Joey Hauser is the latest Spartan to make an NBA Summer League roster, but he’s going to be on the bench in a coaching role over the next couple of weeks.
According to the Brooklyn Nets’ Summer League roster, the former video assistant is joining the coaching staff. He’ll be coaching the Nets during Summer League along with a handful of former players like Foster Loyer and Oakland’s Travis Bader.
This is a great opportunity for the former Michigan State sharpshooter to kickstart his coaching career and potentially make a strong enough impression to land a job either with the Nets or a different organization as an assistant. He’s slowly climbing through the ranks after ending his playing career a year ago. You have to be a sharp basketball mind to get a first coaching job with an NBA team.
It’s not like Hauser isn’t good enough to play overseas, he probably just didn’t want to live the life of trying to adjust to new countries or deal with culture shock and plus, he had his shot at the NBA in past Summer Leagues and he was even in the G-League for a bit.
He’s taking on a new role with the Nets in which I believe he’s going to excel.
The video assistant will likely assume that position again for the upcoming season with Brooklyn, but if he can show that he has coaching chops, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him earn a promotion soon.
There’s a long way to go before that can happen, though. The former Spartan fan favorite will coach against Jaden Akins and the New York Knicks’ Summer League team on July 10.
Mark your calendars and clear your schedules, folks.
Joey Hauser’s Michigan State career couldn’t have ended much better
In his first season at Michigan State after transferring from Marquette and sitting a year, Hauser looked like a guy who was going to blossom into a star. He was a pure shooter who didn’t lack confidence, but something happened midway through his first season and into his second where it looked like that confidence faded.
Hauser averaged 9.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in his first season with Michigan State and then saw those numbers dip in year two, averaging 7.0 points and 5.3 rebounds. He did, however, improve his shooting from long-range, going from 34 percent to 41 percent.
Confidence was lacking until his final year in East Lansing in 2022-23.
Hauser caught fire and never looked back, going from an oft-criticized forward transfer who looked like he was afraid of his own shadow to a confident sharpshooter who became a fan favorite. He averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 50.6% from the floor and 46.1% from three. He also led the conference in free throw shooting, making 87.6% from the line.
Not many players have gone from universally criticized to universally loved in the span of a couple of years at Michigan State, but Hauser was special in 2022-23.
Michigan State fans still miss Hauser.
If the Nets are looking to improve their shooting, they found the right assistant.
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