Today was the deadline for cutting the roster down to 15, and in a move none of us expected a few months ago, James Young is sticking around and RJ Hunter (on his birthday, no less) is looking for a new home.
James Young has made the Boston Celtics 15-man roster, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) October 24, 2016
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Boston Celtics have waived RJ Hunter, source told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) October 24, 2016
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I’m a little surprised it worked out this way simply because Hunter is the more recent pick, and he’s not been horribly outplayed by Young. And I still like Hunter’s overall basketball IQ… but there is a knock on him that he’s not exactly going all-out all the time and his shot hasn’t been very consistent (to be nice).
In the end, neither was ever going to make much impact. In a pinch, they probably feel Young can come in and contribute defensively more than Hunter can, and that’s really where this tie was broken. Young is more physically advanced than Hunter and he’ll be asked to switch like the rest of the versatile wings on this team. If he’s ever pressed into service, he’ll be able to do that better than Hunter.
So good luck, RJ Hunter. I still think you’re an NBA player, but I guess time will tell. There are NBA teams out there with more roster space and time to figure out whether I’m right or wrong here.
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