One of the most important things for Hill to work on this offseason, in addition to working with Sikma and CD on moves, is his strength. At the moment his hands seem a bit weak and he loses a lot of balls that he shouldn't. He also gets easily bumped off when going for a layup, which he needs to dunk more often anyways. Those are things that are to be expected of rookies though....not many come in with NBA type bodies.
I'm sure the organization has noticed this too, I bet he will come into next season a beast like Landry did.
Also, Hill does have a solid mid-range jumper, he's just been nervous about using it ever since he missed a few times. Rookie nerves, he'll figure it out. Adelman just needs to tell him to go out there and not be afraid to shoot it when they're giving it to him.
Well, you gotta believe that when he gets in the game, the coaches are telling him "Get out there and rebound!" rather than "Get out there and hit some jumpers!"
Lamar Odom. NO good rebounder? probably. Dominant rebounder? NO the guy averages 8.9 rebounds for his career and his highest average for a season is 10.6 Yao who most of us agree is a poor rebounder has a 9.3 career average and a career best 10.8 sorry to derail thread
Have you been watching the games? Hill is so raw that he's relied completely on his instincts and athleticism and on those alone he has become the 2nd best contributing big on a winning team (on an impressive 4 game win streak which he has contributed greatly to) as a ROOKIE. It seems to me he's got all the tools, BBIQ, instincts, etc. to go with the athleticism to become a plus defender and solid offensive player in this league. Quote on Hill from Jack Sikma: "Jordan, in his short time, has shown he can pick up things," Sikma said. "On the defensive end, he has pretty good instincts. He’s able to figure out which angle he needs to take, sees where he needs to be ahead of time on pick-and-roll coverage and where the play is going. It’s just bits and pieces, but compared with other young players his tendency is to be closer to right than most."
I've seen him dominate a lot at times. Average wise it might not seem that great, but I've seen him get plenty of huge offensive rebounds due to his long reach in game.
If Joey was as fast as Carl Lewis, he'd be a football player. But then, he wouldn't be a Ray Lewis with a basketball. :grin: And if Jordan Hill could learn to shoot with range, he might end up as a Rashard Lewis.
Getting huge offensive rebounds and being a dominant rebounder is a huge difference. I think everyone would agree when mentioning dominant rebounders in the league, Lamar probably isn't on anyones shortlist. Earlier you mentioned that you question Hills' play when facing dominant rebounders like Dwight and Odom....after acquiring Hill, have the Rockets played the Lakers?
Sure, I've watched him play and I'm pleasantly surprised what I'm seeing. That being said, it's very early to make the assumptions that many here are making. The instincts part was mostly in reference to his shotblocking potential. He has exactly zero blocks in Rockets jersey thus far (and only one steal). His defense otherwise has been quite solid though so I'm not too worried. It would quite Ok if he becomes "the anti-Marcus Camby", as in a player who can contribute to good defensive teamplay, not just pad his own stats. His rebounding is fine and I think offensively he will be fine too. I understand It's fun rooting for our young prospects, but sometimes people go overboard. It wasn't too long ago when people were drooling over Joey Dorsey's defensive potential only to see him waste his two years in D-league (some of it in Mexico apparently)
Umm, OK. I'll be happy if he makes the All Star team every other year. OTOH, if the best he ever gets is good enough to back up Scola in his prime, I'll be disappointed.
Landry was an all star on THIS team....now yall just hear me out...With the Rockets, Landry was on one of very few teams that would allow him to flourish like he did. Being a go-to scorer in the 4th...being able to bring his value up so much in order to be THE piece to land us Kevin Martin. Besides Brooks, and Scola-who had to share minutes with Landry...no one else on the team was scoring consistently. (But) Teams started figuring him out....doubling him...and also started figuring out that he wasn't a too good of a passer out of the double team. He's averaging 8 more minutes per game with Sacramento...but his scoring average only went from 16.3 to 16.9 while taking more shots...FT percentage also dropped. Landry on this current Rockets team....correct me if I'm wrong...would NOT have the same role if he were still here.....especially as good as Brooks and Martin have been together....Landry would be more of a pick and roll/cut guy for the majority of the game (just like what Hill is doing now)...not a lets give the ball to Landry and hope he scores guy. I'm in no way bashing Landry...it seems though (from reading a lot of peoples posts about Hill), that if Hill doesn't become what Landry was...for THIS team...then he's a bust I really think that Sacramento thought since Landry was a beast off the bench for us, then with more minutes would be that much better starting....but he's basically not giving them much more than what Jason Thompson was already doing...and statistically speaking, as a rookie Thomspon is better at blocking shots and rebounding.
