The Spurs Next Designated Shooter Could Fall In Their Laps

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If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve been making the point all offseason that the Spurs need to find a player in the NBA Draft that can step in and play at least small minutes right away. The Spurs have ten free agents this summer. It would be nothing short of a miracle if all 10 of those players were brought back and the Spurs didn’t break the bank. We know Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green are in line for big raises. Cory Joseph is probably getting a nice raise and with an escalating salary cap guys like Aron Baynes and Marco Belinelli are likely getting pay bumps. The Spurs can’t afford to bring everyone back and an infusion of fresh blood wouldn’t hurt either. Enter the draft.

Mock drafts should never ever be taken as gospel, but it can give you a pretty good indication of someone’s draft range. The guy I really want the Spurs to draft isn’t quite in their range, but we’ll get to him in a later post. Another prospect who would fit the Spurs system well is in their range and that is R.J. Hunter, a junior out of Georgia State. Recently, DraftExpress, CBS Sports’ Sam Vecenie and ESPN’s Jeff Goodman have had the Spurs taking Hunter. These things are fluid and Hunter’s stock in particular is all over the place, but if things fell the right way, the Spurs could get their next sharpshooter.

He’s a 6’5″ shooting guard with a long wingspan and he can shoot from anywhere. He only shot 30% from 3 in his last year at Georgia State, which isn’t great but virtually every scout agrees this has more to do with teams trying to make it impossible for him to get a clean look. That won’t happen in the NBA, especially on a team like the Spurs where his chief responsibility would be to catch and shoot open looks. He has the ability to handle the ball, but as Vecenie explained in his Hunter breakdown, this isn’t something Hunter should be asked to do much.

But while he shoots well off-the-dribble, he doesn’t quite have the ball-handling ability or explosiveness to get all the way to the rim regularly, which will resign him to being more of a complementary piece in the NBA. He only took 13.6 percent of his halfcourt shots at the rim this season, which was the third-lowest percentage among players on my top-100 board behind Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker of Kentucky. He finishes well when he gets there — knocking down 59 percent of his layins around the basket in halfcourt sets — due to his length, but I would be surprised if he would be able to get there often by himself on the next level.

Earlier in the piece, Veceine wrote a motion heavy offense like the Spurs or Hawks would be a good fit for Hunter. Hearing all of this might make you think Hunter would be a good Danny Green replacement, but he has a ways to go before becoming close to the defender Green has become. Rather, Hunter would be the perfect Marco Belinelli replacement. Deep range, can score on the move, play make a little bit but his defensive limitations might prevent him from having a bigger role. The difference is, at the 26th pick in the draft, Hunter will unquestionably come at a cheaper price than Belinelli and still has the upside to become an average to above average defender.

I would say right now, the Spurs are Hunter’s floor and I would be surprised to see him fall to 26th. But sometimes guys fall a little farther than you think for reasons totally out of their control. He’d make a great Spur and I’d argue is worth trading up a few spots to get. Who knows, he may even hit a few shots to make Pop react like his dad that one time.

  • Eric Westerman

    I think Manu comes back. But if he calls it a career, Spurs probably give what’s budgeted to Beli and move him into that role (first swingman off the bench) - right?

  • TD BestEVER

    I think we should be looking at SF/PF types instead of another poor defending shooter. Any time he is in the game with Parker or Mills you basically have no perimeter Defense. KL or DG can’t guard but one spot at a time. We need players who can Defend/Shoot or can defend and are athletic. Because fast break points are something we should look to increase as well and athletes are always at home there.

  • Graham

    I actually don’t mind the idea of hunter. He’d be exceedingly useful in lineups with kawhi at 4 and Danny at 3, for example, or if cojo comes back he’d be a great 2 off the bench to pair with him. There’s obvious overlap with Patty, but it’d be nice to have an actual 2 guard option for off the bench that’s a shooter who we can develop for cheap. He’d only have to guard the 3rd best perimeter guy in small lineups/alongside cojo. That would be doable I think.

    I think Danny is our natural backup 3, especially come playoff time, and maybe we get ourselves a cheap FA to eat minutes there for the season.

    I’m of the mind Boris is our natural 4 for smaller lineups, so the need for a 3/4 player isn’t there beyond Kawhi, and Anderson has a chance to be that anyway if he develops.

    If hunter can turn into a reliable marksman, last season highlighted that it never hurts to have reliable shooting.

  • TD BestEVER

    But if he turns out to be Belli which is a really good thing he will see no minuets come playoff time. Because to have TP and Belli out there was killing us. In small ball lineups you might be able to hide him but if the team we are playing has a good PG then you may not be able to hide him there, because Parker usually guards the weakest player on the wings.

    I’m kinda hoping for one of those Defensive SF’s like RHJ, Anderson or even the guy from Texas Jonathan Holmes. Maybe even Anthony Brown they can play the 3 or 4(Andre Igudala types) who can really turn is in to a scary team

  • Graham

    Belli damn near won us game 6 when he got hot and was getting deserved minutes because he was the only one consistently hitting. And I’d imagine Hunter would only get spot minutes in the playoffs. I like him more as an option to give us a competent player behind Danny so we don’t have to run him into the ground again this season. Having a top notch shooter who can’t do anything else as our 10th man is a problem I want to have, especially since we (if we keep Cory) have 3 plus perimeter defenders.

  • DorieStreet

    With the looming uncertainty/ potential of drastic roster changes, along with the salary cap risks in improving their teams, it seems to me having the free agency period happen before the draft gives franchises (especially those that are not in the lottery) a better chance to succeed in both situations. Whether landing a top FA, or losing significant team member(s), NBA teams would know what their core roster would be moving forward for the following season; they then could really focus on the draft to address losses or make selections for filling out rotation spots/choosing players to develop for the future.
    That being said, I think the Spurs can make a quality pick in the first round that can contribute immediately in the rotation, no matter what position spot is targeted.

  • merkin

    Are you sure KL can’t guard more than one spot at a time ; I like that kid from Stanford, Brown-he, too, can shoot plus seems capable of dribble drive too.

  • fkj74

    I am not a cap expert, however I see a way to keep Danny, Cojo, Belli, and Baynes. Manu comes back for a lot less..TD gets a wink wink deal where he takes less this year and more next year. KL gets a 2 year deal with his max coming when cap goes up . Bonner back for vet minimum, Anderson internal improvement allows him to back up SG/SF. Boom?? Go Spurs!

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