Lindsey

Hunter

Hunter is listed day-to-day and could miss tonight’s game.

“We were trying to waive him (Friday),” Danny Ainge said, “but I don’t know when it officially happens. The bottom line is that we’ve requested waivers on Lindsey already.” Hunter, who was on Detroit’s injured list before being traded to Boston on Thursday, said he is healthy and hopes to find a team that can use him after he becomes a free agent.

Hunter had seven points as Hamilton recovers from nose surgery.

Hunter would serve as a backup if he is brought back.

As part of the contract, there is an agreement that once Hunter’s playing days are over he will be given a position in the front office, primarily assisting president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. The Suns had also expressed interest in signing Hunter.

This is much different than calling Hunter a “candidate.” Although we still don’t expect Hunter to retain his position as head coach after looking lost on the sidelines when he took over this year, it’s clear McDonough hasn’t slammed the door shut on that possibility completely. “The most important thing to find in our head coach is someone who is a leader,” McDonough said.

Hunter was referred to as “one of the top guys” previously by GM Ryan McDonough, but it’s hard to imagine the former guard getting another chance after his abysmal showing last season. McDonough hasn’t set up any formal meetings with candidates, but according to Yahoo!, he has Jeff Hornacek, Quin Snyder, J.B. Bickerstaff, Kelvin Sampson and Steve Clifford on the radar.

McDonough, speaking at his introductory presser Thursday, said finding a new coach will be his first order of business and nothing he said made us think that reports of Hunter’s impending ouster are untrue. We fully expect Hunter will get a cursory interview with McDonough but will likely be let go before long so the new GM can pick his own guy.

Hunter has looked way over his head at times during his brief tenure as head coach in Phoenix, and there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to his rotation patterns. Not that we’re defending him, but it’s hard to get consistent production from a team when you have the Suns terrible roster. Lon Babby said there have been “positives” during Hunter’s regime, and we’d imagine Alvin Gentry isn’t losing sleep over the decision to mutually part ways with the franchise earlier in the year.

Babby is a former agent that signed on with the Suns in July of 2010. Since then, they’ve gone 96-126 and are in the midst of tanking the end of the season. Babby traded away Goran Dragic (before signing him back), signed Michael Beasley and gave up a first-round pick for Aaron Brooks.