Newest Sun

[scotsman13]

http://www.nba.com/suns/

suns have signed hunter.

 

[playstation]

all i can say is that the spurs better watch out now

in all seriousness, good move. i want to see what this guy can do, and if he's any good at all, he'll get a ton of minutes.

 

[JS22]

well, lets see if the kid can get his head on straight. He's hasnt lived up to the hype so far. But atleast we know he can block shots.

 

[elindholm]

By the way, I notice that suns.com has a Steve Nash picture as one part of the rotation on the left side. Is that a picture from his first tour of duty with the Suns, or a more recent one that has been digitally modified to show a Phoenix uniform?

Edit: Come to think of it, I think it has to be a recent (modified) photo, because the Suns' uniforms have changed since the last time Nash was on the team. Sneaky!

 

[sly fly]

By the way, I notice that suns.com has a Steve Nash picture as one part of the rotation on the left side. Is that a picture from his first tour of duty with the Suns, or a more recent one that has been digitally modified to show a Phoenix uniform?

Edit: Come to think of it, I think it has to be a recent (modified) photo, because the Suns' uniforms have changed since the last time Nash was on the team. Sneaky!

Nash never had the long hair with PHX. He didn't become shaggy until his Mavs tenure.

 

[Stoner]

Good signing. He's still young (22), and hopefully a fresh start and more experience (he should get plenty with us) will jumpstart his career.

- Also...will this finally end the ridiculous notion of trading Shawn Marion?

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

- Also...will this finally end the ridiculous notion of trading Shawn Marion?

Signing Hunter will have no effect on the Marion rumors. If Marion were to be traded for a big man, it would be someone 100x as good as Hunter.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I'm happy about this one. He is young, he has already proven he is a good shot blocker, and we didn't trade anyone to get him.

Young big guys usually take a while to develop--not until they hit their mid to late 20's. I really can't see any downside, but a whole lot of upside.

Does anyone know if Hunter has had any attitude-bad lockerroom guy--drug--motivation--type problems?

He is certainly going to get his chance here. With the three guys we now have at center, we get three very different looks.

Jake--energy guy, scrapper, emotional leader, frustrates the opposition with his tenacity.

Lampe--shooter, improving rebounder but more offensively oriented, can draw opposing big men away from the hoop. I think he has the possibility of putting up 20 in any given game, if the defense doesn't stay honest.

Hunter--shotblocker, decent rebounder. Can be used to keep opposition fron driving the lane. Human eraser. Here's hoping he can be our own Theo Ratliff at some point.


Jake is our future backup. Lets let these two young guys duke it out to see who can emerge as a legit NBA starter.

 

[slinslin]

Stephen Hunter was the FA center I wanted the most after the bigger names were off the market.

He is athletic and young.

 

[cardsunsfan]

Lampe--shooter, improving rebounder but more offensively oriented, can draw opposing big men away from the hoop. I think he has the possibility of putting up 20 in any given game, if the defense doesn't stay honest.

It sounds like the Suns version of Walter from the Cardinals board...

 

[binkar]

Good post JC,

I don't know why but for some reason I am very excited about this guy. He has some potential and we have't had a center with his kind of potential in awhile. When I say his kind I mean to be a great shot blocker, grab some boards, and be ATHLETIC . It just seems as though we usually have big white centers (no racsism intended) that can't run or jump very well or over achieving hustle type players. It is just a breath of fresh air to have a player like Hunter at the center position.

Also dont forget that we have Marc Iavaroni. He is known as one of the best big man tutors in the league. If anyone can bring out the potential in Steven Hunter it will be Iavaroni.

 

[slinslin]

Here is a recent picture of Hunter at the Chicagoland Allstar game. Q was there as well as Antoine Walker, Darius Miles, Eddy Curry, Paul Pierce, Steve Francis, Damon Jones and Tim Hardaway.

You must be registered for see images

 

[elindholm]

Q was there as well as Antoine Walker, Darius Miles, Eddy Curry, Paul Pierce, Steve Francis, Damon Jones and Tim Hardaway.

Wow, it's like an All-Attitude team. Every player on that list has pretty serious personality question marks, except I guess Hardaway.

 

[sunsfn]

I found this on the internet about Hunter.
He hurt his knee in his 2nd year and he only played 33 games that year.
He played in 52 games last year and appears to be okay. He is only 22 years old so hopefully he can bounce back from this injury. The suns want him for defense and shot blocking, so I hope he can still jump. Mcdyess seemed to be almost back to normal last year, and he had been out about a year and a half and is older than Hunter. This may be the reason he was available to us.
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Second-year forward/center likely out 4-6 months
Steven Hunter Suffers Torn Knee Ligament


Orlando, FL – Orlando Magic forward-center Steven Hunter has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, General Manager John Gabriel announced today. The injury occurred while Hunter was participating in Big Man Camp at The Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Following surgery (date TBD), Hunter is expected to be out four to six months.

Hunter (7’0”, 220, 10/31/81) appeared in 53 regular season games during his rookie campaign with the Magic last season, averaging 3.6 ppg. and 1.8 rpg. in 9.7 minpg. He also made 21 starts, averaging 5.3 ppg., 3.1 rpg. and 1.52 blkpg. in 15.7 minpg. during that span.

Originally selected in the first round (15th overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft by Orlando, Hunter played two seasons at DePaul University. He finished third in school history with 128 career blocked shots and in field goal percentage, shooting .586 from the floor.
_________________
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Also found this article.
I think this had to be after his knee problem. It would seem that the start of this year would have been when he was trying to come back from his injury.
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MAGIC COULD HAVE TROUBLE RE-SIGNING HUNTER
by Howard Mass - November 16, 2003

Steven Hunter's starting center again


After a horrible preseason in which Steven Hunter didn't play with much effort and dissapointed us all, he has finally shown some signs of life and has become the starting center for this ballclub.

