Steven Hunter signs with 76ers

[jbeecham]

Hunter Green? Insider

Can someone post the ESPN Insider article rumor central about the Sixers possibly offering Steven Hunter a contract? Thanks.

 

[sunsfn]

Her is what it says, not much to report......
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Steven Hunter
Suns
Mavericks
Hawks
Suns
76ers
Man Hunt
Aug 11 - According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sixers coach Mo Cheeks and Steven Hunter met yesterday in Chicago. The Sixers are in need of frontcourt depth now that the team has traded Marc Jackson to the Nets."We've been having a lot of conversations with the Sixers," Hunter's agent, Mark Bartelstein, said last night. "We'll see what happens."

 

[elindholm]

My Subaru is hunter green.

 

[sunsfn]

This is from the Philly news, not ESPN.
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Posted on Thu, Aug. 11, 2005

Sixers in the hunt for
7-footer from Suns

By PHIL JASNER

As a player, Maurice Cheeks had a terrific instinct for being in the right place at the right time. As the new coach of the 76ers, he hasn't lost his touch.

Cheeks just happened to be in his hometown of Chicago yesterday, and - at the suggestion of president/general manager Billy King - wound up having lunch with unrestricted free-agent center/forward Steven Hunter.

The Sixers are believed to have made an offer Tuesday to the 7-foot Hunter, 23, a four-year NBA veteran who spent three seasons with the Orlando Magic before joining the Phoenix Suns last season.

There also is reason to believe that if the Sixers are unsuccessful in their pursuit of Hunter, they will turn their attention to Dale Davis, a 14-year veteran who split last season between the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers.

"Steven did meet with Maurice, but how it's going to go from there, I don't know,'' said Mark Bartelstein, Hunter's Chicago-based agent. "Don't jump to any conclusions from this, because a lot of people are pursuing Steven. He's the top big man on the market, and we're keeping the door open.

"I wasn't there, but Steven was impressed with Maurice, as I knew he would be. But where this is going to lead, I don't know.''

Hunter was the No. 15 overall pick in the 2001 draft, taken by the Magic. He has career averages of 3.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, and has created interest because of his youth, athleticism and upside.

Davis, 36, was the No. 13 overall pick in 1991, taken by the Pacers. He has career averages of 8.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.

"[The Sixers] know Dale, they've been around him, they have a comfort level with him,'' said Chubby Wells, Davis' agent. "We have other teams interested; we haven't made a decision yet. We're waiting on a team that's trying to make a trade.''

Savings plan

The 76ers spent $3 million Tuesday to save more in the long run when they traded forward-center Marc Jackson to the New Jersey Nets.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the Sixers included the maximum amount of cash permissible in the collective bargaining agreement as part of the deal in which the Sixers also received an option to switch second-round picks with the Nets next year.

Also, because the Sixers' payroll already exceeds the $49.5 million salary cap for the coming season, they benefited another way: Because they did not acquire a player in the trade, they now have a trade exception worth $4.55 million, the value of Jackson's contract for 2005-06.

Here's how they save money: They traded Jackson's contract, also worth $4.875 million for '06-07, cutting more than $9 million in salary over two seasons. If they had kept Jackson and their payroll escalated above the $61.7 million trigger point, they would have had to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on the overage.

By making the trade, the Sixers feel they are in a better position to add another big man and possibly also a perimeter player. They currently are more than $3 million below the tax trigger point.

 

[jbeecham]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Evil Ash]

According to XTRA Sports 910 AM, Hunter signed a 5 year $15+ million deal with the Sixers.

Now we have to look for another big man. Most of us expected this anyways

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

fecch, that sux. i hope amare crushes him next year.

 

[Joe Mama]

Next season when the Phoenix Suns have Pat Burke and Lonnie Jones people will be saying, "Hunter who?"

Joe Mama

 

[SweetD]

fecch, that sux. i hope amare crushes him next year.

I dought Hunter will be playing when Amare is in.

