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Re: Hunter etc.



At 08:26 AM 7/19/2003 -0400, you wrote:
I guess it all comes down to how the BT and media view the summer
league games vs. how the fans view it. Summer league teams have little
time to practice together, and aside from a few recent draft picks or a
few rehabs, their rosters are comprised of a bunch of fillers named Joe.
It just doesn't mean that much if a player like John Salmons can score
35 points when his NBA average is 2 ppg.  Think Kedrick will average
his present19.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in the big show?

Sure, but it's not the case that play in the summer leagues is completely uncorrelated with performance when the games do count. For every John Salmons (and I wouldn't be surprised if he broke out soon) , there is a Richard Jefferson, a Zach Randolph, a Michael Redd - players whose performance in the summer was a harbinger of things to come in the winter. While the talent level in the summer is obviously lower, the level of desire is much higher. These guys come in in the best shape possible, some sporting Hulk-like bodies, and they fight tooth-and-nail to land their dream job. If you can stand out there, chances are pretty good you'll be OK when the real games start. Now, if you DON'T do well even in the summer league... well, see Bruno...



The media simply doesn't consider the Summer League all that important,
thus the scant coverage.  More specifically, in the case of Hunter, they have
repeatedly been told he is not in this year's plans so why tantalize fans by
highlighting him?  That said, May should have at least mentioned his name
in his brief game summary

Even though his recent play has appeared to be spectacular (although his
16 ppg, 9 rpg are actually less than his college numbers of 21.5 ppg,
12.6 rpg against arguably lesser competition), something in Hunter's
game has led our BT to feel he is not NBA-ready.  And it isn't as though
Hunter's excellent Reebok numbers weren't anticipated by our BT. In fact,
Obie predicted it despite saying there was no room on our team for him.

See, I don't get this at all. Why draft a player that you will not absolutely not add to your team, no matter what? If they felt he wasn't good enough, why did they take him? They did the same thing with Songaila last year. If they think 2nd rounders have no chance in general, why do they bother acquiring a 2nd round pick? In the hopes that Lebron will slide down? that they will be able to trade their second-rounder for some guy named Batiste?
Kestas