Golden State Warriors: Chatting with Alex Hamilton
Alex Hamilton has the opportunity to be a leader in Santa Cruz.
The Warriors will retain Hamilton’s returning player rights, which I assume means that he will soon be announced as a member of the Santa Cruz Warriors roster. After going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2016, Hamilton played his entire rookie year with Santa Cruz, with whom he enjoyed a successful season averaging 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steals.
Talking about his time with Santa Cruz last season, Hamilton credited the former Sea Dubs coaching staff and a former teammate for assisting in his NBA development.
"“It was a good experience. The staff that was there — Casey Hill, (Kelly Peters), Ross (McMains) — they really helped me along the way,” Hamilton said. “So as a rookie coming in, I had a guy like Phil Pressey ahead of me that really showed me the ropes and showed me how to be a pro.”"
In his time developing with the Sea Dubs, Hamilton did nothing but show a tremendous amount of growth throughout the season, proving himself to be an incredibly assertive point man and creative playmaker.
While being relegated back to Golden State’s G-League affiliate may not have seemed like the best possible outcome after an NBA training camp invite, Hamilton will have every opportunity to display his talents as one of the primary leaders of the Santa Cruz Warriors now that Phil Pressey is overseas.
Additionally, new Santa Cruz Warriors head coach, Aaron Miles, will be looking for guys he can trust to lead the other guys on the floor, and Hamilton seems to be the most qualified for the job. When asked whether he’s already established a relationship with Coach Miles, Hamilton revealed that while he has yet to do any major work with Miles, their initial interactions have been pretty positive.
"“We’ve been talking on and off the floor. He seems like a good guy, but we’ll see how far it goes with the upcoming season,” said Hamilton. “From talking to him, he knows a lot. I can learn a lot from him.”"
Last season, he shot 45.6 percent from the floor, but he noticeably struggled from behind the arc at 22.6 percent. Hamilton says his primary focus this summer has been on becoming a more consistent jump shooter in hopes it would open up more opportunities for him on the floor.
When asked about his goals this season, Hamilton kept it simple and straight to the point, saying that he just hopes to control what he can control by working to improve every day.
Next: Warriors Lose to Nuggets in Preseason Debut
Judging from the way he said that, I’d suggest every Warriors fan keep an eye on Alex Hamilton this year. After having his training camp experience cut short, I fully expect Hamilton to prove exactly why he’s worth an extended NBA look.