It’s been a wild last few months for R.J. Hunter. The Pike High School product will learn what’s next for his him on Thursday at the 2015 NBA Draft in Brooklyn.
However, instead of attending the event and walking across the grand stage at the Barclays Center and being greeted by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Hunter has instead opted to remain home in Atlanta to celebrate with a large contingent of family, friends, and former teammates. The decision was finalized Monday morning.
“He wanted to be with his family and friends,” Ron Hunter, R.J.’s father and coach at Georgia State, told VigilantSports.com Monday afternoon. “We got a lot of Pike guys that are coming down, his high school coach is coming. To have everyone with us, we had to do it in Atlanta. We couldn’t do it in New York.”
Coach Ron Hunter and son, R.J.
After a successful season at Georgia State, which included two NCAA Tournament games (they lost to No. 6 Xavier in the Round of 32), the 6-foot-6, 185-pound guard chose to skip his final year of college and enter his name in the NBA Draft.
“Well, it’s been crazy ever since leaving Jacksonville and going to the Final Four,” coach Hunter said of what things have been like for R.J. and their family. “Then, he left home and started working out with teams. He’s been with so many teams and had so many workouts. We got my daughter married two weeks ago so it’s been really busy for us but it’s been exciting.”
There was the Draft Combine held in Chicago in mid-May. Then, players fly around the country for workouts with NBA teams.
A few weeks ago, I actually ran into R.J. in the Phoenix airport. He looked gassed having just completed a workout for the Suns, his third that week. It’s no doubt a grind and with so many requests, players (and their agents) have to be selective.
“The Pacers actually loved for him to come in but we had so many workouts,” Ron Hunter said. “We know the needs of some of the teams and as much as he would have loved to come back to Indianapolis, the need at that 2-guard position is something that they’re pretty strong with right now.”
On Tuesday, just 48 hours before the big night, Hunter was in D.C. to workout for the Wizards.
Now, I’m not big into Mock Drafts but they certainly do provide an indication of the range when a player will most likely here his named called.
SI has R.J. being selected at No. 12 by Utah; DraftExpress has him going 17th to Milwaukee; NBADraft.net has him slotted in 28th to Boston. How intriguing would that be, paired with former Butler coach Brad Stevens?
Heading into the draft, a player can — no, will — experience a range of emotions. Nervousness to excitement to wondering if he did enough and how he compares to similar draft prospects.
For the Hunter family, coach says they are flat-out excited.
“It’s been such a crazy ride we’ve been on that we are kind of waiting for this part to be over so we can move on to the next phase,” he said. “I still have a day job. I got to worry about my team but I’ve been so engaged with everything that he’s doing. We’re really excited about it. From the time when he was at Pike and running around in the 7th and 8th grades, to now where we’re at draft night. It’s just unbelievable. It’s been a great ride for him and our family.”
As for coach Hunter, who tore his left Achilles in celebrating their Sun Belt tournament title after defeating Georgia Southern, he says he’s doing great.
“I got one more week in this boot and for the first time Monday, I can actually wear a pair of shoes,” coach said with a big grin. “I haven’t had a pair of shoes on since March 15th. So I can wear shoes starting on July 1st.”
Two of my happiest times with my son RJ pic.twitter.com/PPGUoYA3Qb
— Ron Hunter (@coachrhunter) March 16, 2015