De'Andre Hunter

[JayBirdHawk]

Quote

Hunter knows more will be expected of him in his second year as the Hawks aim to get back into the postseason. The 22-year-old may never be a primary scorer in the NBA, but his size, defensive versatility, shooting, and ball-handling should at least make him a multifaceted role player who scales well with other good players. More than his individual scoring or playmaking, Atlanta will count on Hunter’s complementary skills next season and beyond. “Just keep sharpening up my defense, my shooting, handling the ball,” Hunter said of his offseason goals. “I’m just trying to be a good all-around player.”

At the point of attack, Hunter looked more comfortable. He fared reasonably well defending All-Star wings as a rookie -- most notably against James Harden -- sliding his feet and using his chest to absorb contact. His length allows him to challenge shots when opponents rise up off the dribble and recover when they step back or get by him. The next step will be asserting himself more consistently as a help defender.

 

 

[Buzzard]

19 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Hunter's defense, three ball, and mid range game is where I expect improvements. From 3 - 16 feet he shot around .330. He either needs to stop taking those inefficient shots or get much better at them.

 

[Atlantaholic]

On 4/9/2020 at 4:19 PM, AHF said:

I am not elevating rookie Pippen's stats.  Rookie Pippen was a negative value player.  He got better.  A lot better.  HOFer better.  Getting better is what Hunter needs to do as well.  If he improves like Pippen did, we'll be in a great place with our roster.  Pippen is basically your best case scenario for Hunter.  

I don't think he has Pippen's ceiling. They have a similar build and Hunter is good on defense but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Pippen was a freakish athlete, with elite lateral quickness, fantastic hops, and came up playing PG so his handles were on another level. Hunter is going to be a 3 and D guy, Demarre Carol at his very best is a more realistic ceiling imo. 

[Peoriabird]

40 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

 Demarre Carol at his very best is a more realistic ceiling imo. 

You do realize that Demarre Carrol's highest point points per game average was 13.5 ppg during his 8th season in the league.  Hunter averaged 12.3 ppg during his rookie season.

[terrell]

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

You do realize that Demarre Carrol's highest point points per game average was 13.5 ppg during his 8th season in the league.  Hunter averaged 12.3 ppg during his rookie season.

Most points in a game in his career..

Carrol 26

Hunter 28(as a rookie)

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by terrell

[Thomas]

1 hour ago, terrell said:

Most points in a game in his career..

Carrol 26

Hunter 28(as a rookie)

 

This on top of some quality defense. No matter where drafted, he was still a rookie and am really very ok with our starting SF. We tend to bitch about not being able to come up with two way players pretty often but Hunter is one that is already here. 

[Atlantaholic]

5 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

You do realize that Demarre Carrol's highest point points per game average was 13.5 ppg during his 8th season in the league.  Hunter averaged 12.3 ppg during his rookie season.

On how many minutes, how many shots and with what overall efficiency? Demarre Carrol's 2015 season was leaps and bounds better than Hunters. Also, I was being a little vague when I said Demarre Carroll "at his best" so I'll be more specific. I'm talking about the last three months of the season in 2015 where he was averaging 15+ a game on 54% shooting and earning himself a huge deal from Toronto. That's a much more realistic ceiling than a first ballot hall of famer and perennial first team all NBA defender Pippen.

[Atlantaholic]

4 hours ago, terrell said:

Most points in a game in his career..

Carrol 26

Hunter 28(as a rookie)

 

So what? Hunter was often the second option for a historically terrible train-wreck of a team, while Carrol was our 4th or 5th option on a 60 win team. If Hunter is going to continue to be a top option on offense for us we are not going to win more than 30 games. 

 

Carrol in 2015 =16 PER .16 WS per 48 mins, 60TS% with fantastic defense. That is  a reasonable Hunter "peak". And he's got a loooong way to go to get there. 

Edited June 6, 2020 by Atlantaholic

[Atlantaholic]

2 hours ago, Thomas said:

This on top of some quality defense. No matter where drafted, he was still a rookie and am really very ok with our starting SF. We tend to bitch about not being able to come up with two way players pretty often but Hunter is one that is already here. 

His defense was most often not quality lol. He had some nice stretches defensively, but overall he was awful. Cam was a much better defender than Hunter this year. Still, I do fully expect Hunter to become a fantastic defender because he has all the tools and those stretches show he can do it, but he is not even close to being there on that end either. Offensively I have a lot more question marks, and think a low volume role would do him wonders. 

[Peoriabird]

37 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Demarre Carrol's 2015 season was leaps and bounds better than Hunters.

Demarre Carrol was 29 and in his 7th year in 2015.  His numbers weren't amazingly better.

[NBASupes]

7 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

I don't think he has Pippen's ceiling. They have a similar build and Hunter is good on defense but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Pippen was a freakish athlete, with elite lateral quickness, fantastic hops, and came up playing PG so his handles were on another level. Hunter is going to be a 3 and D guy, Demarre Carol at his very best is a more realistic ceiling imo. 

