Talk:Tom Hawkins (basketball)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Illinois, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Illinois on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Stub	This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the quality scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

	Chicago Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Chicago, which aims to improve all articles related to Chicago.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or if there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
Stub	This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
	This article is supported by the Sports and games work group.

This article has been automatically assessed as Stub-Class by WikiProject Biography because it uses a stub template. If you agree with the assessment, please remove {{WPBiography}}'s auto=yes parameter from this talk page. If you disagree with the assessment, please change it by editing the class parameter of the {{WPBiography}} template, removing {{WPBiography}}'s auto=yes parameter from this talk page, and removing the stub template from the article.

NBA	This article is part of WikiProject National Basketball Association, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide of the NBA on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page, or visit the WikiProject National Basketball Association, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

[edit] Hawkins role as a defender

I remember Tom Hawkins as a very able NBA defender. It was a very common attitude is his day, as it should be today but isn't, that teams have two players in their starting five who are primarily defenders. These players would defer to the other three offensively. This attitude would in fact get opportunities for black players in the NBA of the late 50s and early 60s they otherwise might not have gotten. With Cincinnati, Hawkins was a reserve behind shooting forward Jack Twymann. A defensive-minded power forward like Bob Boozer would be paired with Twymann. When Jerry Lucas arrived to the Royals and surpassed Twymann as a threat, Hawkins was the defender who would be paired with Lucas. He then played ahead of former star Twymann. The Royals' best years were with Hawkins playing his key defensive role. As a Laker, he was largely a reserve behind Elgin Baylor, but got to play in the NBA Finals. A player with a great attitude and a willingness to excel defensively made Hawkins a player with few critics during his NBA career.

Tom Hawkins did not attend the elite private school known as the Francis W Parker school. He attended Parker High School on the south side of Chicago, a public high school. The link in your article is to the private school. Parker High School was renamed Paul Robeson High School in the 1970s.

Fixed. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Zagalejo 00:15, 6 August 2007 (UTC)