Hawks Draft Pick Sharife Cooper Had a Freshman Season As Dominant As Trae Young's

The Atlanta Hawks got one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft when they selected Auburn's Sharife Cooper with the 48th pick. Cooper only played in 12 games at Auburn after an NCAA investigation delayed the start of his only collegiate season, but he averaged more than 20 points and eight assists per game en route to being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and becoming just Auburn's second-ever one-and-done prospect.

Sounds like a pretty good ballplayer. You don't just find those numbers out of freshmen very often. In fact, we've only seen them out of one other freshman in the last 25 years. That freshman? Sharife's new teammate.

Hell yes. I've never been this in on a second round NBA Draft pick in my life. I don't give a shit if it was how many times he crossed the halfcourt line without the ball in non-conference games, if you can get me somebody who did something only equaled by Trae Young in the second round, I'm sold.

And I now trust Travis Schlenk implicitly, anyway. This man has drafted Young, Kevin Huerter, John Collins, De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish. I have higher-than-usual expectations for Cooper.

Welcome to Atlanta, Sharife.