It's a completely unfair comparison. Pippen potentially on defense was another level Hunter is no where close to. 

Offensively, Hunter could better but not by much if at all.

[NBASupes]

6 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Demarre Carrol was 29 and in his 7th year in 2015.  His numbers weren't amazingly better.

DMC was superior that season. f*** numbers, his impact was insane. DMC was an elite movement specialist who mastered both big and perimeter movements. He was amazing within that system.

Edited June 6, 2020 by NBASupes

[Peoriabird]

Demarre Carrol did not land a starting job until his 7th year in the league so how can a player's ceiling be limited to that if has started from day 1???

[Buzzard]

41 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Demarre Carrol did not land a starting job until his 7th year in the league so how can a player's ceiling be limited to that if has started from day 1???

Its revisionist history with Carroll. His career has been a train wreck. DeMarre was easily the biggest mistake Ujiri ever made and it was short lived, only lasting for two seasons. His best TS% until he was 27 was his 4th year with a .535 TS%. A 3D wing with that for a TS% is not what anyone is looking for by their 4th year. We signed Carroll for 5M over two seasons. Carroll's career TS% is .545.

I will bet anyone here that Hunter surpasses any of Carroll's first 4 seasons in the league next year. It will not even be a contest.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/carrode01.html

[Atlantaholic]

It would be nice if people actually read what I wrote before responding. That way we could avoid having a totally pointless discussion. Again; I'm saying Carroll's play at his peak, not early on in his career, not his entire career, but the way he was playing during our incredible run in 2015, that's Hunter's ceiling. He isn't going to be a perennial All-Star, he's not going to be a hall of famer... I will gladly be willing to bet a lot on that, but he could be a premier starting role player and give us elite 3-d production IF he develops. He is no where near being even that. 

[Atlantaholic]

2 hours ago, NBASupes said:

DMC was superior that season. f*** numbers, his impact was insane. DMC was an elite movement specialist who mastered both big and perimeter movements. He was amazing within that system.

He was our best player in the playoffs. EASILY. People forget that. 

[Buzzard]

46 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

He was our best player in the playoffs. EASILY. People forget that. 

He had one good season and it also happened in a contract year. People forget that. The junkyard dog is a myth. He was simply good, as in not a All-Star just good, for one season.

For his career he has been a complete disappointment. Allowed to walk from Utah to us for 2.5M a year. Traded by the Raptors as soon as they realized their mistake. Not resigned by the Nets who are looking at championship aspirations, and recently bought out by the Spurs.

If Hunter ends up being only as good as Carroll for his career, I will label him a bust.

[Peoriabird]

56 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

It would be nice if people actually read what I wrote before responding. That way we could avoid having a totally pointless discussion. Again; I'm saying Carroll's play at his peak, not early on in his career, not his entire career, but the way he was playing during our incredible run in 2015, that's Hunter's ceiling. He isn't going to be a perennial All-Star, he's not going to be a hall of famer... I will gladly be willing to bet a lot on that, but he could be a premier starting role player and give us elite 3-d production IF he develops. He is no where near being even that. 

I read your entire post and still disagree.  It doesn't make sense to conclude that Hunter's ceiling is Carrol's best season if Hunter's worst season is closer to Carrol's best seasons vs Carrol's worst seasons already

[Buzzard]

1 hour ago, Atlantaholic said:

It would be nice if people actually read what I wrote before responding. That way we could avoid having a totally pointless discussion. Again; I'm saying Carroll's play at his peak, not early on in his career, not his entire career, but the way he was playing during our incredible run in 2015, that's Hunter's ceiling. He isn't going to be a perennial All-Star, he's not going to be a hall of famer... I will gladly be willing to bet a lot on that, but he could be a premier starting role player and give us elite 3-d production IF he develops. He is no where near being even that. 

Hunter's trajectory according to you is:

Carroll's last season with us, 2014/15 his contract season:

12.6 PTS, 5.3 TRB, .487 FG%, .395 3P%, .702 FT%, .603 TS%

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/carrode01.html

Hunter will be outplaying the 28 year old Carroll by the time he is 25; and unlike Carroll, it will not be for just one season.

[NBASupes]

58 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

He had one good season and it also happened in a contract year. People forget that. The junkyard dog is a myth. He was simply good, as in not a All-Star just good, for one season.

For his career he has been a complete disappointment. Allowed to walk from Utah to us for 2.5M a year. Traded by the Raptors as soon as they realized their mistake. Not resigned by the Nets who are looking at championship aspirations, and recently bought out by the Spurs.

If Hunter ends up being only as good as Carroll for his career, I will label him a bust.

He had two good years with us and the JYD nickname wasn't a myth.