Look at the kid’s skill set. He’s 6′11, he can run, shoot, block shots and rebounds. He also is quickly learning pick and pops and admittedly working on his strength and counter moves, which separates big men in this league. Patience and work, or lack there of, is what ultimately could separate Hill from Josh Boone or Hilton Armstrong.

Bottom line is that, and especially on this site, people wondered how a lottery pick couldn’t immediately crack the rotation. Why? Never got that. Is there a rule that those players have to play right away? We know the players on the roster ahead of him and that situation, so what was the rush?

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/01/23/jordan-hill-is-ready-almost/

Yes, Hill has a ways to go, but as far as I’m concerned he’s going to get there. Managing expectations is key and, yes, the Knicks still need a pure point guard, but rookie guards are so much more prone to mistakes. Just because they are flashy means nothing. It comes down to the substance of running the team and limiting mistakes. Chris Duhon can’t make a shot, and you can’t have that, but even worse, he’s starting to turn the ball over. I think as the team looks to make moves, even a minor one, they will look to upgrade at the one…then look for a longer-term solution moving forward.
But as far as Hill, again, the kid was brought along the right way and if he can put two consecutive halves together, he’ll continue to get burn, and continue to silence his doubters.

- Tommy Dee

AnubisADL wrote:I take it Mister Earl did not see much of Jordan Hill in Arizona. This guy did alot of nothing playing with Bayless and should be lucky Jennings didn't make it to Arizona like he was supposed too.

i take it you didn't see much of Jordan Hill playing with Nic Wise... he was a big part of the ARI offense... it's no surprise he didn't play as well with a ball dominating G like Bayless his sophomore season... Jordan Hill's shot attempts per game went up from 8 per game w/Bayless to 13 per game w/Wise the following year... his free throw attempts per game also went up from 3.5 per game w/Bayless to 5.2 w/Wise.

i agree w/u on 1 thing tho, it's a good thing for him that Jennings didn't make it to ARI, but that's not a knock on his talent... kid can ball, but he can't show that to u unless he gets the opportunity & gets the ball once in a while... dunno what else to tell u at this point if u still think this kid is a bust.

Its too bad really.

TMS wrote:

simrud wrote:Sweetney was just said. I really hoped he would be the post player to run a team around for years to come. Guy had great moves and a big body. I guess he just could not stay in shape.

Its too bad really.

that was just a sad draft all around... instead of Mike Sweetney, we could have had David West, Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa or Josh Howard... instead of Maciej Lampe we could have had Jason Kapono, Luke Walton or Steve Blake... instead of Slavko Vranes we could have had Zaza Pachulia, Matt Bonner, Mo Williams, James Jones or Kyle Korver.

none of those guys would have gotten run here

Players develop at varying rates and Jordan Hill, is still learning the fundamentals of the pro game. His first half and second half against the Lakers were like night and day. D'Antoni has chosen the avenue of confidence-building and I'm cool with that. Making incremental steps may have as much to do with developing his endurance and strength, as it it may relate to his tantalizing skill set.

I look forward to Hill's first double-double and have a feeling it won't be long before it happens.

TMS wrote:please, Jordan Hill should have been playing all year just like several other rookies this year... our team was not good enough that we could afford to have our #8 lottery pick wasting away on the bench & playing scrubs like Jonathan Bender... MDA doesn't deserve credit for his handling of Jordan Hill by not playing the kid until now.

except for the fact that the record after Nov kinda proved MDA made some right choices after SSOL and giving everyone on the roster a chance at minutes.

Maybe you could argue that MDA should have gone with a short rotation and slow-down all year, and on top of the given a minute or 2 to rookies (who perhaps were still not ready anyway).

TMS wrote:

martin wrote:

TMS wrote:please, Jordan Hill should have been playing all year just like several other rookies this year... our team was not good enough that we could afford to have our #8 lottery pick wasting away on the bench & playing scrubs like Jonathan Bender... MDA doesn't deserve credit for his handling of Jordan Hill by not playing the kid until now.

except for the fact that the record after Nov kinda proved MDA made some right choices after SSOL and giving everyone on the roster a chance at minutes.

