Former NBA center Spencer Hawes teaches Seattle youth science of basketball
SEATTLE — March Madness is in full swing, and if you're watching basketball games or even watching your bracket, you're probably doing some math at the same time.
From geometry to statistics to basic addition and subtraction, basketball is one big equation.
"Especially as the game has evolved to where it is today," said former University of Washington star and NBA center Spencer Hawes, who went to Seattle Prep. "The importance of mathematical analytics and how it impacts player evaluation, team evaluations, efficiency on offensive, defense."
Hawes knows this all too well.
"Every part of the game, teams are using the numbers to try and figure out where they can get just the smallest mathematical advantage and then let it play out over a course of a game or a month or a season," Hawes said.
Born and raised in Seattle, Hawes starred at Seattle Prep and then UW before being drafted into the NBA. He said basketball is also a game of math and science.
"This is why making the extra pass, for example, and playing unselfish — it's not just your coach harping at you for no reason," Hawes said. "There are facts based in math behind that we try to convey to the kids."
Hawes, who played for the Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and other pro teams, is now back at home working with Seattle's youth, teaching them the "science of basketball."
"Trying to open up the kids' eyes to the roll that the numbers and the science plays in the game," Hawes said.
Hawes is hosting clinics focused on the science of basketball. He's teaching the fundamentals of the game and how it relates to math and science.
"The more kids we can get to early and try and help lay a foundation in these subjects, inspire them, that you know, you don't have to be a professional athlete," Hawes said. "There's a lot of great professions, and whatnot, that you can aspire to achieve that goal one day."
It's about preparing the next generation for the future, Hawes said.
"Hopefully inspire them down the line to be the next generation," Hawes said. "If basketball doesn't work out to have a generation of scientists, mathematicians, statisticians ... whatever comes out of it."