Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Hamann, Coyotes finding their groove

DORA — Dora’s Slade Hamann plays the game of basketball with a simple approach — have fun. That ethos has helped him and his Coyotes get off to a 13-6 start for the 2017-18 campaign.

“I feel like, when a lot of us are cracking up and having fun, we play better as a team,” Hamann said. “As opposed to being all the way focused. Playing looser helps us, compared to playing tight.”

The senior is described as a combination of a shooting guard/small forward, and for Hamann, offense rues the day. Hamann is the type of player capable of spotting up for a 3-pointer, or driving inside and making a tough basket down low.

While Dora is led by first-year coach John Wootton, one of the Coyotes’ assistants, Kris King, has been around for all four years of Hamann’s high school career. Not surprisingly, Hamann’s offense was the thing that initially stood out to King.

“He could shoot the ball really well. He’s been an offensive player since ninth grade, and even then, he could shoot really well for his age,” King said. “He has a good baseline runner and can handle the ball real well.”

While Hamann may struggle on the defensive end, there’s no doubt that his offensive contributions have been key for his squad. For Hamann, his greatest improvement is passing, as he said that he wasn’t very good at it as a freshman, but having such a tight-knit relationship with guys like Zac Dewbre and Hayden Skinner make it easier to get on the same page with his teammates, as they can anticipate what each other likes or wants to do.

Still, Hamann said, their expectations were higher coming into the season.

“I think we should be playing better than what we are,” Hamann explained. “We have a lot more potential, and we just have to keep practicing hard and get better by district.”

In particular, Hamann says that the Coyotes need to do a better job of hanging on to the basketball, as turnovers have proven costly at times. According to Hamann, he feels that his personal game has really come on in recent games, after a rough stretch to start the season.

Hamann, who plays football like many of his teammates, said he and the team were still transitioning out of football mode once basketball season started. In fact, Hamann says that basketball season started about “half a week” after football, meaning that the Coyotes needed to knock off some serious rust in the early portion of the season.

Consider the rust gone. The Coyotes have won four straight, outscoring opponents by 30 per game during that stretch — though much of that came from Friday’s 62-26 win over Jemez Valley.

Hamann says that he’s been playing with many of the same teammates since eighth grade, and his own basketball-playing days date back to second grade.

“Our team, we hang out off the court,” Hamann explained. “After school and practice, we hang out, and that carries over off the court. What’s really made me enjoy basketball is playing with my buddies, Hayden Skinner and Zac Dewbre, and basically everybody else on the team.”

As for his greatest Dora basketball memories so far, Hamann laughed and said, “Practices. We’re focused, but we have a good time. If someone airballs a shot, we give them heck.”

 
 
Rendered 02/27/2024 17:29