Maybe you could argue that MDA should have gone with a short rotation and slow-down all year, and on top of the given a minute or 2 to rookies (who perhaps were still not ready anyway).

u believe Bender deserved playing time over Jordan Hill?

for me it's not about deserved playing time of one player over the other. Both of their situations are apples and oranges.

Hill is on a 5 year contract and has a long way to go to learning how to play in the NBA. It was clear to me in the beginning of the year that he didn't know where to be on the floor, where to be on the offense, when to pop, when to roll, when to shift on defense, how much intensity he needed to play with. Nothing extraordinarily wrong, just rookie mistakes. You add to the fact that the Knicks were still trying to figure out rotations, bench players vs starters, roles, etc., it's no wonder that Hill, Darko, Landry, Douglas were dropped in favor of experienced vets. Let's face it, after 1-9 start, the Knicks needed wins to build confidence.

Did Lee really lose a lot because he did not play in the first year? Chandler? It's a long process, and as long as those guys practice hard and get better, good things will come around.

Bender is on a 1-year deal and hasn't played in 4 years. Coach can't just play the guy 2 minutes every third game and expect him to do anything. He would need time over a long stretch at 10-12 minutes a game just to get rust off and then start to produce just to see if he is worth playing this year and next. 8-10 games and if he is not consistent or contributing like the coach wants, then either sit him or play him at your discretion.

Bender is not a scrub. Roberson is a scrub. Bender helps stretch the defense with his outside shot. He can cause trouble at his length. he can rebound. block shots. Can he put it together? That's the question. His dribble drive sucks, cause it's like an automatic turnover. And he seems to be able to pick up the MDA offense and defense pretty quickly. Not 100%, but not too bad either.

If I recall, bender got minutes when Harrington was hurt. Hill and Harrington have 2 different rolls on the team, so it's OK IMHO to give Bender those minutes.

Seems like Bender got his stretch and is now on the bench getting DNP's and Hill is not. C'est la vie.

Curry still needs to be told to box out, go after rebounds, don't foul on post ups, hustle back on D, etc. Rookie stuff.

nixluva wrote:

TMS wrote:

martin wrote:

TMS wrote:please, Jordan Hill should have been playing all year just like several other rookies this year... our team was not good enough that we could afford to have our #8 lottery pick wasting away on the bench & playing scrubs like Jonathan Bender... MDA doesn't deserve credit for his handling of Jordan Hill by not playing the kid until now.

except for the fact that the record after Nov kinda proved MDA made some right choices after SSOL and giving everyone on the roster a chance at minutes.

Maybe you could argue that MDA should have gone with a short rotation and slow-down all year, and on top of the given a minute or 2 to rookies (who perhaps were still not ready anyway).

u believe Bender deserved playing time over Jordan Hill?

Man even the writer of this article felt bringing Hill along slowly was a good move. I wouldn't have cared if MDA decided to play him early but you have no evidence to prove this wasn't the best way to handle his development and also be fair to the rest of the players who have been fighting hard to win games. Also the staff has been working with the kid to get him more ready to excel. If he had played early struggled and lost confidence how would you feel then?

Let's just be glad that Hill seems to be making the most of his shot now.

really doesn't make a difference what Tommy Dee thinks, he's just a fan like u & me... you have no evidence to support the idea that Hill shouldn't have been playing either... & just how is it fair in your eyes to be playing some scrap heap reclamation project player that was signed in mid December who hadn't played in over 4 years over a 22 year old lottery pick who's been with this team since Summer League & training camp & sweating & working in practice all year? you're not even making sense.

Bender sucked, i dunno what games you were watching if u think he's anything more than a broken down player... play him 82 games if u want, he still won't give u much... we invested a ton in Jordan Hill, we shouldn't have delayed his development.

trust me, i'm happy as hell he's finally seeing some minutes now... been telling u all year this kid needed to be playing.