 

[SweetD]

Steven Hunter will be on 910

Sixers Agree to Terms With Steven Hunter

SIXERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FREE AGENT CENTER STEVEN HUNTER

Philadelphia, Pa. - Aug. 11, 2005 - Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced today that the Sixers have agreed to terms with free agent center Steven Hunter. Hunter is expected to sign with Philadelphia on Friday, Aug. 12.

"We felt Steven was one of the top free-agent big men out there. He is an extremely important addition to our team," King said. "He is young, athletic and a natural shot-blocker. This move really strengthens our front court."

In four NBA seasons, the 23-year-old, 7-footer has averaged 3.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.10 blocks on 54.4 percent shooting from the field in 221 career games with two teams - Orlando (2001-04) and Phoenix (2004-05). Last season with the Suns, Hunter averaged 4.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in a career-high 76 games (3 starts) and appeared in all 15 playoff games off the bench, averaging 4.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.20 blocks per game.

Hunter was originally selected in the first round (15th overall pick) of the 2001 NBA Draft by Orlando after his sophomore season at DePaul. In two seasons of collegiate basketball, Hunter averaged 9.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.03 blocks in 63 games.

 

[SweetD]

linky.

http://players.eonstreams.com/FastAim/Player/Player.php?PlayerID=179

 

[Mainstreet]

Next season when the Phoenix Suns have Pat Burke and Lonnie Jones people will be saying, "Hunter who?"

Joe Mama

Joe Mama, bring on Lonnie Jones and also Lonny Baxter if you can swing it.

I wish Steven Hunter the best of luck. He let Suns management and fans know all along that he was looking for the security of a long term contract. Unfortunately the Suns could not offer it to him.

I wanted him to remain a Sun but I understand he could not turn down the contract offered. No hard feelings Steven. I appreciate your contribution to the Suns team last year and hope you do well.

He handled this situation with class which, unfortunately, I think JJ did not. Yes, JJ played well for the Suns last year and I appreciate it... I just wish he had communicated his displeasure with Phoenix earlier, especially to the fans. I guess it's kind of like a divorce, I wish it could have been ammicable.

I think alot of the Suns fans had invested in JJ emotionally (as did I)... the way the parting occurred (in silence) hurts.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I never in a million years thought that our big men would have me pining for Jake Voskhul. They better get someone with more than a pulse if we have any hope of doing anything this season. This offseason just keeps getting worse and worse. With the retention of Hunter and JJ, most would have had us at either 1 or 2 in the West, it's amazing how far we've fallen in one offseason. Kudos to management!

 

[George O'Brien]

When they trade Marc Jackson it became clear they were thinking about Hunter. I could not see anyone paying much for a third string center, but Hunter as a backup would get the money.

 

[SweetD]

I never in a million years thought that our big men would have me pining for Jake Voskhul. They better get someone with more than a pulse if we have any hope of doing anything this season. This offseason just keeps getting worse and worse. With the retention of Hunter and JJ, most would have had us at either 1 or 2 in the West, it's amazing how far we've fallen in one offseason. Kudos to management!

Ok come on JJ is the only player that is worth anything. But I feel his contributions to this team can be replaced. Hunter's 10 minutes per game will not be missed. Sure Hunter was a piece that the Suns needed but 5 years 16.5 million is something the Suns couldn't do. I just don't think Hunter will get much playing time with Dalembert and Weber starting.

 

[asudevil83]

I never in a million years thought that our big men would have me pining for Jake Voskhul. They better get someone with more than a pulse if we have any hope of doing anything this season. This offseason just keeps getting worse and worse. With the retention of Hunter and JJ, most would have had us at either 1 or 2 in the West, it's amazing how far we've fallen in one offseason. Kudos to management!

you are WAY overreacting here. the JJ trade is the best thing the suns could have hoped for IMO. we would DEFINATELY be in rebuild mode in two years if we had kept JJ, and getting 2 lotto picks is great.

i think the next thing we can hope for is to grab SAR with our JJ TE, Dikau with Barbs/Voskuhl TE, and sign Finley with the LLE. we'd be set....and MUCH better off than what we started last year off with.

 

[elindholm]

Whew! Hunter leaving is practically the first free-agent prediction I've gotten right.

