Indiana Basketball: Jerome Hunter’s role in the rotation for 2019-2020
With the addition of Jerome Hunter heading into this season, how exactly does he fit in the rotation and what to expect when he sees the floor?
When you talk about the potential of the 2019-2020 Indiana Basketball team, it’s hard to not bring Jerome Hunter into the conversation. Hoosier fans received good news recently after it was announced that Hunter had been fully cleared to participate in all basketball activities and hasn’t missed a workout all offseason.
This bit of good news came after a year of uncertainty that he would ever even play basketball again, missing the year after undergoing leg surgery.
Hunter will help fill the talent void left by the departure of Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan. He was, after all, a top-50 recruit by most accounts in the 2018 class and his skillset fits everything Indiana needs.
Hunter has good size at 6-foot-7, and 220 pounds, with the athleticism and strength to play the 2, 3, and 4 spot. He’s an all around solid player who can contribute in many ways on offense and defense and will earn the love of Indiana fans in no time.
Most importantly, he can score the ball, especially from the three-point line, which could potentially help erase the Hoosiers’ main vice of poor three-point shooting.
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However, if you’re expecting Hunter to come out and make an immediate impact, you may need to pump your brakes a little bit.
Despite his talent, he hasn’t played in a real game in well over a year, and that was back in high school. Just like with anything else, if you take a long time off, you’re going to be rusty and take some time to adjust.
There will be plenty of opportunities for Jerome Hunter to play this season, although I think it is likely that Archie Miller really tries to ease him into the college game instead of throwing him to the wolves. There’s less of an immediate impact needed on the wing with Justin Smith and Damezi Anderson poised to contribute a good amount of minutes.
We have a big, strong, long group that in my opinion has some versatility, and we’ve got to get the most out of it by having them challenge each other every day. But without question, I think that’s definitely something we have to find a make that a strength.
-Archie Miller
Speaking of Smith and Anderson, one major plus of this Indiana team is that the guys on the roster are extremely versatile. Al Durham can play 1-3, Armaan Franklin and Devonte Green are combo guards, Trayce Jackson-Davis can play 4 and 5 (you get the idea). Jerome Hunter could play any number of positions without having his role and expectations dramatically altered.
That versatility factor gives this roster a lot of mystery and intrigue. I look at the depth chart and see numerous lineups that could be effective, but it remains to be seen how many will be tested. Archie Miller has made it clear he plans to use Indiana’s strong front court trio of Trayce Jackson-Davis, Joey Brunk, and De’Ron Davis to play some old school, inside-out ball, but what about the rest of the team?
This brings us back to Jerome Hunter’s role in the rotation.
Hunter will perhaps be best utilized as a backup power forward this season. One thing about him is that not only does he effectively space the floor, but he’s strong around the basket and can effectively finish in the post or from 15 feet as well. Inserting him at the 4 spot would give Archie Miller some more floor spacing without sacrificing a ton of rebounding or inside presence.
The depth at the guard spots, however, is paper-thin, and if an injury occurs, Hunter may be called upon to contribute there as well. While this doesn’t use his skills as an inside scorer quite as much, he could still help as a floor spacer in a bigger lineup.
It is important to remember the age of basketball that we are experiencing is that of positionless basketball. Guys like Jerome Hunter aren’t specifically bound to one position, and in a lot of cases (take Indiana last year for example) there can be a lot of flexibility in how the 2, 3, and 4 positions are played. Many times, there is no difference between how they are played at all, because athletes like Hunter possess both the quickness and the strength to be extremely versatile on offense and on the defensive end as well. It’s an absolute blessing that Indiana gets to enjoy in its next four years with Jerome Hunter.
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It does sound as though this year, however, that Archie Miller might return to that old school style of play. We will see if that philosophy is just among the trio of big men, or if it extends down to the other positions as well. If it does extend down, you can expect to see a lot of Jerome Hunter at small forward and power forward.