The feeling washed over Hersey Hawkins as he watched the camera cut to his former Charlotte Hornets teammate Dell Curry during the NBA Finals.

This was more than father sharing son's success; this was teacher savoring the collective swish.

Where Stephen Curry took the Golden State Warriors are not quite the heights immediately targeted by Corey Hawkins, the undrafted 3-point specialist recently signed by the Heat. But this, too, is a story of a former NBA 3-point specialist with a son with a sublime stroke.

Last season, no player in NCAA Division I shot the ball better from the 3-point line than Corey Hawkins' 48.8 percent. That often had Hersey Hawkins reliving and relishing, just as the player who often would sub in for him with the Hornets for their two seasons together, Dell Curry.

"As a dad," Hersey Hawkins said from Portland, where he is a personnel executive with the Trail Blazers, "I can imagine of how proud Dell was of Steph, to be out there, playing the way he did. As a shooter, you really feel that pride. And when they get in one of those zones or moments, you just sit back as, 'Oh, my God, here is comes.'

"Because you know your kid and you've been there before. So it's just a matter of, 'OK, get him the ball, he's going to score.' It's fun to watch."

But this is not a story of a player riding coattails. Corey Hawkins auditioned for his father in Portland before the June NBA draft, ultimately bypassed by the Blazers. Instead, he wound up attending summer camp with the Sacramento Kings before his agent saw the opportunity with the 3-point-lacking Heat.

"I mean people are going to compare all the time, especially being in my situation," Corey Hawkins said between recent workout sessions at AmericanAirlines Arena. "My dad never forced basketball upon me. He told me to do what I love, and that just happened to be basketball.

"Obviously there are similarities to our game, which can't be overlooked. But I just try to make my own path. The biggest thing he has done is just let me be a man, make my own mistakes, my own successes. I just feel like I have a pretty good IQ for the game because I was able to watch him growing up as a kid."

At 6 feet 3, 195 pounds, Corey Hawkins resembles his father in both stature and appearance. But, like his father, whose career spanned 13 seasons with four teams from 1988 to 2001, there is an awareness that there will have to be more than 3-point touch.

"I pride myself on my passing, being able to make the right reads, find open guys, just playing extremely hard," Corey Hawkins said. "It's all about staying positive and keep working on it."

Having coached his son in high school and having worked with the Trail Blazers the past six seasons, Hersey Hawkins found himself having to make as impartial an assessment of his son as possible.

"I definitely think he's more than a shooter," Hersey said. "I think he doesn't get credit for the fact that he handles the ball as well as he does. I think Corey can play point guard in the NBA easily. I think defensively, even though he is not great, I think he's solid, he gives a good effort."

After transferring from Arizona State, Corey Hawkins finished his college career playing at UC-Davis for Jim Les, his father's former teammate.

No, this is not father-son on the level of the Currys. But there are possibilities for a next-generation sequel. Interestingly, Hawkins stands 45th on the NBA's all-time list for 3-pointers made, at 1,222, three spots behind Dell Curry (1,245) and now just five spots ahead of Steph Curry (1,191).

With Steph's climb coming in just six seasons, it is further proof of the increasing value of the fathers' lessons and how another son could also rise.

"I've told all three of my kids that shooting was, I think, a lost art when I was coming up," Hersey said. "And I coached 'em in high school and always said to 'em, 'Learn to shoot the ball. Just spend lots of time shooting.' And then Corey just naturally became a good shooter and a good scorer."

Now it's his son's shot.

"If I can go out there, shoot the ball well, shoot it with confidence like I usually do," Corey said, "I think it will open up a lot of doors."

iwinderman@tribpub.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman