By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CHICAGO - One day after nearly playing himself out of NBA draft consideration, Brandon Hunter played up his strengths at the pre-draft camp Thursday. He turned the heads of some league personnel who say Hunter may not be a long shot after all.

The former Ohio University and Withrow High School forward was considered to be undersized for the professional game, which usually likes its big men 6 feet 8 and taller. Hunter measured 6-6 1/2 at the Moody Bible Institute, and some media reports speculated he was even shorter.

Hunter managed just two points and four rebounds in his team's game Wednesday.

Any chance of going in the second round of the June 26 draft looked to be slipping away until Thursday. Instead of settling for outside shots, Hunter drove to the basket, earned six trips to the foul line and scored a team-high 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

It was the type of game that renewed Hunter's confidence and that of those watching him.

"Yeah, he's got a chance to be drafted if he keeps playing like that," said an Eastern Conference scout. "He's strong, and he used his body today to get to the basket. That's what he has to do."

Hunter knows he's what pro scouts refer to as a "tweener," a player whose size prevents him from having a natural position on the floor and is often forced to play "in between" two positions, in Hunter's case small forward and power forward. His outside shot isn't good enough for a small forward, so if Hunter wants a shot in the NBA, it has to be at power forward. But he's not as tall as other power forwards.

"(After Wednesday) I had to show I can go out there and finish and rebound over bigger people," Hunter said. "They might be taller, but they're not quicker."

Hunter's strength was in drawing his defender out of the paint, then beating him off the dribble. But down low, Hunter still struggled to establish himself against bigger players.

Most scouts predict Hunter will be a late second-round pick, if he's drafted at all.

"I know I'm going to make money playing basketball," Hunter said. "If it's not in the NBA, I'll still make six figures playing overseas."

Hunter at a glance

A look at Brandon Hunter's four years at Ohio University.

Year	Games	Min.	Pts.	Reb.	Assists
'02-'03	30	38.3	21.5	12.6	2.6
'01-'02	26	32.4	17.3	9.1	2.3
'00-'01	30	32.9	18.1	9.4	2.7
'99-'00	33	27.4	12.8	7.3	1.4