National Basketball Association

Chicago Bulls Sign J.J. Avila, Vince Hunter to Training Camp Deals

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Keith Smith of RealGM, Today’s Fastbreak and Celtics Blog reports that the Chicago Bulls have struck training camp deals with forwards J.J. Avila and Vince Hunter.

While both of these player have virtually no shot at making the Chicago Bulls roster, J.J. Avila and Vince Hunter could be key additions to the Windy City Bulls. Both of these guys went undrafted in 2015, and both have size which the Windy City Bulls clearly lack to this point.

The Windy City Bulls acquired just two players of 6’8″ via the expansion draft near the end of August. Of the two, the only legitimate front court player is Ian Chiles, who is listed at 7’2″, 260 pounds. Jamal Jones is the other guy with some height, but he is more exclusively a small forward, seeing that he is listed at 198 pounds.

Bulls Sign J.J. Avila, Vince Hunter https://t.co/BIIEICr3f7 pic.twitter.com/sxELfaJdoh

— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) September 20, 2016

J.J. Avila started his college basketball career at Navy, but transferred to Colorado State after his sophomore year. At Colorado State he averaged an impressive 16.7 points and seven rebounds per game during his senior year. His effort ended up earning him First-Team All-Mountain West honors.

After going undrafted, Avila signed a deal to play in Belgium for the Stella Artois Leuven Bears. Overseas, Avila shot 40 percent from the field averaging 10.3 points and six rebounds per game in just over 27 minutes a game. Avila was most recently seen playing at Summer League Orlando with the New York Knicks.

As for Vince Hunter, he also went undrafted in 2015 and last played overseas. Hunter declared for the draft as a sophomore out of UTEP. His sophomore season, Hunter led the team in scoring (14.9 PPG), rebounding (9.2 RPG) and in steals (1.2 STPG). This impressive season led to him being named First-Team All-Conference USA.

Hunter spent last season in the D-League with the Reno Bighorns, and his stat line was quite impressive. The UTEP product averaged nearly 22 points per game with a 59 percent field goal percentage. Additionally, Hunter added 11.3 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and a steal per game.

The Windy City Bulls lack size at this point, but both of these guys should be able to help the cause. Hunter and Avila have a chance to key roles in the Windy City Bulls’ inaugural season.