George Hill is a beast

[kobyz]

Bogans is 10 times better defender than Mason and he is solid 3 point shooter, he is better fit for the Spurs system.
Mason is the opposite of what the Spurs system represent - very bad defender without basketball IQ.

[kobyz]

You fall to all the Hill hype -- if he's playing shooting guard most of the game, he won't be playing his primary role: back-up PG.

he will play all back up minutes at PG and he will also shere the Mason minutes at SG(of course based on match ups) - he is better option than Mason at SG any time!

[SpurNation]

Hill's defense on Westbrook was impressive last night. It was like watching a different player, really. He showed confidence, tenacity and a great shooting touch. He only had one bad trip, where he dribbled down the clock looking for options on the wing and then hoisted a heat-check. Otherwise, George was the most complete player (offense and defense) for the Spurs.

Thanks for the info. Without being able to actually see the performances of all the players...this is great news going into the regular season.

[NFGIII]

He looked so good tonight that I think the Spurs should trade Jefferson and Parker for LeBron. Start George at point and then we will have a line up of:

Hill
Manu
LeBron
Duncan
Blair

In all seriousness DeJuan Blair has really over-shadowed how much George Hill has improved. Come the regular season our second line up of Hill Manu and Blair is going to be crazy. Throw in Hairston and our second group is better than some teams starting line ups. Namely the Bucks.

This is really good to see since most good to great players make significant improvement in their sophmore year. Hopefully this preseason performance will continue on into the regular season which I believe will happen. Most of the time players who haven't made substantial leaps in production usually stay around thier rookie/soph levels for the rest of their careers IMHO. There are exceptions but I look at a player's improvement in thier 2nd year as a pretty good indicator of things to come from them.

All of which makes Pop's decision to inexplicably bench Hill in favor of Mason, as backup PG, all the more a head-scratcher - especially for a coach of his brilliance. The fact that Mason sucked, in that role, made that decision one of the dumbest moves Pop has made in many years - if ever. Pop simply overthought that decision.

It was obvious to all last year, and it's even more obvious this year, that Hill is a player. The kid can play and play really well.

Yeah, I agree that it was frustrating to watch what happened to George last year but in retrospect even if Hill had gotten those minutes I don't think we were going anywhere last year, which doesn't excuse Pop from relying on his "vet first - rookie second" mentality. But give him the credit for changing his ways on this.

He may be stubborn but not stupid. Among other things he needs Hill to back up TP and play well for the Spurs to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.

The potential showed it's flashes last year...but now he is wide open. Hill is going to be our most important bench player of all the players not named Ginobili.

Agreed. Mason is still looking very limited and has potential to become not much more than a gunner off the bench. Hill could wind up with a lot more minutes at SG...which would be fine with me because even though Mason is bigger, Hill is by far the better all around player. With enough minutes, it might be hard to ignore him in the sixth man of the year discussions.

Agreed but Mason still has a fairly important role to play for the Spurs. And there is nothing wrong with being a gunner coming off the bench in this league, especially if you have a penchant for hitting the winning shot at the end of the game. Just don't play him at PG and expect good things to happen. Hopefully that experiment has died and been buried.

[mosdef17]

I think the greatest thing for me (well one of) is to see that he has finally found a shooting stroke. We all remember how bad he was shooting during last years Summer League (wasn't he like 13%). I know people go throw shooting funks but that was just nasty. Preseason he is now 55%, 62%, 84% from FG, FT, 3PT respectively. Very positive sign that George is either taking much better shots and thus has matured majorly as a player or he has simply improved his jump shot and is becoming a guy that can't be ignored on defense.

[barbacoataco]

Hill scored a lot of points in college. Now that he is getting adjusted to the pro game he is finding a way to translate that to the NBA.

[Agloco]

Dude, who's the senorita in your sig???

Same lady as always: Paloma Fiuza

[Mr.Robinson]

This is really good to see since most good to great players make significant improvement in their sophmore year. Hopefully this preseason performance will continue on into the regular season which I believe will happen. Most of the time players who haven't made substantial leaps in production usually stay around thier rookie/soph levels for the rest of their careers IMHO. There are exceptions but I look at a player's improvement in thier 2nd year as a pretty good indicator of things to come from them.



Yeah, I agree that it was frustrating to watch what happened to George last year but in retrospect even if Hill had gotten those minutes I don't think we were going anywhere last year, which doesn't excuse Pop from relying on his "vet first - rookie second" mentality. But give him the credit for changing his ways on this.

He may be stubborn but not stupid. Among other things he needs Hill to back up TP and play well for the Spurs to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.



