Hawkins Gets Sore Feet For Birthday
Hersey Hawkins’ 30th birthday celebration on Sept. 29 was filled with pleasant surprises from his young sons Brandon, Corey and Devon, and his wife, Jennifer.
But not all of the surprises of Hawkins’ 30th milestone have been pleasant.
The Seattle SuperSonics’ starting guard is realizing that his body is more vulnerable to muscle pulls and strains.
“My feet are killing me and I’ve never had foot problems before,” Hawkins said. “My feet have been bothering me the whole training camp. I don’t know if it’s due to turning 30 or not being in the best of shape when I came into training camp.”
Sonics coach George Karl contends that players older than 30 must prepare especially rigorously for camp. The better their conditioning, he reasons, the less likely they are to be hindered by injuries.
Already, Karl has identified Hawkins as the next recipient of his “over-30” chat.
“He’s mentioned that talk with me,” Hawkins said, chuckling. “I’m just waiting for it.”
Hawkins freely admits he didn’t report for camp in great condition.
“Usually during the summer I take a lot of time off to spend with my boys and the family,” he said. “And basketball usually takes a back seat. I’m sure that over-30 talk has to do with: ‘You can’t do that any more, you have to keep in shape over the summer.”’
Last fall, Hawkins’ lack of conditioning affected his jump shot throughout the preseason. Without that bounce in his legs, he missed 10 field-goal attempts during an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
A few weeks into the season, Hawkins’ faithful jumper returned and he began to meld with his new teammates. And his improved conditioning level helped him play through a number of nagging injuries en route to running his consecutive game streak to three seasons. In eight seasons in the league, the former Bradley star has missed only seven games.
Hawkins’ older teammates Craig Ehlo, 35, and Detlef Schrempf, 33, are not as immune to injury, but they do set a fine example of over-30 summer conditioning.
“I take a lot of pride in my conditioning,” said the 13-year pro from Washington State.
Karl’s regret
If Karl could do it all over again, he would have started Gary Payton on Chicago Bulls’ star Michael Jordan on a full-time basis at the start of the NBA Finals. Instead, he waited until Game 4, when the Sonics were trailing, 3-0.
“Two of the mistakes I made was not playing (Frank) Brickowski earlier and not putting Gary straight nose-to-nose on Michael, put our heart against their heart,” said Karl.
Notes
At various points during a scrimmage Monday, the Sonics played superbly together and their intensity level was exceptional. Few would argue with Karl when he says the Sonics can’t win a championship without All-Star power forward Shawn Kemp. But the Kempless Sonics did show Monday that they are a tremendous team without him. Kemp’s practice fine total reached $19,500 Monday, the seventh day of his holdout. … Karl said Monday that rookie point guard Drew Barry, a second-round draft choice, 57th overall from Georgia Tech, is the most improved player in camp. Barry remains a long shot to earn a spot on the roster of the veteran-laden defending Western Conference champions, but he’s proved to Karl that he belongs in the NBA.