“The Kofi Cockburn Situation” is also the name of my prog-rock band.
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Hopefully Hunter makes 6 figures minimum on various NIL deals this year and it becomes an actual conversation. Losing guys to the NBA who don’t ever actually play in the NBA is not fun.
Side note, I think it’s ridiculous he’s not even projected to be drafted at all. He should be late 2nd at worst IMO.
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Sam talked about Hunter a bit on his pod and it was pretty clear that he just doesn’t regard him as especially close to his top 60 and that he’s not particularly high on his ability to develop skills that would force the issue. If Hunter ends up getting up 100+ 3’s and makes a decent clip, I’m not sure how much impact that will have on Sam’s personal board. I’d guess he’s very skeptical that’s a likely outcome so that might swing it.
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Hack, we’re not doing this again with band names. I DO keep track.
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plodding big men just have a hard time fitting in the NBA right now. Not much use of post up offense across the league.
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For reference, Teske’s highest year for 3 point attempts in a season was 77 (65 his senior year). I can’t even see Dickinson shooting as many as Teske. 100 seems astronomical for Hunter. Teske was much more of a pick and pop big than Hunter is. And it probably isn’t the best winning strategy to keep Hunter away from the basket.
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I’d contend that what is keeping Hunter back from the NBA is his lateral and vertical athleticism as a defensive player and not his three point shot.
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Well, there are some things you can really change and some things that you can’t.
Maybe the better question is what is holding Hunter back from maximizing his NBA potential despite his lateral and vertical (lack of) athleticism.
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I think if he is able to move laterally just a bit better teams might be able to squint and say “Brook Lopez-ish?”
Lopez isn’t a speed demon and plays drop coverage, but he does a very good job of closing on floaters, etc.
I don’t think NBA teams need to see Hunter take 80 threes in order to think they can turn him into a shooter - I think they need to see a fluid shot and a good FT%. Right or wrong, the NBA takes a dim view of college skills development, and generally ask “can we tech him to ____” and not “can he _____”.
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Yeah I think when it comes to figuring out what the pessimistic case (or, really, baseline case when you read the tea leaves) on Hunter is, this is it. His standing reach is really just OK for the NBA and when you combine that w his lateral agility, it’s easy for NBA people to say he’s unlikely to be a plus defender. At the 5, that’s a pretty tough hole to climb out of.
That said, I think if you really thought he could really pick and pop down the road and develop some more agility, I think there’s a backup 5 there. People tend to think of athleticism as being unchangeable but esp. when I watch Hunter, I see a guy who could unlock a lot more if somebody invested in improving the range of motion in his hips.
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Someone on here comped Hunter to Ivica Zubac and I think that’s a player with a similar build.
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Yeah that type of player still exists in the NBA but I would guess either the athleticism or the standing reach or both are problems for Hunter by comparison.
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Is Hunter’s lack of mobility,lateral movement and standing vertical something the Sandman could help with or has he tried and isn’t improving.
I think he’s ahead of guys like Zubac and Valanciaunas from a skill perspective but he’s even slower, which implies backup center not a starter.
He might end up being kinda of a smaller Boban.
You can…Marc Gasol improved leaps and bounds (and became a phenomenal defender)
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I think, and Dickinson has hinted as much, Hunter is going to spend more time in the high post facing the basket. Or in the low post scoring with his back to the basket, or pivoting and facing the defender for short shot, one dribble drives, or passing. Dickinson’s displaying elite passing is his ticket much more-so than 3 point shooting. I’m really intrigued to what Dickinson looks like this year. HIs touch around the basket is awesome when he can get to his right shoulder; now he needs to diversify.
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I don’t know enough about the state of the art to know if Sanderson has tried and it hasn’t worked or if it’s out there and he’s unfamiliar. My frame of reference is baseball and MLB teams absolutely did not know what they didn’t know when it came to range of motion in the shoulder as of a decade ago. Much better now but there’s been a huge amount of $$ spent in that area. My limited sense is basketball is somewhat behind but I dk how much.
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Thanks for sharing what you know.
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The other thing with Hunter is he does like 80% of his work before the catch just burying dudes on his back. That’s not that “translatable”
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Franz starting his debut.
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