Agreed but Mason still has a fairly important role to play for the Spurs. And there is nothing wrong with being a gunner coming off the bench in this league, especially if you have a penchant for hitting the winning shot at the end of the game. Just don't play him at PG and expect good things to happen. Hopefully that experiment has died and been buried.

You really think Pops thought Mason could play point? If anything Pops did it to help Mason's game. Pops knew they weren't winning without Manu. It wasn't an experiment.
Hill needs to continue playing like he is now. I'll be happy if Mason and Hill both get 20 mins a game. We have options now. Playing time will be depending on match ups.
I hope to see this team the most.
Parker
Manu
Jefferson
McDyess
Duncan

[spursfan1000]

Great for him and the Spurs, if Parker gets hurt or Mason we wont have to worry much. He really showed us how well he could do last year when he filled in for Parker.

[Manufan909]

I think the greatest thing for me (well one of) is to see that he has finally found a shooting stroke. We all remember how bad he was shooting during last years Summer League (wasn't he like 13%). I know people go throw shooting funks but that was just nasty. Preseason he is now 55%, 62%, 84% from FG, FT, 3PT respectively. Very positive sign that George is either taking much better shots and thus has matured majorly as a player or he has simply improved his jump shot and is becoming a guy that can't be ignored on defense.

So you're telling he is shooting better at 3s than anything else? He is not making 4 of 5 3s my friend, you mixed up your percentages. 62, 84, and 55 sound better. But maybe his 2FG% is worse than his 3FG%, Idk.

I apologize in advance if you are right, those numbers just seem off.

[Mel_13]

FG% .553

3pt% .615

FT% .839

http://www.nba.com/spurs/stats/

[Manufan909]

s yeah, I guessed right!!! And not to compare Blair and Hill, but Blair is .596 FG, .645 on FT, and grabs 8.2 boards in 18 minutes.

[lurker23]

Bump.

Oct. 23 at Indiana: 21 points (7/10 from field, 1/2 from 3-point range, 6/9 from FT line), 5 rebounds, 1 assist.

[TDMVPDPOY]

where that hater at

[angelbelow]

Damn... another great game... I hope someone makes a highlight video and post it on youtube

[phxspurfan]

Too bad Granger, another new-NBAer (tall, strong, jumps out of the gym) pwned the Spurs D again.

[Mel_13]

Too bad Granger, another new-NBAer (tall, strong, jumps out of the gym) pwned the Spurs D again.

Really? he shot 10-29

[DPG21920]

Well giving up 114 is not good. This pre season has been a little disappointing, but to be expected with the new guys and strange line ups and rotations.

[Manufan909]

Granger is new??? And shooting a bit over 33% is never pwnage. EVER.

[mountainballer]

Well giving up 114 is not good. This pre season has been a little disappointing, but to be expected with the new guys and strange line ups and rotations.

?disappointing?
first off, I can't remember that Pop ever used the pre season for more than what it is: practice sessions with another team, good enough to try some things and get a look at new guys.
outside Hill no player played more than 20 MPG.
By a minute base Blair was by far the best rookie in the pre season!
as noticed, Hill looked fantastic most of the time and suddenly also shows a promising shooting ability.
Hairston played a very good and effective pre season. if they keep him, (what I guess meanwhile the whole board hopes) it will be because of this performances.
what more do we want? I remember quite a few pre seasons with much less promising news.

[DPG21920]

The promise is good, but the fact RJ has been a little tentative and Haislip and Ian have shown very little along with the fact that the man to man defense has been lacking has been disappointing to me.

Like I said, I understand the situation, but a few things that I felt were going to be much improved immediately were not.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Any time George has a point total from 16 to 20+ points, a big chunk of it almost always comes from the free throw line.

Now, my major concern, is
can he get to the free throw line consistently, and more importantly, on the road?
If he can, we're looking at a great player here.

[mountainballer]

I didn't expect much from Ian and Haislip (ok, I expected more from Haislip, but not a stupendous achievement) so this didn't worry me.
defense will be a concern for several months, but I do think it will be better when it counts.
(and I expect a deadline move for either a legit defensive wing or big)
offensive potential looked pretty good. and JR will be fine. obviously Pop gives him time to find his niche. and his shooting looked pretty good, that's the 1st question about any Spurs wing.
I'm absolutely not concerned, but I'm prepared we won't start like 20-2. this team will need some time to grow.

[Interrohater]

Damn... another great game... I hope someone makes a highlight video and post it on youtube

with what video?

[EricB]

The promise is good, but the fact RJ has been a little tentative and Haislip and Ian have shown very little along with the fact that the man to man defense has been lacking has been disappointing to me.

Like I said, I understand the situation, but a few things that I felt were going to be much improved immediately were not.

Dear god take a drink and chill the out.