Nevertheless, Yao/Scola/Hill/Hayes, plus maybe a FA signing of a backup center would be a pretty decent 4/5 lineup, and at little additional cost. Plus, the Bosh thing is likely to preclude the chance, even if remote, that Hill turns into hot stuff for us. OK, we don't know for sure that Hill will be a stud. Are you sure that he won't be?
im glad to see others agree with me. i rather go for a legit back up center. and possily a small forward and let chase/hill develop at PF/SG brooks/lowry martin/chase scola/hill ariza/battier (hes getting old) yao/chuck (love the man but wont lead us to ring) we do need a backup guard incase one of them gets injured and imo jermaine taylor is a very legit backup for that purpose.
Don't get me wrong, I like the kid and would happy to keep him. I just don't see all these physical gifts everyone keeps talking about. He's a good athlete for a post player but I don't see the hands, the coordination or the core strength for him to every really become more than a pretty good NBA player. That's enough for me.
He's very raw, but no one can deny that he has qualities and intriguing potential. As shastarocket said, what he needs is just time and experience, at all levels of the game. 1on1 defense is surely the first thing he must improve in order to gain playing time. Then, offensively: games and practices. Repetition, repetition, repetition; and confidence, looseness, maturity. The bad part is that all that doesn't come in a month, even a year. He'll need time and people will have to be patient with him. But we're talking about all-star potential if he fulfills all the phases, is not necessary that he does it to become a solid player. Maybe the next year by 2nd half of season he can be already a good piece for us. For this summer we can expect an improvement at body strength and shooting, but will need to play games to implement all his work in the post and combine it with knowledge of the game and experience.
hill lacks a "feel" for the game...or, he just appears uncomfortable at times. He will dazzle one minute and be lost the next. But i think alot of that can be resolved with more basketball experience. In college, he struggled early because he couldnt just react and play...he had to think before he did anything.
I think it's funny how he played around 20 or so games for us and in those 20 or so games some of you guys have come to the conclusion that he'll end up a better player than Bosh and even one very funny one that said he could be the second coming of Hakeem. All of that from just 20 or so games. WOW!!
Take a look at my sig. man. He's a beast of an athlete. Arguably one of the top 5 most athletic true pf's in the league. You cannot teach or hardly ever find guys with his true size and rediculous athleticism. Hill Caliber Athletes Amare A. Randolph T. Thomas B. Griffin (once healthy) J. Smith (not a true big man) T. Young(only 6'8") M. Beasley(6'9") Jeff Green(6'9", not true big man) JJ Hickson(6'9") Amir Johnson (not true big man) Yi. Jianlian (not a true big man) Not as good athletes Bosh Aldridge KG (old) Kenyon Martin (old) C. Villanueva J. Thompson Jordan Hill's body size and athleticism are truly rare..
Because Bosh is going to be making 22 million dollars over 6 years. Hill makes like 2.5-3 for the next 3. I'm not against a Bosh trade, but if we have to give up much more than Hill and the Knick picks I start to balk real quick. There are other options besides Bosh, options that are less expensive and won't strap us down for the next half decade. I don't think anyone, outside of DD, thinks he's legitly going to be a better or equal player than either of those two. However athleticism, length, and speed don't lie. He was a monster on the boards and looked more and more comfortable on the court, especially with C-Bud. The guy has a lot of potential. If we trade him we better make sure that the team taking him values him for what he can really be, that way we don't have to give up too much in a trade, ala Knicks.
He's better now, but thats also because he's not given the ball and asked to post up on his own a lot or get plays called for him. In college, where he had the ball a lot and commanded a lot double teams and such, he had a hard time giving up the ball out , much less find the open man.
Hill can get up and down and back up again faster than most players. Dennis Rodman used to do that. So did Dream. No, I'm by no means saying that Hill will become either of these players, but that kind of athleticism translates into a lot of rebounds, blocks and second chanec points. The kid is definitely raw and I agree that he looks a little off balance at times, but this was his first year. Give him another 1-2yrs experience and he could be a solid starter for us, and perhaps be something even more special. I'm not saying Hill will be better than Bosh, but I don't want to give up Hill along with several other trade pieces to get a Bosh. Just too expensive for a single player (not named Lebron).
He can develop into a good role player with hard work and experience. His hands aren't stone like ala Cato,but he needs to get much better at holding the ball. I don't expect a big improvement though.
What, Hill straight up for Bosh, with both of them making the same money? Of course, going against that makes no sense at all. I don't know what I was thinking.
The main weakness I saw was his hand strength below the basket. Kinda reminded me of Yao when he first got here
I would rather have the Rockets focus on winning than on saving as much money as possible. Sure, it might be fun to have as small a payroll as possible, but I really enjoy chasing a ring.
It's not exactly real money. Well it is (Les' money), but they only give you so many chips. To be sure, there are regular (under the cap) chips, more expensive (over the cap, but under the LT) chips, and really expensive (LT) chips, but each owner has limits, no matter how much money he has. It's not like we can just sign every player that we want. If it were, there would be a Steinbrenner buying everybody up for the Knicks.
Hill's pre-draft measurements including vertical, speed etc were pretty much the same as Amare. Just doesn't use it as effectively ... athleticism is not what's lacking, it's the ability to use it fully that is ...
