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Jared Cunningham spent most of his rookie NBA season in the developmental league last year while playing eight games with the Dallas Mavericks. Now that he’s with the Atlanta Hawks, Cunningham is anxious to show what he can do.
He only averaged 2.0 points and 3.3 minutes in eight games. He has shown signs that he can score and play defense, but now Cunningham has to prove that on the pro level. In his brief time in the NBA last season, he showed that he could shoot, although he struggled in the D-League with just 34 percent shooting. He ended his season in March because of tendinitis in his right knee.
It doesn’t appear Cunningham will have too much of an impact with the Hawks this season, with his main goal right now being to get more playing time. If he has an impressive training camp in Atlanta and gets a chance to show some stuff in preseason games, he might be able to gain a roster spot and back up the other Mavericks shooting guards.
The Mavericks made Cunningham a first-round pick after a career as a 6-foot-4 shooting guard at Oregon State. The Mavericks sent him to Atlanta as a throw-in of sorts during their trade that also brought the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira plus Mike Muscala to the Hawks.
He did have 12 points and two rebounds in a Summer League game that the Hawks lost to the San Antonio Spurs. Right now, he’s a long shot to make an impact on the Hawks as a shooting guard unless an injury, trade or another development opens up a position in that area.
John Raffel is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnCarlRaffel, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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