Hunter is becoming Marv

[MarylandHawk]

3 hours ago, AtLaS said:

 

I want to sign him this offseason.  I don't see his price dropping next year even if he doesn't improve.  He is 6'8", 24 years old, can shoot the 3, play defense and doesn't demand the ball.  A 3/D guy like that can fit on any team.  However if he has a big year his price is going to jump a LOT.  

The contract year thing is only relevant as it pertains to the offseason prior to the contract year.  With an upcoming contract year, many players immediately hit the gym after the season and work harder in the offseason.  This makes them better during the season b/c they come to camp in shape and ready.  It's not about getting the contract and all of a sudden playing worse.  It's that once they get the contract and are guaranteed the next 4-5 years, it's easy to go into an offseason and take more vacations, have fun and not work as hard.  Since we are already through most of the offseason, it wouldn't hurt us to lock Hunter up now IMO.  He has already been working hard.  Now if we would've locked him up 2 months ago that could have been different as he could've started slacking.  But training camp starts in a couple weeks so I'm not worried about that.  

The key point for me is that i don't see his price decreasing regardless of what he does this season.  But it has a decent chance of increasing.  So to me there is no upside in waiting.

 

Interesting point on the offseason prep vs in season affect in a contract year. I think I would agree with that. Also I agree that he price is likely to go up regardless. My point is we a in chip mode so we need player s that will get us that. If he cant show us he can do that this year, I would rather spend that money on someone or multiple that can. If he is that guy, then give him next year. 

[AtLaS]

1 hour ago, MarylandHawk said:

Interesting point on the offseason prep vs in season affect in a contract year. I think I would agree with that. Also I agree that he price is likely to go up regardless. My point is we a in chip mode so we need player s that will get us that. If he cant show us he can do that this year, I would rather spend that money on someone or multiple that can. If he is that guy, then give him next year. 

If it turns out he's not a fit or doesn't develop further we can always trade him for a pick a la Heurter.   Sign him now, trade him next season if you have to.  We aren't going to have cap space anytime soon anyway so there is no reason to wait IMO.  

[MarylandHawk]

45 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

If it turns out he's not a fit or doesn't develop further we can always trade him for a pick a la Heurter.   Sign him now, trade him next season if you have to.  We aren't going to have cap space anytime soon anyway so there is no reason to wait IMO.  

The problem is he doesn't want to sign to something that is reasonable. We are in luxury tax mode if this squad doesn't make it. You’re the angel on Schlenk’s left shoulder I’m the devil on his right shoulder. Lol. 

[MarylandHawk]

7 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

Plain white tshirt and some basketball shorts. Sign that contract so you can buy you some drip. Lol. 

[AHF]

I'd like to see this for Hunter but done on a per minute basis instead of overall win shares so you can normalize for the missed time.

[bleachkit]

He deserves a Kevin type deal, if that. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

On 2/14/2022 at 7:15 AM, Spud2nique said:

I usually don’t make directly comparison individual threads but this dude needs to step up.

Hunter has the body, needs more heart.

Drop the nice guy BS and ball bro.

Not worth the 4th pick. @Wretch see now  Hunter wasn’t worth the 4th pick to me, kinda see it the way you looked at OO, we coulda had “a Hunter” later in the draft. 
 

Don’t get me wrong I love the solid play, but he better be ready to REALLY PICK UP THE SLACK when Trae and DM are off. 
 

[terrell]

Meanwhile in Sactown

Smh

[NBASupes]

2 minutes ago, terrell said:

Meanwhile in Sactown

Smh

I do wish we held on to him just a tad longer till Bogi was back but he's been on the trade market for years. Travis probably felt it was the best offer on the board. Truth is, all of our wings will produce better elsewhere offensively. They are never in rhythm. 

[terrell]

11 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I do wish we held on to him just a tad longer till Bogi was back but he's been on the trade market for years. Travis probably felt it was the best offer on the board. Truth is, all of our wings will produce better elsewhere offensively. They are never in rhythm. 

So they took that trash offer for Kev, but couldnt find a deal for JC? Id rather kept Kevin..Trade Collins for the trash if you want to stay under the cap..... lol

Edited November 14, 2022 by terrell

[macdaddy]

Trading Kevin was a just a dumb money move.  I hope Ressler learns that it's hard to win without spending the bucks. 

This whole "we'll spend it if we're contenders" is so dumb.  We'll never be contenders with that attitude. 

[bleachkit]

50 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I do wish we held on to him just a tad longer till Bogi was back but he's been on the trade market for years. Travis probably felt it was the best offer on the board. Truth is, all of our wings will produce better elsewhere offensively. They are never in rhythm. 

Kevin's success in Sac does not speak well of Trae's ability to play with wings. 

[NBASupes]

7 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Kevin's success in Sac does not speak well of Trae's ability to play with wings. 

