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positive things to come, lets just hope none of that doghouse bs like last season
Spurs' Hill returns to home state a completely new player
By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The last time Spurs guard George Hill played in the state of Indiana, he barely broke a sweat.
An Indianapolis native, Hill spent the days leading up to last season's April 3 game against the Pacers organizing tickets for friends, family and other well-wishers. Once it tipped off, however, coach Gregg Popovich limited Hill to a second-half cameo in the Spurs' 126-121 victory.
Seven months later, Hill calls the incident “very humbling,” but not wholly unexpected.
“You never can expect too much,” Hill said. “Pop knows best and is going to put out whatever lineup he thinks can win. I can't tell him, ‘Put me in, because I'm going to help you win.'”
The last time Hill came to Indiana, he was a rookie who had already fallen out of the Spurs' stretch-run rotation. He returns tonight, for the Spurs' preseason finale against the Pacers at Assembly Hall on the Indiana University campus, as Popovich's favorite player.
Popovich has dropped that label on Hill more than once this preseason, the most obvious sign that the coach is pleased with the second-year point guard's progress as a backup to Tony Parker.
Night in and night out, Hill — a question mark last season — has been the Spurs' best player this preseason. He has averaged 14.3 points, second only to rookie forward DeJuan Blair, and leads the Spurs in minutes with 23.7 a game.
Odds are good the friends and family who make the 45-mile trek from Indianapolis to Bloomington today will see more of Hill than they did in April. They will also see a different Hill than they saw in April.
“Before, he was a little hesitant,” Manu Ginobili said. “That's totally normal when you're a rookie, with a coach like Pop. It's hard at the beginning.
“Now,” Ginobili said, “he looks like he owns the team.”
Hill worked tirelessly over the offseason working, among other things, on improving his jump shot and extending his range.
The work appears to be paying off. Hill is shooting 55.3 percent from the field, including a scorching 61.5 from 3-point range in six preseason games.
Most of his 3-pointers have come from the corner. That is a shot he will often find to be open, especially when he plays alongside Parker as a shooting guard.
“The corner is my new home,” Hill said.
In that, Hill is just following a path blazed by new retiree Bruce Bowen, the previous owner of that spot in the corner.
“Bruce told me that's one of the shots that's always going to be there, and you have to capitalize on it,” Hill said. “This summer, I spent my whole life in the corner trying to nail that.”
Hill played shooting guard in college at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and spent last season learning the art of the NBA point guard on the fly.
His commitment to improve this offseason won over Popovich, who has proclaimed his affection for the 23-year-old often during camp. The unrelenting praise has almost become too much for Hill to swallow.
Once upon a time, Popovich used to treat Parker like his least-favorite dog, riding him mercilessly as a means to toughen him up. With Hill, Popovich seems one step away from taking him out for ice cream.
“I always ask for him to be hard on me like he was to TP,” Hill said. “(Parker) gives me a lot of stuff for him not being as hard on me. I'm waiting for that.”
Ask Popovich, and there's a reason for the discrepancy.
“I like him a lot better than I liked Tony at the same age,” Popovich said with a grin.
Hill, who had never lived outside Indianapolis before joining the Spurs, will be back near his old stomping grounds tonight. This time, he's bound to break a sweat.
“Home is home,” Hill said. “Any time you get to go back home, you're happy about that.”
positive things to come, lets just hope none of that doghouse bs like last season
your picture is disgusting！pls instead of it
which one? the avatar or the sig?
when Tony was at the age of 23 he was in the finals against Chauncey billups，when he was 25 he won the fmvp。So，don't too much praise for George , this is not good for him，trust me！
tony came onto this team right time and right place, this team was totally rebuilding and pop had to play what he had....look we had speedy claxton, antonio daniels also at the time but they didnt developed that quick whether they were too young, limited minutes or couldnt adapt quick enough to the nba game.
George is no different to any other rookie b4 him on the spurs team, opportunities are hard to come by, but when given time you better show what you have or in the doghouse, the spurs a veteran team for the last 6 seasons are in winning mode not developing rookies. We dont have time for to develop out own rookies, it only makes sense if we are rebuilding and youth movement...but its highly unlikely for the next few seasons since we be deep on the roster with farmed players riped to sign with the spurs.
so you think that if Hill had been at Parker's place, he would have developped the same way? would have been as productive?
I don't think so ...
whether he be developed or progress like parker is another issue, what GHILL will get is plenty of minutes to developed his game...his already shown glimpses last season when he was given starters minutes, now if you were to give him regular starters minutes he can probably hold his own line maybe around what parker was avg his first year.
so you think that if Hill had been at Parker's place, he would have developped the same way? would have been as productive?
I don't think so ...
REBUILDING? Are you kidding? They weren't rebuilding, Pop just saw that TP was mature for his age and could handle it.
this, who let the church of parker open tonite
Ah, but when Hill was 15, he was playing high school ball. When Parker was 15 he was playing in the French Minors (according to NBA.com) and was with Paris Basket Racing by 17. When I was 17 (a month younger than Parker) I was graduating high school.
so you think that if Hill had been at Parker's place, he would have developped the same way? would have been as productive?
I don't think so ...
So Parker may have developed faster, but since he had pro coaching at a high school age, I'm sure that helped develop his skills further. What would Hill be if he had that? Alas we'll never know.
I'll tell you one thing Hill is better at than Parker when comparing the two right now, defense. Hill may feel confident, but his defense will keep him on the floor.
Am I the only one that remembers Tony choking it up many times in the playoffs? I see alot on these boards talk about how Mason & Bonner choked against Dallas and how they don't want to give these guys 2nd chances. TP got a 2nd, 3rd and 4th chance... He was benched many of times in his early years because he sucked balls... Good thing SA FO has more patience than alot of the fans do...
can't wait for the season to start!
Hill Billy !!!!!!!!!
Jeff Rabjohns of the Indianapolis Star reported that Poop told him:
After their first-round playoff loss to Dallas, coach Gregg Popovich said he wished he would have played Hill more. He promised to do so next season.
The article was posted here: http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...highlight=Jeff
I contacted Jeff Rabjohns and asked if Pop expanded beyond the one sentence at all. Rabjohns said he most certainly did, that he had about a whole paragraph of notes just on this specific GHill playing/not playing quote. He said he would email me the notes. Never did.
Asked again several times. He's in hiding i guess. Or maybe his motive is good in that he fears anything getting out to insecure Pop might hurt GHill, i dunno.
Sad, but anyways on the positive front it appears Lord Pop will give GHill minutes this season if Hill continues to play well. No powertrippy self serving but team-detrimental doghouse crap.
Pop treats youth on this team actually stepping on the court, like the ancient guy at the end of my block treats kids that walk on his grass. Here's to Pop drinking some Blair, Hill and (hopefully) Hairston Kool-Aid in the upcoming season.
nice to see hill wanting to learn from bowen.
good stuff
Hill looks great again tonight.
He has stayed on fire from the field, but he should've made all his FTs.
Hill could easily score about 13-14 points a game this year.
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