman and as an NBA rookie.
He arrives on a team that has not yet fully committed to the next generation. But he is also in an ideal spot because he used to pattern his game after Miller and the Spurs' Tim Duncan. Now he gets to learn directly from Miller.
Spencer Hawes can still see the future.
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