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I couldn't find a thread on this guy and just wanted to hear some opinions on him. DX and NBADraft.net both have him going 24th overall at the moment. He had offers to play at much bigger schools but wanted to play for his Dad. As a coach's son, he's a high IQ player. His frame and scrappiness remind me a little of Matt Barnes but his best attribute is his shooting ability. He's got a great looking stroke. Some of the shots he hits in this video are impressive to say the least.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w8697jZPtI#action=share[/youtube]

*I recommend hitting the mute button.

DX profile: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/R.J.-Hunter-65208/
NBADraft profile: http://www.nbadraft.net/players/rj-hunter
Hoops Habit article: http://hoopshabit.com/2015/05/20/r-j-hunter-steal-2015-nba-draft/

Thoughts?

Matt Barnes is a lot bigger, and a much tougher defender. Something over which there concerns with RJ, his toughness on defense and his ability to defend his man.

His offensive ability reminds me a little bit of JJ Redick, good shooter off screens, and can do just a little bit off the dribble action but not enough to be relied upon to create regularly. All though he is longer than Redick, but not as good of a jump shooter.

He's a fairly intelligent and skilled player. I honestly think he'd be your ideal draft pick who is certain to be available. His jump shot could use a bit of work still (only shot 30% this year), but his passing and ball-handling are very valuable on a Thunder team that often was relying too heavily on two guys to create looks for everyone, and he actually has the length to play defense. You guys need a defender who can create well enough not to be a liability on offense still.

Here is how I see it. In todays NBA the top 5 3pt shooting teams were HOU, GS, LAC, ATL, and CLE. 4 of the 5 made it to the conference finals. As a Guard, if you cant blow by people with speed/hops than you better be able to shoot. If you cant shoot lights out and lack speed/hops, your NBA career isn't going to be long or adequate to talk about.

Looks more like Kevin Martin to me.

Could be a Boom or a Bust.
if RHJ or Anderson are available then I wouldn't pick this guy.

teleblaze wrote:Could be a Boom or a Bust.
if RHJ or Anderson are available then I wouldn't pick this guy.

As a Thunder fan I'll be p.o.'ed if they take RHJ. That would would be 3 consecutive years of drafting a No-3 and D wing. (Roberson, Huestis). At some point you've got to get more guys who can actually hit an open shot.

See to me Hunter can shoot. He just had a down year shooting because he was forced to take a lot of shots due to Ryan Harrow's injury. He will fit into an NBA offense as a cog quite well. He is nothing like Roberson or Huestis, because he actually can handle the ball. He has lead guard handles.

teleblaze wrote:Could be a Boom or a Bust.
if RHJ or Anderson are available then I wouldn't pick this guy.

Im under the impression that Hunter fits the cavs better than Hollis-Jefferson due to the difference in jump shooting. I do love Rondae's defensive fit though.

If Justin Anderson's shooting and defense translates to the league though I can see him being somewhat ideal and eventually taking James Jones roles.

most likely to be Klay Thompson than the other Klay Thompson comparisons. For the record I see Klay as just a starter but not a star or superstar. He hits shots but should be a third option.

Marcus wrote:

teleblaze wrote:Could be a Boom or a Bust.
if RHJ or Anderson are available then I wouldn't pick this guy.

Im under the impression that Hunter fits the cavs better than Hollis-Jefferson due to the difference in jump shooting. I do love Rondae's defensive fit though.

If Justin Anderson's shooting and defense translates to the league though I can see him being somewhat ideal and eventually taking James Jones roles.

RHJ is so versatile though, I think he can guard 1-5 small ball.
he has 7-2 wingspan and he could be an interesting fit.

teleblaze wrote:

Marcus wrote:

teleblaze wrote:Could be a Boom or a Bust.
if RHJ or Anderson are available then I wouldn't pick this guy.

Im under the impression that Hunter fits the cavs better than Hollis-Jefferson due to the difference in jump shooting. I do love Rondae's defensive fit though.

If Justin Anderson's shooting and defense translates to the league though I can see him being somewhat ideal and eventually taking James Jones roles.

RHJ is so versatile though, I think he can guard 1-5 small ball.
he has 7-2 wingspan and he could be an interesting fit.

I can definitely agree with that. I'm just under the belief that you really want to surround Bron and Kyrie with as many shooters as possible.

