duncan228
10-29-2009, 12:09 AM
Spurs secure Hill for another season (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_secure_Hill_for_another_season.html)
Mike Monroe
In what qualifies as the least surprising move of the season for the Spurs' player personnel department, the team on Wednesday exercised its option to keep guard George Hill on the roster for the 2010-11 season.
Hill led the Spurs in scoring in the preseason, averaging 15.3 points and emerging as a solid backup for All-Star point guard Tony Parker.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said it was an easy decision to pick up the third year of Hill's rookie-scale contract at $1.13 million.
“Yeah, that's a no-brainer,” Popovich said. “If someone is your favorite player, you ought to extend him, whether he can play or not.”
Popovich declared Hill his favorite Spur early in the preseason. He has reminded Hill — and his Spurs teammates — often during practice sessions.
“I'm sure he's embarrassed and humiliated every time I say it, six or seven times in every practice, just to give him a little static and twist it a little bit,” Popovich said. “Humor is good.”
Hill can take a joke.
“TD (Tim Duncan) tells me Pop's favorite player used to be Rasho Nesterovic, and he's no longer here,” Hill said. “So favorite player sort of rolls off my back now, and not in a good way.”
Popovich said the Spurs didn't know what kind of player Hill would be when they made him the 26th selection of the 2008 draft but determined his athleticism was worth the risk of a low first-round pick.
Hill said he wasn't sure he could make the transition from a college shooting guard to a pro point guard.
“You never know what you can be until you know the help you have around you to push you and develop you into a player like that,” he said.
Hill's development took on added importance Wednesday when Parker got the wind knocked out of him with 2:22 left in the third quarter when he got tangled with Hornets point guard Chris Paul. Hill ran the point the rest of the game.
His bodyguard: When Parker went to the floor after Paul jumped into him, new Spur Richard Jefferson took an intentional foul to stop the clock so Parker, still on the floor under the Hornets' basket, could be attended to by trainer Will Sevening and team physician Dr. David Schmidt.
Jefferson proceeded to go jaw to jaw with Paul at center court, letting him know that a play on which he thought Paul had used excessive force would not go unnoticed.
“It was just a basketball play, looking out,” Jefferson said. “I saw Tony went down, and so I was trying not to let them get an advantage on the other end. That was it.”
Both Jefferson and Paul were called for technical fouls after their on-court argument.
Mike Monroe
In what qualifies as the least surprising move of the season for the Spurs' player personnel department, the team on Wednesday exercised its option to keep guard George Hill on the roster for the 2010-11 season.
Hill led the Spurs in scoring in the preseason, averaging 15.3 points and emerging as a solid backup for All-Star point guard Tony Parker.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said it was an easy decision to pick up the third year of Hill's rookie-scale contract at $1.13 million.
“Yeah, that's a no-brainer,” Popovich said. “If someone is your favorite player, you ought to extend him, whether he can play or not.”
Popovich declared Hill his favorite Spur early in the preseason. He has reminded Hill — and his Spurs teammates — often during practice sessions.
“I'm sure he's embarrassed and humiliated every time I say it, six or seven times in every practice, just to give him a little static and twist it a little bit,” Popovich said. “Humor is good.”
Hill can take a joke.
“TD (Tim Duncan) tells me Pop's favorite player used to be Rasho Nesterovic, and he's no longer here,” Hill said. “So favorite player sort of rolls off my back now, and not in a good way.”
Popovich said the Spurs didn't know what kind of player Hill would be when they made him the 26th selection of the 2008 draft but determined his athleticism was worth the risk of a low first-round pick.
Hill said he wasn't sure he could make the transition from a college shooting guard to a pro point guard.
“You never know what you can be until you know the help you have around you to push you and develop you into a player like that,” he said.
Hill's development took on added importance Wednesday when Parker got the wind knocked out of him with 2:22 left in the third quarter when he got tangled with Hornets point guard Chris Paul. Hill ran the point the rest of the game.
His bodyguard: When Parker went to the floor after Paul jumped into him, new Spur Richard Jefferson took an intentional foul to stop the clock so Parker, still on the floor under the Hornets' basket, could be attended to by trainer Will Sevening and team physician Dr. David Schmidt.
Jefferson proceeded to go jaw to jaw with Paul at center court, letting him know that a play on which he thought Paul had used excessive force would not go unnoticed.
“It was just a basketball play, looking out,” Jefferson said. “I saw Tony went down, and so I was trying not to let them get an advantage on the other end. That was it.”
Both Jefferson and Paul were called for technical fouls after their on-court argument.