Player Grades: Spurs 95 – Celtics 93

R.J. Hunter

Grade: A-

R.J. Hunter, for the second time this Summer League, scored the highest +/- on the Celtics (+11). Between his passing and basketball IQ, R.J. Hunter simply makes his teammates better.

However, he was brought here to shoot, and last night, Hunter did just that – going 7-14 from the field – including 3-8 from behind-the-arc.

He’s so far displayed zero trouble acclimating to the NBA three-point line. The shots he’s taken this summer have been reminiscent of Ray Allen. He expects to make every shot he takes, and it’s justified by his 36% three-point shooting this summer league. Expect this percentage to improve as he adjusts to the NBA.

With average shooters like Evan Turner, Marcus Smart, Amir Johnson, David Lee and Jared Sullinger expected to play heavy minutes this season, it’s important to have a consistent floor-spacer like R.J. Hunter. He does more than just space the offense: his infinite range injects a paranoia into defenders – forcing them to overcompensate on defense, leading to easy fouls.

Notice how maniacal Hunter’s defenders are, when they notice they’ve left him open. Both sprint uncontrollably across the baseline to contest Hunter’s shot. While his defenders shouldn’t have strayed that far in the first place, it’s actually Rozier who deserves the credit for this, having successfully collapsed the defense with his drive to the lane.

In order to collapse the defense, you need spacing. Hunter’s presence draws defenders out of the lanes to defend the perimeter. When Hunter’s defender crashes to the lane to double-team a cutter, it opens Hunter up.

Whenever a team has a scorer capable of collapsing the defense when they drive, it’s important to surround that player with shooters. This is so the scorer can kick the ball out to shooters on the perimeter. One reason why Miami’s Big Three was so balanced offensively, was because LeBron James would draw double-teams whenever he drove to the lane, opening up Miami’s shooters (Ray Allen, James Jones, Mike Miller, etc..). If a defender guarded one of Miami’s shooters too tightly, the lane would be all the more open for James to get an easy lay-up.

Although Hunter may not be a team’s go-to scorer, he has the potential to perfectly compliment a player (read: number one option) who can draw double teams.

While Hunter’s IQ has largely compensated for his mediocre defense, he’s still just an average defender. In this “Elevator Door” play, where a shooter receives a screen from two-big men who close off the lane from the defender (like elevator doors), you can see Hunter recognize the play call, and avoid the screeners by going around them. Hunter should have just trailed his man since the screen closed too late to block him anyways. The bigger problem for Hunter, however, is how the shooter he was guarding created the requisite space by merely prodding him a tiny bit.

In order to effectively defend NBA guards and forwards, Hunter will need to add muscle or else he’ll continue to get bullied on defense.

Next: Player Grades: James Young