RJ Hunter Is Returning To The Celtics On A Two-Way Deal!
Oh hell yes! The Celtics had an open two-way spot to fill so this is fantastic news. I find it impossible to be a Celtics fan and not love the RJ Hunter era despite the fact that he never really showed he could do the one thing he was supposed to do (shoot), so personally I consider this great news. Hunter was cut back before the 2016 season despite being a first round pick in 2015, if you remember it basically came down to him or James Young (RIPIP). It was one of those rare situations where the rest of the league had Ainge by the balls, they knew he had to cut someone and didn’t really want to help him out by making any sort of trade. Here’s what Ainge said at the time
“It was a very difficult decision and I guess that’s a good thing,” said Ainge. “We had a really good training camp, a lot of guys played really well and there’s really no reason why we waived R.J. other than we had 16 bodies and that position is probably needed less than we need other positions. But I will say that James and Jordan [Mickey] and Demetrius [Jackson and], Terry Rozier had fantastic training camps.”
James Young won the job out of camp because duh of course he did, and from there RJ never really hung on to an NBA roster spot. He spent some time with the Bulls and HOU for a total of 8 NBA appearances since that 2015-16 season with the Celtics, and has spend the majority of the last two years in the G-League. How has he done? Well this year he’s averaging 22.0/5.6/4.3 on 42/34% splits with 3.2 3PM a night. Not bad! It’s a low risk move for Ainge and the Celts to bring him back, and honestly it never hurts to have more shooting on your roster just in case. He most likely will only play in blowouts and things of that nature, and I’m just glad to have him back. I thought he showed flashes in his first year, defensively he struggled as most rookies do but you could see the basketball IQ was there. Now maybe he’s humbled a little bit and will make the most of this opportunity.
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I’m also pumped about this on a personal level because a few summers ago I went to Vegas for the Summer League and ran into RJ in the lobby of some hotel at like 3:30 in the morning. He was waiting for Gary Harris and Denzel Valentine and a collection of fine young ladies, and he could not have been nicer. He saw me wearing my Isaiah King Of The Fourth tshirt and waived a very drunk me over and we shot the shit for like 10 minutes, FaceTimed Isaiah, and then he was off to the VIP room. He was bummed things didn’t work out in Boston and I wished him all the best. I then watched him stink it up for Portland in their Summer League game because he was for sure hungover, but whatever it was still a great time.
Most people know him from this moment while in college
but there was also that one time he had 17 points in a preseason game against the Knicks which was cool
Then there was that time he had 11 against the Hornets in the second to last game of the season
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and then another 12 points against the Hawks
Remember the excitement we all had when he torched the 2015 Summer League? I do.
So welcome back RJ, I look forward to your redemption tour.