| Hunting Season Authored by James M. Morisette - January 15, 2006 - 2:04 pm
Flip and Rip and the rest of the Detroit Pistons are preparing to upgrade the engine in its already powerful and smooth running machine.
The same team which currently boasts a league leading 29-5 regular season record is slotted to get veteran point guard Lindsey Hunter back from arthroscopic ankle surgery on Monday when the Boston Celtics invade the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Hunter, a pesky and inspiring 6 foot, 2 inch tall, two time NBA Champion, is considered to be one of the premier defensive players in the NBA. During his 13 year professional career, this 33-year-old journeyman workhorse has earned a highly respected reputation for containing some of the leagues most dangerous scoring threats and also for pressuring foes into turnovers during pivotal times.
Hunter is the kind of basketball player Piston fans love and opposing fans despise. He accomplishes things during games that do not usually appear in the post-game box score. He is the type of player who can enter the game and spark his team when flatness and boredom reigns supreme. He can alter the course of a game with relentless hustle, sheer annoyance, and with something one of the Ten Commandments abhors – theft. According to NBA statistics, Hunter currently ranks 4th among active NBA players in steals per 48 minutes, and currently ranks 3rd in Piston franchise steals (830) behind Isiah Thomas (1,861) and Joe Dumars (902).
Hunter is also a great defensive advisor to fellow Piston players during team practices. For example, Oakland Press sports columnist Dana Gauruder, in her April 2005 article titled, “Rip the Stopper,” wrote “[Rip] Hamilton attributes his defensive improvement to watching and emulating Hunter, whom [Larry] Brown calls the best defensive guard in the league.”
Offensively speaking, Hunter has also faired fairly well during his career, averaging 9.5 points 1.3 steals and 2.9 assists in 27.3 minutes per game. More interestingly, Hunter ranks 31st among NBA all-time leaders and 2nd among Piston franchise leaders in successful three-point attempts with 1,002. And while inconsistent on the offensive end, Hunter, if abandoned by opposing forces, can and will torch them. His 17 point performance against the San Antonio Spurs during game four of last years NBA Finals, provides sharp evidence to support this assertion.
Lindsey Hunter may not be the most talented basketball player on the Pistons. But he is the defensive sharpshooter the Pistons need to hunt down and capture the Larry O’Brien Trophy once again.
Career Notes:
The Detroit Pistons selected Lindsey Hunter with the 10th pick in 1st round of the 1993 NBA draft. After playing his first seven professional campaigns with the Pistons, Hunter signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2001 and then with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002. Shortly after Hunter helped the Lakers win the 2002-2003 NBA Championship, he signed with Toronto as a free agent only to return to Detroit via trade, where he was subsequently instrumental in helping the Pistons defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games during the 2003-2004 NBA Finals. |
