Hawks encouraging rookies, Summer League roster to ‘shoot that shot’

The Hawks have given their young talent the green light.

In fact, they’ve used the same mantra employed by the main players on the roster that it’s OK to get their shots off. In short, the Hawks have encouraged their players to let it fly.

Hawks rookie big Zuby Ejiofor has certainly let it fly this month at Summer League in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.

The Hawks drafted Ejiofor with the No. 23 pick out of St. John’s, where the 22-year-old shot 30.5% from 3-point range on 1.6 attempts per game. Across four Summer League games, Ejiofor has shot 35% on 8.5 attempts per game.

It’s not even that Ejiofor has upped his shot attempts from the perimeter. It’s that with each game, the Dallas, Texas, native has taken them with more confidence and a quicker release.

“It’s still early,” Hawks assistant and Summer League coach Sanjay Lumpkin said. “We are empowering all our guys to shoot, and we want to empower (Ejiofor) to shoot that shot. … We’re empowering our guys to shoot it.

Obviously, that’s great. But Zuby’s confident in taking that shot. Everyone wants him to shoot, and that’s a big part of his growth (and) development.”

In the Hawks’ 83-76 win over the Nets on Saturday, Ejiofor went 2-of-2 from deep. Both of those shots came in a timely fashion when the Hawks desperately needed a bucket.

With 18.7 seconds left in the first half, Hawks big Asa Newell drove into the paint off a fast break. His layup fell short, but Newell grabbed the offensive board and kicked it to a wide-open Ejiofor in the corner. Ejiofor’s triple cut the Hawks’ deficit to 3.

His second 3 of the game also came in a big Hawks run in the third quarter. This time, though, Ejiofor’s defender put up a contest but didn’t follow through. He sagged off Ejiofor, tried to recover, but the ball had already swung to the Hawks big. Ejiofor let it fly.

“It was a physical game tonight,” Lumpkin said. “That’s what Brooklyn did. It impacted us in the first half. Some of those situations when they are switching, they’re switching 1 through 5, holding.

“Some of those same opportunities to hit Zuby weren’t there tonight. So tonight a big part of the game was to space his man because his man was jumping up the rest of the game for everyone else.”

Ejiofor may not have much time left to let it fly. The Hawks could shut him down for the remaining three games of Summer League.

If they don’t, Ejiofor will have plenty of time to continue working on the Hawks’ development plan for him.