What Can Lakers Center Jordan Hill Do to Justify His Big Salary in 2014-15?
A quick glance at Jordan Hill’s five-year NBA career shows glimmers of greatness, sudden bursts of brilliance and enough stretches of high-energy athleticism to warrant an opportunity at a full-time gig playing center and power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Or does it?
What really possessed general manager Mitch Kupchak to offer the 27-year-old Hill a two-year contract worth $18 million, a significant jump over his $3.5 million salary from last season?
Granted, Hill is essentially on a one-year deal with the Lakers, who hold a team option for 2015-16. But even that $9 million for 2014-15 looks awfully expensive for a 6’10” former first-round draft pick who has never averaged more than 21 minutes per game for a season.
After the team lost out in its bid to bring back Pau Gasol, lure Carmelo Anthony or sign LeBron James, the Lakers decided to gamble on Hill with the hope that a new coach and some starter’s minutes would help him blossom. That meant outbidding other suitors and almost tripling what he earned in his last couple of seasons in L.A.
As the Lakers pursued Anthony and James in early July, they were also concerned about the possibility of losing Hill. From ESPNLA.com's Dave McMenamin on July 2:
"Jordan Hill was also on the minds of plenty of teams, with Boston, Dallas and Houston all inquiring about the big man coming off a season in which he averaged career highs in points (9.7) and rebounds (7.4) per game despite playing only 20.8 minutes a game in Mike D'Antoni's system that didn't necessarily fit his skill set.
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After using his Bird rights to re-sign Hill on July 23, Kupchak issued a statement in which he praised Hill and the deal:
"Jordan has been a consistent contributor for us over the last three seasons and we are pleased to keep him in the Laker family. Jordan’s frontcourt versatility is a benefit to our roster and his on-court work ethic is something we value on our team. We hope he’ll continue to work hard and develop as an NBA player.
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A closer look at Jordan Hill may offer some insight and explanation as to why the Lakers made him such a good offer. Hill has all the tools and just needs to use them on a regular basis with a new coach and within a new system that seems much more suited to his abilities.
The reason the Lakers and other teams were so intrigued by Hill this offseason was the potential not yet fully realized but within reach. While some may question Hill’s stamina and focus, he was one of the league's more efficient big men and deserves more court time.
He'll get it, but the question marks will remain until proven otherwise. From Mark Medina of InsideSoCal.com:
"A discrepancy emerged between the games Hill averaged at least 20 minutes per game (40) and the ones he averaged 15 minutes or fewer per contest (20). But for all the frustration Hill felt about his role under D’Antoni, there were practical reasons why Hill’s playing time fluctuated. He missed eight consecutive games in March because of a right leg injury. Hill’s energy level also often dropped once he logged more playing time. So as much as Hill prided himself on being an “energy guy,” he still has to prove he can fulfill that description consistently.
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Continue to be a great rebounder
When he’s on, Hill is one of the more ferocious rebounders in the NBA. Among power forwards last year, only Reggie Evans finished the season with a better rebounding rate than Hill’s 19.0 according to Hollinger's NBA Player Stats.
Hill had the league’s third-best offensive rebounding rate (13.8) and was 10th in defensive rebounding at 24.3.
If, as expected, Hill starts on a front line that includes Carlos Boozer and Wesley Johnson, he will be asked to supply much of the heavy lifting early in games.
But there will be reinforcements. Los Angeles is suddenly top-heavy with power forwards, having signed Boozer and former Memphis Grizzlies forward Ed Davis to contracts this summer. Add in 6'9" rookie Julius Randle, second-year stretch forward Ryan Kelly and center Robert Sacre, and there is no shortage of talented big men to help out.
If everyone does their part, Hill should continue to see those rebounding numbers improve as the year continues.
Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding emphasized the important role Hill should and will play in Scott’s system: "Scott puts a premium on defense and rebounding, and he believes Hill was underutilized as a Laker because of D'Antoni. Bear in mind how fantastic a newly acquired Hill was for Mike Brown in the Lakers' two-round 2012 playoff run."
Scoring: Play within his comfort zone
Under D’Antoni, Hill was encouraged to shoot more from the outside and was actually pretty decent at it, though it wasn’t his forte. He shot fairly well from 18-24 feet but was just 39 percent (16-41) from the free-throw line area.
Where Hill shined was in the low post, where he took the vast majority of his shots. He made 61 percent of the 371 shots he took from eight feet or less, many of them short putbacks off rebounds.
There’s no reason to doubt that, given an increase to about 30 minutes of playing time, Hill can’t average closer to 15 points per contest. His overall accuracy rate of 55 percent last season would seem to bear that out.
When Hill is in that zone, as this Denver game pointed out, he is unstoppable.
Consistency
In nine games as the team’s starting center last year, Hill averaged almost 29 minutes, 17 points and over 10 rebounds per game. He showed much-needed consistency when given the opportunity to play a key role.
Hill's numbers soared in December when he took on additional minutes, showing a consistency over a seven-game stretch that included seven double-doubles. Big games included 24 points and 17 boardsin a 15-point win over the Detroit Pistons, 18 and 15 in a loss to the Denver Nuggets and 21 and 11 in a blowout victory against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Still, there were times that Hill struggled and seemed to lose focus. It could be partly attributed to the inconsistency of Hill’s playing time last year, whether due to injury or the choice of his former coach.
It’s time for Hill to shine
There are two possible scenarios for Hill this season, and both outcomes will be determined by how well he plays early in the year.
The Lakers are offering Hill an opportunity to start and move the needle on the numbers that matter most: rebounding and scoring.
Should Hill succeed, one possibility may be the Lakers entertaining offers from other clubs to acquire the former Arizona Wildcat before the trade deadline. Those teams would see a still-young, developing talent with an expiring contract in 2015-16, and the Lakers would see an opportunity to further shrink their overhead in anticipation of a free-agency bonanza next summer.
Otherwise, Hill could show enough improvement for Lakers management to use the team option and keep him around at least another year.
Either way, Jordan Hill finally has the opportunity he sought since coming into the league in 2009 as the eighth overall pick (New York Knicks) of the draft.
The ingredients are there; they just need the right amount of time to cook, simmer and be served.
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