Kudos to Need4Sheed for catching this report in the Los Angeles Daily News:
Just how serious were the Clippers' contingency plans if the diagnosis on Baron Davis' sprained left ring finger came back negatively? Apparently, serious enough to have free agent guard Lindsey Hunter in for a workout this week.
``We worked him out and he looked great,'' Clippers coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy said. ``He's in great shape, and a good veteran guy.''
Now that the Clippers have official word that Davis should only be out another week and doesn't need surgery, it's unlikely they'd sign Hunter, who won NBA championships with the Lakers in 2001-02 and Detroit in 2003-04.
This caught me off guard -- I took for granted that he'd either retire or attempt a mid-season comeback with Detroit if/when the whole FBI investigation blew over (which hasn't happened yet).
I have a lot of respect for what Hunter accomplished and had a lot of fun watching him over the years -- he was the one link between the original Bad Boys and the 2004 title team -- but seeing him trying (and failing) to warm the bench of one of the league's bottom-feeders is just depressing. Allan Houston, a fellow member of Detroit's draft class of 1994, is trying to do the same thing in New York with much the same results.
You'd like to see the players you grew up watching leave the game on their own terms; as a fan, it's sad to see them get pushed out before they realize it's time.