I strongly believe otherwise and I believed it when Kevin was here as well. This isn't a new statement. I've been on this horse for years. 

[Diesel]

15 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Kevin's success in Sac does not speak well of Trae's ability to play with wings. 

I don't think Kevin is more successful at Sac.  He's just more displayed. 

His three point percentage has jumped but his 2pt percentage has taken a dive and his attempts for two pointers are down.

Here's what it means (to me).   He's on a team that doesn't require him to score inside.   He sits on the perimeter and he's the certified Gunner.   He's Kyle Korver in SacTown. 

They don't require him to try to be a part of the offense otherwise.   He has a real Big who dominates touches and scores mainly in the paint.  He has a PG who drives and scores mainly in the paint.   And then there's Keegan.  Keegan is a PF who can score from anywhere.  All this attention else gives Kev enough space to be Kyle Korver.  It's great coaching and great GMing.

When he was here, our lineup was Trae, Kev, Hunter, JC, and Clint.   Out offense mainly came out of a PNR set.   IN that two man game, everybody else struggles to find their role.   It's efficient because Trae is a great PG and the ball always knows where it's going... but the 2, 3, and 4 are castigated to being three point shooters and never have to move without the ball. Even though they should.  Kev attempted more 2s with us and it would have opened his game if he were more willing to shoot two...ie. move without the ball and make himself a finisher in the lane. 

IN SacTown, they don't run that way.  I'm not going to say that the ball moves better from side to side but I will say that Sabonis and Keegan makes his life easier. 

 

 

 

 

 

[AHF]

Kevin is doing only two things different this year:

1. He is getting to the line at a rate 3x higher than he has ever had.  Wish he would have sought out that contact when he was here.  He could easily have averaged 3 fta/36 while in Atlanta but his method here was to get the guy in the air and then step away from the contact to take a clean jumper.  Good for him for finally accepting some contact and getting those easy points.
2. Shooting 3's at a 51% clip.

That is it.  All of his other numbers are right where they have been historically.  If anyone thinks Huerter is going to shoot >50% from 3pt range over the long term and wants to blame Trae I guess that is your prerogative.  I will point out that when Kevin came off the bench (which was the main time he played without Trae) his 3pt% dropped to 23.6% last year and was significantly worse than when he played with Trae and the other starters for his career.  (He has shot 39.7% as a starter and 33.1% as a reserve for his career.)

I think a change of scenery helped energize Huerter coming into this season and he has taken on more responsibility and had more aggression playing with less talent in Sacto.  Good for him.  Being a bigger fish in a smaller pond can be a really good thing for a lot of players and that has been the case in the early going for Huerter.  But I don't think it is all because of how amazing a playmaker Fox is in setting Kevin up for open looks.  

If someone has data on the % of open looks Kevin is getting in Sacto versus Atlanta I think that would be a very interesting comparison to review.  I suspect it is a combination of opportunity stemming from his role in the system and Kevin being individually hot in the first part of the year.

 

[macdaddy]

I don't think anyone is saying that Kevin is a lot better than he was here.  It's just that he's better than any of our bench options and we all knew that.  

[ShooterSays]

We made it to the ECF with a Trae / Bogi / Huerter backcourt. Wonder what could have been this year with -

Trae / Murray / Huerter

Defense would obviously not be as good as it is now with Hunter, but this lineup wouldn't be having the shooting issues we're having now.

[AHF]

16 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't think anyone is saying that Kevin is a lot better than he was here.  It's just that he's better than any of our bench options and we all knew that.  

I do think some people are saying Kevin is better than he was here because he is no longer playing with Trae.  As for your view that he is better than our bench options, I fully agree with that.  It was a a frustrating downgrade to get JHol and a future pick and obviously done for financial reasons rather than basketball ones.  Once we were projected to be over the tax line, Bogi or Huerter was going to be moved to avoid the tax and Huerter presumably was the guy drawing better offers.  But better offers are still a significant downgrade to our team.

[macdaddy]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

I do think some people are saying Kevin is better than he was here because he is no longer playing with Trae.  As for your view that he is better than our bench options, I fully agree with that.  It was a a frustrating downgrade to get JHol and a future pick and obviously done for financial reasons rather than basketball ones.  Once we were projected to be over the tax line, Bogi or Huerter was going to be moved to avoid the tax and Huerter presumably was the guy drawing better offers.  But better offers are still a significant downgrade to our team.

It's weird.  He's better without Trae but somehow folks think he couldn't play off the bench for us because he wasn't playing with Trae.   Kev would have been great off the bench for us.   It was such a perfect scenario really with Bogi being questionable for the season.   We could have made moves at the deadline to get under the tax.  I don't know it just seems dumb and the first time in the Travis era that we've had a net negative talent acquisition off season.