 

[fordronken]

Whew! Hunter leaving is practically the first free-agent prediction I've gotten right.

You didn't get Rowan Barrett?

 

[ASUCHRIS]

you are WAY overreacting here. the JJ trade is the best thing the suns could have hoped for IMO. we would DEFINATELY be in rebuild mode in two years if we had kept JJ, and getting 2 lotto picks is great.

i think the next thing we can hope for is to grab SAR with our JJ TE, Dikau with Barbs/Voskuhl TE, and sign Finley with the LLE. we'd be set....and MUCH better off than what we started last year off with.

I don't think I am. Our bench now consists of Pat Burke, Scott Padgett, Leandro and Jimmy Jax. Losing out on Hunter I believe is a major loss. Who do we bring in when Amare or Kurt Thomas gets in foul trouble? Additionally, Amare said pretty clearly in interviews that he can't play defense effectively because it gets him in foul trouble. With the big men we have right now, he has to be petrified of getting fouls.

I would love to hear you explain why we would have been in rebuild mode if we signed JJ... I am glad you are thrilled about the picks, although at best, the picks are lottery picks, and in case you hadn't noticed, having lottery picks isn't necessarily that great a thing, ask the Hawks and the Clips.

Your delusions of grandeur about getting SAR and Finley are entertaining, but with no basis in fact. Have you heard anyone affiliated with the organization or team even remotely mention SAR? More and more rumblings have Finley going to the Heat or Nuggets. MAYBE if your fantasy dreams come true, which appears highly unlikely, we will be as good a team as last year. We still don't have a big man worth a damn other than Amare and KT. That is an incredibly scary proposition especially if someone came down with an injury.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Ok come on JJ is the only player that is worth anything. But I feel his contributions to this team can be replaced. Hunter's 10 minutes per game will not be missed. Sure Hunter was a piece that the Suns needed but 5 years 16.5 million is something the Suns couldn't do. I just don't think Hunter will get much playing time with Dalembert and Weber starting.

Trying to decipher your post, a question mark intended somewhere in there? I'd love to see your explanation of how Johnson's contributions can be replaced. Find me someone out there that can play every minute of every game, shoot 45 percent from three point land, etc, etc... One of the hallmarks of last years team was the ability to hit a bunch of threes and just bury teams. JJ's ability to hit the open three was uncanny, and it allowed Nash to penetrate, and Amare to have space as well. Do you think people will respect Raja Bell like they did JJ? How will Hunter's contributions not be missed? That argument can be made if he is replaced by a comparable player, but so far he hasn't. I think it is quite funny how people overemphasize the contributions of players when they are here and dismiss them completely when they move on.

The depth on this team is frightening. Imagine if Stoudemire or Nash misses significant time...it was quite clear that Nash was wearing down by the end of the year with nagging injuries. He is a year older, and the only person to pick up the point is Barbosa, who is by all accounts other than height a shooting guard. Perhaps we have some things in the works, but from the Nate Robinson fiasco, to the JJ situation, nothing has gone right this offseason. (Unless you count overpaying Raja Bell, who is a nice player, but perhaps not worth 25 million...)

 

[Chaplin]

Trying to decipher your post, a question mark intended somewhere in there? I'd love to see your explanation of how Johnson's contributions can be replaced. Find me someone out there that can play every minute of every game, shoot 45 percent from three point land, etc, etc... One of the hallmarks of last years team was the ability to hit a bunch of threes and just bury teams. JJ's ability to hit the open three was uncanny, and it allowed Nash to penetrate, and Amare to have space as well. Do you think people will respect Raja Bell like they did JJ? How will Hunter's contributions not be missed? That argument can be made if he is replaced by a comparable player, but so far he hasn't. I think it is quite funny how people overemphasize the contributions of players when they are here and dismiss them completely when they move on.

The depth on this team is frightening. Imagine if Stoudemire or Nash misses significant time...it was quite clear that Nash was wearing down by the end of the year with nagging injuries. He is a year older, and the only person to pick up the point is Barbosa, who is by all accounts other than height a shooting guard. Perhaps we have some things in the works, but from the Nate Robinson fiasco, to the JJ situation, nothing has gone right this offseason. (Unless you count overpaying Raja Bell, who is a nice player, but perhaps not worth 25 million...)

