George Hill's Health Preventing Him from Having Career Year

George Hill has always shaped his on-court contributions around the needs of his team.

A shooting guard and primary scorer in college, he began his career with the San Antonio Spurs learning to masquerade as a point guard while working as a backcourt jack-of-all trades off the bench from 2008-10.

The Indiana Pacers needed a floor general to run their offense, so he made himself into a full-time point guard in 2011. As Paul George and Lance Stephenson grew as ball-handlers and shot-creators, Hill stepped to the side and became a spot-up shooter.

This year, the circumstances were entirely different. With Paul George out for the season and a collection of mostly single-skill players in the Pacers' backcourt, Hill finally has an opportunity to define his role with the full range of his abilities.

If he could just get healthy, we might actually see it happen. 

USA TODAY Sports

As reported by IndyCornrows.com, head coach Frank Vogel was already talking about an expanded role for Hill back on Media Day in September: "I think George Hill is going to be more assertive, but I'm also going to put him in position to be more assertive...We're going to see a different George Hill. A better George Hill."

Instead, we've hardly seen Hill at all. He has played in just five of the Pacers' 37 games this season—missing the first 28 with knee problems and the last four with a groin injury. 

While he has been out, the Pacers have, predictably, had an incredibly difficult time scoring. They're averaging just 98.7 points per 100 possessions, 28th in the league. They've struggled hitting from the outside, moving the ball effectively and driving to the basket to create open shots—all things Hill can can help with.

In fact, in the 127 minutes he's played this season, the Pacers have scored at an average of 106.5 points per 100 possessions. That mark would rank sixth in the league if sustained across the entire season, sandwiched between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers.

In the five games he played in, Frank Vogel managed Hill's minutes cautiously. At just 25.4 minutes per game, it's more helpful to look at his per-36 minutes statistics if we're putting them in a career context. Those numbers—20.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 48.1 FG%, 45.5 3PT%—are impressive. The points, rebounds, field-goal percentage and three-point percentage would all be career-highs.

Per-36 minute statistics can be somewhat misleading—it can't always be assumed that a player would replicate those numbers if they were actually playing 36 minutes a game. However, they give us a good indication of just how productive Hill was in the space between his first injury and his second.

If we look at his progression of Usage Rate and True Shooting Percentage by season, we can see that his five games this season have him in new territory for both scoring volume and efficiency.

Obviously, five games and 127 minutes is an incredibly small sample size. But it also showed Hill being wildly successful in a role that he has never really had a chance to fill in the NBA.

Mark Montieth of Pacers.com, talked about Hill's impact in just his first game back, a 12-point win over the New Orleans Pelicans:

"

Got that? Hill made their defense better, he made their offense better and he showed leadership. Which pretty much covers the gamut unless you want to get into technicalities and intangibles that nobody cares about, particularly after the Pacers' first victory over a winning team since Nov. 24, when they won at Dallas.

"

The Pacers, specifically team president Larry Bird, have stated that their goal this season is to win as many games as possible and make the playoffs. At least publicly, there is no thought given to cashing in their chips and trying to push forward next season with a high lottery pick.

Over the course of his career, Hill has missed games, but never in the kinds of large bunches we're seeing now. He hasn't been an injury-prone player, and at some point the Pacers should have him healthy, firing on all cylinders.

His teams have simply never asked him for the full breadth of his talent, but the Pacers desperately need it right now. He's shown he can do it if given an opportunity, and that opportunity will almost certainly be waiting for him when he gets healthy.

When that happens, we should get a chance to see him continue to stretch out and succeed in a featured role.

We may finally get to see this "different and better George Hill" that Frank Vogel was so excited about.