Im not into the Balky comparisons, nor the Mikki Moore just because of the hair.

Until we could get a fair assesement of him from the coaches or Donnie you can't label him a bust as we might not expect a thing from him for a year or even two!

So its expectations as a fan, or by the team that is the real question. Did we think he was polished and able to contribute right away? OR did we think he has lots of athletic atributes but needs more work?

Then lablel him what you want.

Not this again

awful?

c'mon

You don't evaluate draft picks until 2-3 years after the time they were drafted. You certainly don't evaluate them after one preseason game. The kid is young and has a long road ahead of him. If he works on his game over the next few years, he has the athleticism to be very good. He wont be a star. Nobody outside of Blake Griffin and maybe Rubio in a few years will be. The draft was very weak. We'll see. Just don't be quick to judge a young player.

Hanh with some really good words on Jordan:

http://www.newsday.com/blogs/sports/the-knicks-fix-1.812055/up-hill-climb-for-jordan-1.1500876?localLinksEnabled=false

Jordan Hill missed seven of his eight FGAs in 17:08. He had four boards and two steals, but overall wears the look of a player who might as well have taken a seat next to us along press row, because he spent most of his time on the floor watching everyone else play.

Time for one of my tangents...bear with me:

Hill has so much potential, so understand the genesis of this constructive criticism. If he had no chance, you'd know it right away. But with his length and athleticism and a nice touch -- plus a notable willingness to get after the ball -- there's so much there to suggest Hill can be a good player at this level.

What is most concerning right now are his wheels, and I mean the ones on his feet as much as the ones in his head. Did I really see him get beat down the floor twice by Josh Boone? I mean, Josh Boone!

Jordan needs to understand that when he gets into a game, he needs to go full throttle, and that means getting back on D. If the other team's big is jogging, that only gives you the opportunity to help out until your man lumbers in. And on the break? Man, if you're a rookie and want easy baskets, you haul it up the floor and make the Josh Boone's of the world look glacial.

Another concern is the penchant to watch, which is a typical rookie mistake that isn't only something that afflicts Hill. What he needs to do is watch some video of David Lee and imitate what he does on offense. Lee has become an expert at crashes and dive-downs and he gets a lot of points and rebounds that way.

In this system, the middle is often going to be wide open, but Hill on Sunday seemed to get lost in being a perimeter player. As guards would drive, either on the pick-and-roll or on blow-bys, Hill's feet remained planted with the lane wide open. He needs to develop a killer instinct to follow the guard for a potential lob, dish or put-back.

Jordan needs to get any thought out of his head that he should wait on the perimeter for a kick-out. Son, that's not your job. Doesn't mean you can hit those mid-range jumpers that are very much part of your skill set, but when the ball is going to the basket, you should be following with the ferocity of an eagle looking to pick off a field mouse. Easy stats.

Again, watch David Lee. Do what he does. Now, Lee does have that uncanny ability to read the ball off the rim -- used to drive me crazy when I'd run to a spot and the damn ball would bounce the other way...Reason No. 4,976 of why I went on to hold a pen and pad -- and he has great hands to finish around the rim. But for Hill to start realizing his potential, he needs to simply start thinking more aggressively. Work hard, but work smart.

He could be a very valuable asset in D'Antoni's rotation this season. He just needs to get himself plugged in. Let's remember, despite the fact that he was a lottery pick -- let the debate rage on as to whether this was the right choice -- Hill is still a very raw project. He has been playing organized basketball for only five years. Lots of learning still to come.

Oh and one more thing: someone needs to knock the fade-away tendencies out of his game, ASAP. Whomever taught him this -- or maybe didn't teach him to not do this -- needs his coaching license revoked. Dude has enough length to easily get shots over most bigs and yet all he does is fall backward on every attempt. He once in a scrimmage this week got a very strong offensive rebound -- very impressive -- and spun to the rim. All he had to do is power up for an easy two and instead he shuffled his feet, traveled and then fell back for a weird-looking corkscrew shot that, sure, went in but it was a terrible waste of energy. I mean, the carbon footprint on that move was equal to that of a NASCAR event.

Posted by GKFv2:

You don't evaluate draft picks until 2-3 years after the time they were drafted. You certainly don't evaluate them after one preseason game. The kid is young and has a long road ahead of him. If he works on his game over the next few years, he has the athleticism to be very good. He wont be a star. Nobody outside of Blake Griffin and maybe Rubio in a few years will be. The draft was very weak. We'll see. Just don't be quick to judge a young player.

Ill be happy as anyone if Im wrong. But I really dont think I will be. If he continues to play as disinterested as he did yesterday he wont have a future. Just look at how hard our other rookie played. Its the first preseason game for both of them, one came out and gave 100% and the other stood around and watched the rebounds land next to him.

Hill = Mike Sweetney v2.0. Cats that couldnt play at this level from the word, go. Only difference is at least Hill can jump over a DVD player.

Posted by Rookie:

Can someone please explain to me why it looks like Hill gets all of his shots blocked? This is a serious question and a serious concern for me. The guy gets stuffed, re-directed, deflected every time. It's like evryone knows what he's going to do and gets there first.

Cause he plays soft. He doesnt attack the defender or the rim. Another huge red flag for an athletic 6-10 player.

Watching him is like watching an under-talented Charles Smith.

Bottom line is that Hill sucks.

Its not that he is inexperienced, its not that he just needs to get a feel for the NBA. He just flat out sucks. There is very little about his game whether it be physical ability, skill set, or desire that we can hang our hat on and say, yeah, he'll get it together with any sort of confidence.

You cats are just hoping against hope he turns out alright.

Posted by izybx:

I think that Im just speaking the truth. Im probably one of the biggest knick lovers on this site, but to be honest I really didnt see anything to like. He reminded me a lot of that Randolph Morris guy. The main thing that bothered me was that he looked lazy. There were a few loose balls that went in his direction that he just looked at.

Im not saying that hes a bust already, but Im calling bust. When Gallo played last year he showed us something. This kid shows me nothing!

Did we watch the same game?

Am I the only other one who saw Hill fairly active, especially on the glass?

And those saying that bigs usually take longer to adapt are very much on point.

The adjustment from being the biggest man on the floor, by far, often is a change for big guys. Also, Breen commented on how the speed of the pro-game may be something Hill will struggle with, since according to most rookies that's the biggest change.

To say he sucks at this point seems like a somewhat brazen statement to me.

However, he does seem pretty darn raw. I think what is clear is he's a project, and we have enough big guys that he can grow this year, at least.

Look, I wanted Jennings, but Hill has potential. I think we'll have to see what happens, but you saw some things.

He has athleticism, a jump shot, looks like he could develop some turn around jumper/post game, and seems active on the glass.