Granted, Joe Johnson will not be hard to replace, but depth-wise, this team is so much better than last year. Our bench is much better.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Granted, Joe Johnson will not be hard to replace, but depth-wise, this team is so much better than last year. Our bench is much better.

Depth wise the team is better than last year? I hope you are speaking speculatively about the future, because our current bench is an absolute joke. We have one solid bench player in Jim Jackson. That is it. MAYBE Scott Padgett can be included, but he is certainly not good and could never fill in effectively as a starter. He is a shooting guard in a forward's body. Other than that, our bench consists of Pat Burke, Dijon Thompson and Leandro. How could you possibly say that our bench is better than last year? Hunter is far better than any big man we have on the bench and I would probably take Jake over the stiffs we've collected as our "big men". We have nobody to back up Nash other than Barbosa, who has proven so far to be a below average point guard, and we have nobody to back up Thomas and Amare. I think unless we have magical plans to fill all these holes, we have some major issues.

 

[PakistaniRambo]

enough w/ the SAR rumors. why would u want him? he wont fit in this system, pure and simple.

as for our lack of bigs, guaranteed the suns trade for someone decent like Wilcox(hopefully) or gooden to bolster up our bench. once we do that i feel we will have a better future then if we were to sign JJ to that max contract. i only say this because after a year of that contract, we would HAVE to get rid of Marion...there is no way around it. On the other side, i've said time and time again that now is the time to trade Marion if ever, because he is at the prime of his career. but how do u replace someone like that?

Losing JJ was a big hit to us i admit, but lets be realistic here. he can be replaced. nothing he did was AMAZING. Marion on the other hand cannot be replaced. where are you going to find an excellent defending SF at 6'7 that rebounds better than the likes of Shaq and other high quality bigs? the answer is you can't.

so with the TE, the picks, and a gamble on Diaw, i think we're getting a good deal..especially if you look at it in the long term. the TE and Laker pick can be traded with perhaps another player such as Barbosa or JJax for a very quality player that would contribute right away. Diaw could develop into a nice player, but i am not holding my breath on that. and of course the Atlanta pick will be very high because they will blow for a long long time.

So all in all, I think we are better suited for the future.

 

[phxrising]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0811hunter-ON.html

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 11, 2005 03:38 PM


[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Steven Hunter emphasized two things ever since his playoff time revelation that he would explore free agency this summer. One, he wanted to stay in Phoenix. Two, he wanted long-term security.

Hunter got the latter today from Philadelphia, accepting a five-year contract worth almost $17 million with the 76ers. The final year of the deal is a player option.

Phoenix was offering the 23-year-old center a one-year guarantee of almost $1.7 million, the biannual exception that the Suns had left to offer after using most of the $5 million midlevel exception to land Raja Bell.

Phoenix was limited to a two-year offer at best with the biannual exception.

“I had to take the money,” said Hunter, who met new Philadelphia coach Maurice Cheeks for lunch Wednesday in Chicago. “I was looking for security. I'm glad Philadelphia stepped up to the plate. They're not going to be disappointed with what they got.” [/font]
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[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I agree that a least Hunter was upfront with us and said he wanted something long term.[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Can't blame the guy 1.7 mil or 17 min ~ hmmm no brainer.[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]i liked him and though he was a good guy off the bench[/font]
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[Kolo]

We still don't have a big man worth a damn other than Amare and KT.

And last year, we didn't have a big man worth a damn other than Amare. KT >> Hunter, and Padgett > Waltuh. Who cares whether Burke or Jones is better than Voskhul, because they'll never see anything other than garbage time. If we can pick up a swingman who can play 20+ minutes so the Matrix can slide into the 4 spot half the game, we'll be fine. Maybe we'll get him this year, maybe next, but we're now able to keep this team fully intact for the next 4-5 years. I think whether we win a championship ultimately depends on how Amare develops, which is probably what a championship depended on before the Joe Johnson trade.