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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
Coleman Hawkins spent a couple days in Champaign earlier this week working out at Ubben Basketball Complex.
It was the end to a busy summer for the former Illinois forward that started with his NBA Summer League run with the Golden State Warriors in July.
Hawkins arrived in Champaign from Orlando, Fla., where he spent time training with one-time teammate and current Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski. He also trained in Chicago, did more of the same back home in Sacramento, Calif., and got some run with noted trainer Rico Hines in Los Angeles.
All in preparation for his first season of professional basketball.
Hawkins was headed home to Sacramento from Champaign on Thursday, but only briefly. He’s set to work out with the Denver Nuggets starting Sunday and running through Sept. 12 and then go through training camp with the Nuggets later this month and into early October.
“I’ve been all over the place,” Hawkins told The News-Gazette. “I like being uncomfortable. I like pushing myself. I don’t want to be doing the same drills and having the same trainers. I want multiple people telling me things that I can benefit from and get better at and push myself to be uncomfortable.”
Hawkins made one of his stops in Champaign because the four years he spent at Illinois before wrapping up his collegiate career last season at Kansas State made it home. He worked out this week with fellow former Illini Terrence Shannon Jr., who has spent several stints in Champaign this summer. Part of a string of several past Illinois standouts, including Ayo Dosunmu and Marcus Domask, returning to a place they had serious success.
“It’s just so familiar to me,” Hawkins said. “I just feel so comfortable here. I feel so comfortable with the coaching staff and the guys they bring in. The facility is great. It’s just so easy. Easy access. I just feel so at home when I’m here. I just want to be here.
“It’s not that I miss playing here, but it’s the fact I’m comfortable here. I think that’s what keeps us (coming) back — the support we get and the love and respect we get from the coaching staff, too. They respect us. They appreciate what we’ve done for their program, and they tell us we’re welcome back anytime.”
Hawkins started 82 of 126 games across his four seasons at Illinois. The 6-foot-10 forward, who earned All-Big Ten Second-Team honors during the 2023-24 season from the Associated Press, averaged 7.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in his time with the Illini. That 2023-24 season was his best, as he put up 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
Hawkins graduated from Illinois following that season and played one final year at Kansas State. He averaged 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists for the Wildcats last season and earned All-Big 12 Third-Team honors.
Hawkins went undrafted in June but signed with the Warriors for Summer League. He played in six games total in the California Classic and the full Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds.
“I thought it was OK,” Hawkins said of his Summer League experience. “We had 19 guys on our roster. I played the 5 for basically all of Summer League. The experience was cool. I would say I just didn’t get to be myself in a sense, but it was still a good experience.”
The 23-year-old Hawkins might have stuck with the Warriors heading into training camp, but he said he couldn’t really wait for Jonathan Kuminga’s contract impasse to resolve. Particularly if the Golden State forward might have been traded.
So, he signed on with Denver instead.
“I think Denver has always had interest,” Hawkins said. “They were heavy on me. I just didn’t have time to really wait around and wait for the whole Kuminga situation to unfold. … I’m ready to go out there and just compete. Play against good competition. See the real NBA feel and what the game is like.
“I think I’ll get the real feel in the G League, playing in the G. The way they use their G League players is very similar, I’m told, to what they do with their real team.”