With a little under 3 minutes to play in that tournament game against Baylor, his team is down 44-56. He is not shooting the ball well -- 1-8 from the field (the 1 being a lay-up) and 0-5 from 3.

Then the ice-water kicks in.



The guy is clutch.

I couldn't find a youtube link so I can't embed this (and the quality is bad) but here's a link to the final 2 minutes.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2k19uq

I'd love for OKC to find a way to get him. As of now, we have a log-jam at the 2 with Morrow, Waiters, Roberson, and Lamb. Morrow has been phenomenal for us but we could still use more perimeter shooting. With Russ and Kevin being able to penetrate and draw the help defense, this guy would actually find open looks instead of double-teams. Lamb is only 22, and Waiters is 23, so I haven't given up on either one of them but both are probably expendable at this point. It'll be interesting to see if anything changes for these guys in the line-ups and their development with Billy D being head coach.

Look at the size of the competition he's facing in that video. It's no wonder he dominated.

That said, he appears to have some legit off-ball spot-up ability (understands angles etc) and passing skills.

Also i get the feeling his shooting would be better than his 30% mark suggests. He shot 40% last season, and has shot over 87% from FT over the past 2 seasons.

Pretty curious to see how he turns out. Can def see the Kev Martin comparisons. But i doubt he gets to the line as much as Kmart in the pros, so maybe a spot up shooter like Redick is a more accurate comparison. Hard to tell

Barnsey wrote:Look at the size of the competition he's facing in that video. It's no wonder he dominated.

That said, he appears to have some legit off-ball spot-up ability (understands angles etc) and passing skills.

Also i get the feeling his shooting would be better than his 30% mark suggests. He shot 40% last season, and has shot over 87% from FT over the past 2 seasons.

Pretty curious to see how he turns out. Can def see the Kev Martin comparisons. But i doubt he gets to the line as much as Kmart in the pros, so maybe a spot up shooter like Redick is a more accurate comparison. Hard to tell

http://nyloncalculus.com/2015/05/25/pro ... rcentages/

You've probably already seen this article, but they project him to be the best three point shooter of this class due to his volume, past success and excellent FT%. People believe he is a great shooter who haven't seen that he only shot 30% this season, but it looks like he'll be able to shoot anyways.

Chuck Everett wrote:See to me Hunter can shoot. He just had a down year shooting because he was forced to take a lot of shots due to Ryan Harrow's injury. He will fit into an NBA offense as a cog quite well. He is nothing like Roberson or Huestis, because he actually can handle the ball. He has lead guard handles.

Harrow played 29 games - enough to be named 1st team all-conference, so I don't think you can use him being out for a few games as the reason for Hunter's poor shooting percentages for the year. No doubt he has some skills - and long arms that he uses well defensively, but the people who rave about his shooting - I think are wrong. Late first is probably where he should go.

His poor percentages were a result of taking bad shots, not a result of being a poor shooter. I think a lot of that is due to the skill level of his teammates, and part of it is due to his actual shot selection. But I see him displaying (not necessarily having) more skills than Devin Booker. He creates space, can handle the ball a bit (not great) and he can hit shots coming off screens. Booker is going to need to show all of those skills in individual workouts because they weren't on display at Kentucky.

babyjax13 wrote:His poor percentages were a result of taking bad shots, not a result of being a poor shooter. I think a lot of that is due to the skill level of his teammates, and part of it is due to his actual shot selection. But I see him displaying (not necessarily having) more skills than Devin Booker. He creates space, can handle the ball a bit (not great) and he can hit shots coming off screens. Booker is going to need to show all of those skills in individual workouts because they weren't on display at Kentucky.

He played with a 2 time first team all-conference player who scored more than he did, and they played in the Sun Belt Conference - not a world-beating schedule, so these excuses just don't fly. Whether or not Booker deserves to be picked high is another matter. But since I get their initials mixed up, I will say that RHJ > RJH.

Turns out that even though he slipped past where most had him, he shouldn't have been even a late first. But I gotta admit - Rozier is starting to look better than I thought he'd be. I thought Mickey would be their best pick.

Celtics are a dumb team. Too many young players and zero minutes to develop. Ainge has to win deals, so then he's forced to just waive players. Hunter will catch on somewhere else, just like Bentil just did.