robert chin

If he does not make the C's roster, something is very wrong. He plays a lot
bigger than he is. He is a tremendous widebody and animal under the boards.

I just got back form the Summer league games tonight. I was there last
night. Brandon Hunter has been eating bigger guys for lunch. Hunter is
tough and physical. He is exactly what the C's need under the boards. In
the paint, he is everything Antoine isn't. He seems to be somewhere between
Malik Rose and Elton Brand in terms of talent and heart.

I say give this guy a spot and see what he can do. Who needs the Grant
Longs of the world? Lose Bruno. Do SOMETHING, ANYTHING to keep this guy.

siegfreid del rosario

I agree. He's a beast. He was taking it at that Vranes fella on the Knicks
the other night, and he was at least a foot shorter. I don't think he's
intimidated by taller players. I'd love to see the Celts keep him around.

mustyceltic

< Hunter plays a game in which OB has expressed little but
Ainge has to see rebounds are need to run the break >

This "expressing of little interest by one of the two (Obie & Danny), while the
other has"- is, very surely a precursor. To what ? Dunno. Each have guaranteed
contracts running a few years (Obie's 2 yrs, I believe).

The pecking order says Danny is higher up in chain of command. However, the
"undeclared and very operative " pecking order, though, still amazingly is under
control of the Boston fans 'easy and cozy' great affection for the two captains.
Also amazingly that neither of those two yet, have risen to true superstar
status-except that which is held in that "undeclared mania" which tends to peck
the management pecking order to shreds.

IMHO, it is this "mania constituency" that actually works to keep either of the
two stars from attaining superstardom. It is spoilage, right before ones eyes.
Operative word, is "EGOES".

As one fan who has been a fan since Russell. I would advise a "strong read" in
Russell's book, "Russell Rules". It wouldn't take many pages for a true fan to
learn that one of the greatest of the Celts-Russ-was a great player whose
eternal game plan was to "take one for the team". Take ONE? Make that take a
thousand things for the team, then more. There was NO other plan. (Read here=11
championships).

Russ did not denounce having big egoes, he advocated them, and directed those
big egoes to where they belonged on a winning team : to the motherlode; to the
only most- intelligent place befitting a Celtic team, and thats to the
"TeamEgo".

These kids playing around with their egoes and their millions $ nowadays, are
just "coasting-along in the arms of 'that mania-constituency' ", and never
getting close to Russell's perspective. They are not Russell-type winners, until
they DO. IMO.

I have 'just fired a shot across the bow of a ship (Cs) that still seems to have
a "handicapped compass" ' .

musty celtic (Joe)

steven p. wallace

The Hunter situation fascinates me. Is he more comparable to Danny Fortson
(who IMHO absolutely ****s) than Barkley?

This could be a defining moment for the Ainge era...if he's obliged to keep
the Sundovs and make "real" offers of the world to McCarty, instead of
keeping a 3rd rookie on the squad, my opinion of him will drop considerably
(I'm sure he's concerned about that).

I;m hoping, as he has power over O'Brien to change the way this team plays
and who gets minutes, that the new "fan" owners (who have raised ticket
prices for an inferior product) aren't exercising their power to push Ainge
to continue to make the playoffs instead of looking at the long term view.

If a Hunter type isn't kept over a McCarty type, it would be a very bad sign
for things to come.


As an aside...looking at the minutes played over the last few box scores,
Lenny Cooke must really ****....if Hunter and Brown are playing upwards of
35 minutes in summer league and even Chris Klack playing 13 (who has 0
chance of making this team)
you have to believe Cook has nada bball a***en.

dontonton@aol.com

And let's not forget Dennis Rodman is certainly an undersized "power forward"
but he did with determination, timing, and a knack for getting the rebounds.

From the report in the Globe today, sounds like Ainge is trying to move Sundov
and either Bremer or Delk so that he can make room for a real PG...and perhaps
Hunter?

If Hunter plays the next two gamesas effectively as he has played the last two,
he will be very hard to turn away.

Don

hytem

The case against Fortson is overstated.
Fortson is an excellent positional rebounder.
Sure, he gets garbage rebounds, but he is among
the league leaders in offensive and total rebounds
when he plays, so he's doing something right.

Short guys who can't jump and who rebound well
have a gift for being in the right position to rebound.
They have a sense of the play and are aggressive.
Anti-Vin Baker-like, I might add.

In Fortson's case, two things worked against him in Boston:
1) he injured his foot.

and 2) Walker had to play the 4, since Pitino said
Walker couldn't play the 3 after trying him there.
And Fortson isn't a 5.

An example of how Walker at the 4 is a barrier to
improving the inside game.
Which is why they should trade him.

jason@ditzware.com (jason

Brandon Hunter deserves fair comparisons to Danny Fortson, although
Barkley clearly had better range on his shot. On the other hand he's
not a carbon copy of Fortson, who is much more offensive rebound
oriented than Hunter.

Also I think you're being pretty unfair to Danny Fortson. While he's
no Barkley, when healthy he's been a perfectly servicable player who
rebounds aggressively and plays much bigger than he is.

Also, someone mentioned that his offensive rebounds are mostly a
product of his own misses. Even if this is true, he averages, over his
career, 3.9 misses a game and 3.1 offensive boards. That means that
while he's a career 46% shooter, almost none of his misses wind up
costing his team the ball. That's got to be worth noting when he goes
up for a shot.

IMO, the thing that kept Danny from being a serious contributor to an
NBA team was his health. Other than his rookie year, he's been
basically playing partial seasons.

Expecting Brandon to step in and be Charles Barkley is unrealistic.
Expecting him to be a guy who can provide 10P 10R games isn't. And
considering that we're talking about a late second rounder, whereas
Danny Fortson was a mid first rounder, that's pretty darn good.