We discovered it this summer under the circles of the Pacific, Joshua Hawkinson was visibly bitten by the “very high level” fly. Only mammoth performances against the ancestors of mammoths. But who are you really?
This is the first time that his name appears among the SEO tags of our site, Joshua Hawkinson is in the process of…well, making a name for himself.
Nobody watches the Japanese basketball championship, or only the fans of Premier League who fall on a poorly calibrated pirate stream. However, in the racket of the Shinshu Brave Warriors hides an unrevealed talent. A 2m08 double-double setter, who made his range with the Washington State Cougars from 2013 to 2017, and whose history has – since – been written in the land of the rising sun. Averages of 18 points, 9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks over the past season. At “only” 25 years old, in a championship that deserves to be recognized, it’s a good job. But that’s not the accomplishment that put Joshua Hawkinson in the limelight.
7th scorer and 2nd rebounder of this 2023 World Cup. A point at 33 points and 7 strikes against Australia. This is how to install a building in the mind of your audience. So of course Japan lost the game to the Boomers 109-89, but Hawkinson didn’t wait for the garbage time to blacken his score sheet. He was the threat to be squeezed very closely on the Japanese side. His reading of spaces allows him to inscribe almost all of his points on pick-and-roll. And sometimes, as if it were normal, he deviates to draw from further away: 4/8 at 3-points against Cape Verde. When he is in the zone like that, it is difficult to put barriers to our hypotheses elsewhere. What if he deserved better?
Josh Hawkinson put up 29 PTS to help Japan outlast Cape Verde! 😤#FIBAWC x #WinForJapan 🇯🇵 I #AkatsukiJapan pic.twitter.com/ZYy3YhCFRU
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 2, 2023
Far be it from us to establish the condescending logic of: “If a player in the Japanese championship is very strong, it means that he deserves to leave the Japanese championship”. The Japan B1 League is gaining in quality. And for good reason: before settling in the first division, Joshua Hawkinson went through the Japanese D2. A formality with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists on average, which however had to be fulfilled to deserve the elite. Now his World Cup at 21 points and 10.8 rebounds average should give him new career prospects. If he wishes to evolve elsewhere, of course. His ties to Japan are strong. He was born in Seattle to American parents, but played his first four professional seasons in Japan. His naturalization is not only motivated by major international competitions. We know he is invested in the development of Japanese basketball, and – recently – commissioned to raise his selection in the FIBA rankings.
Next date? Paris 2024. No doubt Joshua Hawkinson will be there. Japan qualified for the Olympic Games after winning the quota reserved for the best Asian team of the 2023 World Cup. From then on, our Blues – like all the other selections – are warned: Japan, with Yuta Watanabe, Joshua Hawkinson and – maybe – Rui Hachimura, are on their way to representing something other than a “affordable opponent”.
2023-09-04 10:16:00
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