I know we are all eager to see how Deandre Hunter fits into this new scheme and if he’ll finally live up to the hype of being a 4th overall pick. His deficiencies are well documented
1. Below average handle
2. Way below average rebounder
3. Little to no playmaking
4. Slow reads on offense
5. Doesn’t attack the basket often enough
Places he excels:
1. Catch and shoot opportunities/close outs
2. Off ball defense
3. Average to above average on ball defender depending on matchup. (He plays Jimmy B and Luka pretty tough)
4. Solid FT shooter (80% for his career)
5. Unselfish and team first kind of player.
Just as we are seeing the emergence of Jalen and Okongwu under Quin, I believe that we’ll see a similar jump in Hunter’s game. I’ve given up on ever seeing this form of Hunter again.
(Which is a shame since this was before the knee injury that seemed to sap all the burst he was showing in the above clips)
However, he still and will be a key contributor to this team. Quin’s offense takes a lot of the guesswork out of where shots are going to be coming from. Unlike Nate who just preached attacking mismatches (freaking idiot). The ball once again has energy and guys are moving and cutting. With Jalen finally starting there are no longer 3 ball stoppers in the starting unit (Clint, JC, Hunter). The combined playmaking ability of Murray, JJ, and Trae should allow Hunter to do what he does best and that is catch and shoot, attack close outs, and take advantage of smaller matchups.
Y’all get the point. I wanted to see where everybody is at with Hunter. I know most want him traded but there’s still another version of Deandre we haven’t seen yet. The confident “vet” who does the little things to keep this ship glued together
by Tight-Possible-478
11 Comments
“Slow reads on offense” , “little to no playmaking”. Is a direct contradiction to “unselfish and team first kind of player”. But I hope your right I lost all hope on deandre Hunter ever being more than just deandre Hunter years ago but maybe Quinn awakens sum in him. Also JJ probably isn’t starting due to spacing
His on-ball defense is the only reason he still gets viewed as a decent defender. He gets lost off-ball and gives up backdoor cuts for easy baskets all the time. Drove me crazy last year.
I’ll believe it when I see it, not getting swept up in a hype train for this guy yet again, he’s got to show it and do that consistently
I’m hella optimistic for the team this year, but DeAndre Hunter thrives, I’ll eat my shoe. He’s Charmin-soft and clumsy af. The only thing people can ever say positive about him is that he’s our “best on-ball defender” and he’s not even very good at that.
I just looked at the 2019 draft, smh. The drop-off in talent after the first two picks is astounding. I’m not mad at us getting Hunter, 2019 is one of the worst drafts ever.
👶 👦 👨 🧔♂️. 🧔 👨🦳 🧓 💀
Me waiting on Dre to thrive
The problem is he doesn’t “excel” at anything. He definitely does not excel at catch and shoot/close outs or he’d be averaging 20 PPG because he gets great shots from Trae. Is he really unselfish and a team player or just reserved because it’s not like he’s a good passer or is making reads to get guys open shots. And he’s really lazy on the boards. Not exactly helping the team there.
He’s a mediocre offensive guy with good defense and good size because he’s a 6’8 forward. But for his size he’s a below average, lazy rebounder, not a good playmaker or ball handler, an average-above average shooter and most of the time goes up pretty weak when he’s driving.
When the guy is on and focused in he could’ve easily been the 3rd best player in the team but his spot is about to go to Bey, JJ, and OO. That man might really be coming off the bench for a portion of the year depending on how the young and new guys play. He’s gotten so much opportunity especially last season and did nothing with it. And luckily for him everyone who doesn’t watch the team blames Trae for everything and forgets this guy is the 4th pick. I
I really don’t see where this optimism about his place on the team is coming from considering other guys are playing much harder than he has and are probably going to take his spot unless he does a complete 180.
I’m still high on Dre. We just need to lower our expectations. He’s a great glue guy and great for our culture.
I just don’t agree with him being an unselfish team first kind of player. There’s no excuse his rebounding should be as bad as it is and his defensive effort always seems to correlate to his offensive output. I think he’ll look better this year but I’m just hoping for a solid 3&D player at this point and I won’t hold my breath on it.
He lucky Cam Whitmore ain’t there, he’d take his job
Is catch and shoot really a strength? I feel like every time we needed a bucket last two years he bricked a wide open 3