However, that preseason convinced the Orlando Magic not to pick up his fourth-year option and he will become an unrestricted free agent at season's end.

Ahh, so now the Magic just have to pay him more, right?

Well, for those of you who are Hunter fans and are already depressed enough by the Magic's 1-9 start, please stop reading.

If not, or if you can handle this, keep on scrolling down.

Anyway, Steven Hunter will have been with this team for three years at season's end and normally players with three or more years with a team that haven't been renounced between contracts have Full-Larry Bird Rights, which means the player's team and agent could work out a deal worth up to the maximum salary for that player's years of service category.

Unfortunately, there is a loophole for players who didn't get their fourth-year options picked up.

Those players automatically lose their Larry-Bird rights and cannot re-sign with the team for more then they would have gotten if their option had picked up unless their team uses an Exception or has capspace to re-sign them.

The Magic will only have their Mid-Level Exception, which will be worth around $5 million and no capspace.

That means the Magic can only re-sign Hunter for up to the $2,194,643 or part of their Mid-Level Exception.

Now, it's highly unlikely that a team would offer Hunter more than the Mid-Level Exception but it could still cut into the Magic's offseason spending if they have to use some of that Mid-Level Exception money to re-sign him.

This happened to the Los Angeles Lakers with Devean George in the summer of 2003 and were forced to use their Mid-Level Exception to re-sign him when they could have just picked up his option a year earlier and used that money to sign someone to help out there team.

Who's knows, if they had picked up George's option, they could have won their fourth straight championship, which would have driven many people, including myself, into an uncontrolable rage.

Either way, if they want to re-sign Hunter and he keeps up his recent play, it will likely cut into their spending next summer.

Another thing to keep in mind though is that Hunter has only been playing well for a few games and there is still 74 games left to be played.

In the end, I believe Hunter is a spot-starting center, who would have trouble in a non-starting role. I wouldn't mind if the Magic explored some trade options or considered including him a deal to get a young point guard or possibily a better swingman..

To me, the center of the future here is Zaza Pachulia, not Steven Hunter.
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If I remember right, they left Pachulia open to the draft and the Bobcats took him.

 

[slinslin]

Q was there as well as Antoine Walker, Darius Miles, Eddy Curry, Paul Pierce, Steve Francis, Damon Jones and Tim Hardaway.

Wow, it's like an All-Attitude team. Every player on that list has pretty serious personality question marks, except I guess Hardaway.

What personality problems do Walker, Pierce or Jones have?

Miles? I thought he was a hard worker. Maybe he smokes some pot, who cares... you could say that about anyone in the NBA.

 

[Biclops]

Good signing by the Suns

Like BC said he brings to our team: athletictism, shotblocking and rebounding

I see Hunter battling Lampe for the back up center position spot (Voshkul being the starter)

Couple questions.....

Does anyone know the length of the contract (I want to say a two year minimum contract with team option for second year)

Does the Hunter signing mean we are not going after Williams anymore? Or are we signing them both, making our center rotation look like (Voshkul, Lampe, Hunter, Williams)

 

[slinslin]

His stats are pretty similiar to Ratliff in his rookie season except minutes. ( Ratliff was 22 as a rookie, Hunter is 22 right now ).

 

[devilalum]

His stats are pretty similiar to Ratliff in his rookie season except minutes. ( Ratliff was 22 as a rookie, Hunter is 22 right now ).

Only problem with that theory is that if he does make incredible progress there's no way the Suns would be able to resign him.

 

[slinslin]

Only problem with that theory is that if he does make incredible progress there's no way the Suns would be able to resign him.

Since when did we turn into the Clippers and not keep players if they can play because of money?

 

[elindholm]

What personality problems do Walker, Pierce or Jones have?

Walker is a ballhog who never saw a shot he didn't like. Pierce's image has crashed since the debacle at the World Championships, where it was widely reported he was a difficult teammate.

I could be wrong about Jones. I don't know much about him, so I was just guessing.

Miles? I thought he was a hard worker.

Miles is the poster child for all flash and no substance. How long has he been in the league now, still having developed no jumpshot whatsoever?

 

[elindholm]

Since when did we turn into the Clippers and not keep players if they can play because of money?

If it's a short contract, there are issues with not having Bird rights.

 

[slinslin]

Since when did we turn into the Clippers and not keep players if they can play because of money?

If it's a short contract, there are issues with not having Bird rights.

I was 100% sure that was only the case with rookie contracts.

And your post above... How are those PERSONALITY problems???

Everyone in the league for some years who doesn't have a reliable jumper has personality problems now?

 

[elindholm]

I was 100% sure that was only the case with rookie contracts.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#17

There is no such restriction discussed here (or anywhere else in the FAQ that I could find). Otherwise, we'd be back to the Danny Manning system where a team signs a free agent to a cheap deal for one year, then goes way over the cap to give him a huge contract.

And your post above... How are those PERSONALITY problems???

In my opinion, if you have an obvious weakness in your game and don't address it for years, that's a personality problem. Good players keep trying to improve, especially in areas where their games are weak.

 

[slinslin]

If you dont have that talent even hard work won't help you improve.

Jason Kidd worked very hard on his shooting but it never got better. That doesn't mean he has personality problems ( although he does because of other reasons).

Was Corie Blount signed already? If not he would be the next guy I would be going after. Maybe Big Jake and Scott Williams but preferably as assistant coach.

 

[sunsfn]

They should sign Williams and keep him on the injured reserve.

They now have 13 players and adding Williams will make it 14. He would be a good mentor for the younger guys.