What’s Next for Former Wildcat and Lakers Forward Jordan Hill?
As the NBA’s regular season comes to a close for the Lakers, it’s time to talk about what’s next for our former Wildcat Jordan Hill. Open letter to Jordan Hill included.
In his exit interview with his Lakers Head Coach Byron Scott, Hill found out that his coach thought he could do better. According to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles times, Hill explained;
“He was disappointed. He wanted to see more energy from me this year, which I didn’t show.” Hill said he understood his coach’s criticism. “I agree with him. The first month, I was showing [energy],” said Hill. “It was the first time I had all these minutes on my hands.”
Following is a summary of some of Hill’s history from ArizonaWildcats.com:
- Eighth selection in the 2009 NBA Draft
- Finished his third full season with the Los Angeles Lakers with career-high averages of 12.0 points and 7.9 rebounds in 70 games (57 starts) shooting 45.9% from the field
- Recorded a career-best 22 double-doubles this season.
- Originally from Atlanta
- Played in 329 games over six NBA seasons, averaging 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest.
Oct 31, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill (27) scores over Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 118-111. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Lakers will need to decide what they want to do with Hill; do they want to pay Jordan $9 million for next season? Do they want to decline his option? They have to decide if they want to exercise their option by June 30th but can do it as early as June 25th after the NBA Draft. They would probably exercise the option if they thought there weren’t any better big men on the market, after all Jordan is a known commodity, and it seems gets along with his teammates as far as one can tell.
If they decline, the Jordan Hill will become a free agent and hopefully he can choose which team he wants to play for and which players and coach he may want to play with that would also want him. Personally, I want to see him back on the Lakers.
Right now the Lakers have a $15 million salary cap if Hill is in the mix, but they would have $24 million if he is not. I would agree with Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times that $24 million would not be enough to lure any of the other free agent big men to the Lakers; Other big men who might be available are LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan and Paul Millsap.
Arizona Wildcats
Also according to Bresnahan, Coach Scott had this to say about Jordan, “He was playing a lot of minutes early, and I think it probably took its toll on him, and he wasn’t used to it, That’s why all of a sudden, you stop fighting in the post and you start settling for jump shots because it’s a little bit easier.”
In addition, Coach Scott wants to see Jordan Hill work harder over the offseason, this was Mike D’Antoni’s issue with Hill as well, I (@sportscrazee) remember discussing this over twitter a year ago with Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) how the Lakers weren’t happy with Hill (remember this is a year ago). So, are we to extrapolate from this that maybe our Jordan is a little lazy? Well, if Kobe thinks he’s one of the “soft” players on his team, the writing may be on the wall already.
Back to the marathon…the Twitter conversation became a weekend long marathon. It all started with Mr. Pincus defending the Lakers management for keeping Mike D’Antoni before the Lakers let him go. I wanted to see him gone and am happy Byron Scott is the coach now.
I have never had such a long conversation in my life on social media with another sports broadcaster I admired, so this was very special. Other Lakers fans and followers of both of us got into the conversation, but somehow I decided to ask him about our Wildcat Jordan Hill who I thought wasn’t getting enough minutes, they were all being given to Paul. Here is about five minutes of one strand of the conversation:
Marathon Eric Pincus & SportsCrazee conversation with other followers
All-in-all I saw Hill play live about five times this year, and each and every time I watched him, he did not look lazy. He got back on defense, was always available for the ball, attempted to block shots well, played defense, and played team ball. I may be biased, but I also think that Scott wanted to use him more during the game and he couldn’t because he didn’t feel Hill could handle the minutes. But he still has a lot of heart, and I think it was harder this year for him than last year because Kobe and Julius Randle went out so early in the season.
My message to one of my favorite Lakers Jordan Hill who I hope stays in Los Angeles, and let me clarify that (sans Matt Barnes, Jordan Farmar, Chris Paul, etc.) stays in Los Angeles and plays for the Lakers!
Dear Jordan,
Mar 30, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel (4) is called for a foul as he blocks the shot of Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill (27) during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The Lakers won 113-111 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
If you need a work out partner, may I suggest Kobe? He seems to be part GM at this point, show him how hard you are working out and how much you want to stay on the team! He could probably work your tail off, and even if you work out 75% of the time that he does, that is probably more than the New Jersey Nets team as a whole (according to Paul Pierce they don’t like to practice.)
I know its been hard to be on a losing team for the last three years with Dr. Buss passing away, Kobe being hurt off and on, Dwight Howard and his saga, multiple injuries, multiple coaches with different styles, different young players always challenging your position, different team chemistry on a weekly basis, I get it.
I honestly do not know how you did it, playing at such a high level with your stats with all the craziness happening around you. And even when you won a great game, and celebrated, everyone got on your case..there was no making anyone happy this season, fans were on the tank train, but still came out to watch you all because you were all still pretty exciting to watch in person.
And most games were kept close and exciting, a lot within 10 points or less. I cannot wait to see what you all can do with a “winning” attitude. I feel for your Coach as well because like the players, he so wanted the Lakers to be a great team this year. But hey, what can you do? Stuff happens.
I don’t want you to go, and I know its a business, you do what’s right for you and no matter where you go, all of us Wildcat fans will surely follow your career and cheer you on!
BEARDOWN JORDAN!
Next: Relive our past Arizona Wildcats Basketball Season in Photos!