NOW WE MISS OUT ON HUNTER

[Johnnybravo4]

Nok just picked up Steven Hunter from Philly for second round draft pics. First we miss out on Skita...now Hunter...what in the hell is BK doing up there at Phillps...picking out his fro?

[exodus]

NO has traded 4 2nd round picks in two days for two bench warming bigs. I wouldn't call that a smart move on their part.

[Johnnybravo4]

I am sure that we probably could have got Hunter for our 1 second rd pick. And I am also sure that no one available in the second round this year would be better than hunter. I am probably sure there isn't a first round center that is better than Hunter...which is sad...but probably true.

[exodus]

Our second rounder will be high. I wouldn't trade it for him.

The word on Hunter from Philly fans is that he has a hard time getting a rebound even if it bounces right to him and hits him in the hands. Cheeks got tired of him quickly.

[Lascar78]

OH MY GOD WE MISSED OUT ON A CAREER 4 POINT, 3 REBOUND GUY!

Look the guy is signed through 2010, and if Billy really plans on bringing in real bigs this summer, we would have to cut him this summer. Yes he could have helped just a little, but nothing to freak out about. Probably not worth one of the top second rounders

[Plastic Man]

i've seen hunter play alot this year and i think he is underrated. but what are the hornets trying to do? how many guys are needed to replace birdman? there's gotta be more to come.

[Packfill]

Hunter sucks. There is a reason he is a career back-up/journeyman.

[DJlaysitup]

Well Hunter would certainly be a little help to a Hawks team with the worst points-in-the-paint ratio in the league (last I heard) and lousy interior defense...but he wouldn't likely have been the savior.

What will be interesting will be to watch his stats the rest of the season now that he has a change of scenery and is playing with Chris Paul. My guess is he'll improve and fill a bigger role - but time and the stats will tell.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

Well Hunter would certainly be a little help to a Hawks team with the worst points-in-the-paint ratio in the league (last I heard) and lousy interior defense

---

I heard the other day that Dallas was actually number 1 in pts in the paint defense.

[DJlaysitup]

Wow...there's a change from a couple years ago...I was just going by what I heard Bob Neal say during a 2nd half layup drill a few games ago about our interior defense.

[exodus]

When we got blown out by the Heat the Miami announcers mentioned that the hawks were last in the league in points in the paint. Not a surprise.

Looks like Diop has had quite an impact in Dallas. They lead the league in pts in the paint defense and are tied for the best record in the west. Coincidence? I think not.

[Lascar78]

Quote:

---

Well Hunter would certainly be a little help to a Hawks team with the worst points-in-the-paint ratio in the league (last I heard) and lousy interior defense...but he wouldn't likely have been the savior.

What will be interesting will be to watch his stats the rest of the season now that he has a change of scenery and is playing with Chris Paul. My guess is he'll improve and fill a bigger role - but time and the stats will tell.

---

Yeah but again, our real concern should not be the record this season at the expense of the future. Consider the PF/C positions.

Smith will play PF

Zaza plays PF/C

We're planning on Andersen over to play PF/C

We will be drafting a PF/C for sure

Either Al will be kept, or he will be traded and bring back a PF/C

That's 5

So we will for instance have

Lue/Ivey

JJ/Salim

Marvin/Childress

Al/Smith

Aldridge/Pachulia/Andersen

Where of course Aldridge could be someone else, Al could become Nene, but they are likely to be 2 bigs

Now without keeping Batista or Edwards, that leaves one roster spot. Do we want to use that spot on Hunter for the next 4 and a half years? I don't know. I'm not sure that he's better than Pachulia or Andersen. I would rather try to get a PG prospect, and you can always use the 2nd rounder on a guy to send to the NBDL

Basically, it all depends on what we plan on doing this summer. Not signing another guy for 4.5 years gives us more options and hopefully we can find better than him. We'll see next summer if we were dumb for not getting Hunter, but you'd think that you can easily get guys of his caliber in the offseason if you try, and BK has made that his top priority

[Johnnybravo4]

We are always hoping for this mythical free agent that never appears..how about player development? Zaza only averaged and 6/6 last year and now he has nearly doubled that output. Who says that adding Hunter here and giving him minutes wouldn't do the same thing? You mean to tell me that Hunter isn't better than Edwards and Batista? Our entire roster of centers almost fouled out the other night trying to guard Eddy Curry.

Like I said before, we are looking like Aldridge like he is the second coming of Christ himself...we may not even get the first pick...remember last year? Then what? Do we get Splitter? Some other unknown Euro stiff? Will Andersen even sign next year?

We need some known quantities for a change.

[sinctybldh]

Oh no! now we will surely miss the playoffs because we didn't pick up a career stiff.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

We need some known quantities for a change.

---

Not if they are known to be scrubs.

The Suns let him go even though they needed help at center.

Philly let him go and their D is almost as bad as ours.

I see a pattern here.

[macdaddy]

Batista fouled out in 11 minutes against the Knicks. If we could get Edwards to play the same way I call that good production. That's 20+ minutes ZaZa can rest while the opposing big men get hacked and have to shoot free throws. In this day and age I think that is a good way to play most teams.

Seriously, who do you think opposing players would rather see coming at them as they drive Edwards or Batista. We need some physical play. We have all finesse players outside of Batman.

[Johnnybravo4]

There are stiffs and there are stiffs. Steven Hunter is an upper echelon stiff..as opposed to Edwards and Batista who are lower echelon stiffs.

The point is is that a player like Hunter is often the difference between losing and winning close games. He has size..he can give us beef in the middle, he can rebound. If we got him and got Nene in FA, then we would be set in the middle with Zaza. If we draft Aldridge, who would he start over? We could have given up our right to draft another Eurostiff in the second round and got a decent piece. But we could make it up..we could do this trade

Harrington/Ivey

JR Smith/Hunter/future 1st (2007)

then our lineup could be

JJ/Lue/Salim

JR/Salim/Morrison

Marvin/Chills

Smoove/Nene

Zaza/Hunter

And we would still have money left over. We could run and gun anyone off of the floor. Imagine the athleticism.

And Nok would do it in a minute. They get the SF/PF they want. They get a go to scorer to complement Chris Paul. And they get rebounding. This would automatically put them in the upper echelon of the conference.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

He has size..he can give us beef in the middle, he can rebound.

---

No and No. He is a lightweight and doesn't rebound at all. That is why the Suns got rid of him.

Zaza and Batman are both stronger than him. Edwards probably is too. And batman and Edwards are much cheaper.

Early this year Dalembert was hurt and Hunter was starting. Hunter averaged 25 minutes per game in November and averaged only 4.6 rebounds. Our wing players rebound better than that.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Nok just picked up Steven Hunter from Philly for second round draft pics. First we miss out on Skita...now Hunter...what in the hell is BK doing up there at Phillps...picking out his fro?

---

Wow...am I reading this tripe? Sitka and Hunter? Some people are really reaching.

[DeacKillsaDevil]

With Hunter we could win 25 games instead of 20. Woohoo!!!!