Posted by Cosmic:

We can only go on what we have seen not what we feel Hill could be or may be or may not be. What we have seen so far is a poorly skilled player with a limited motor. This is indisputable. Given that and given our desire to develop much more talented young players in Lee, Gallo, and Chandler, and given a handful of veterans who also contribute more to the team in Harrington, and dare I even say it, Jeffries contributes more than Hill can ---- you couple this with Mike's desire to play a tight rotation - you can see why Jordan Hill will not get minutes, and should not get minutes, and may be a regrettable pick down the road.

There is no reason to coddle Jordan Hill or attack users who see him as a disappointment. What he has to do is work hard and play hard and if he does maybe he can play his way into a rotation. If not then it is a regrettable choice. It happens.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

A big part of the problem with Hill to be fair is that we have no PG. Duhon is still playing at his 08-09 2nd half level. CP3 can make Tyson Chandler look great by running a great pick and roll and getting to the elbow. Duhon is not doing that.

That's about the only thing I can say in Hill's defense at this point.

The kid is what? 22? He's older than some of his peers in the league that are having an impact.

Here are some players that are younger...
Javale McGee
Anthony Randolph
Andrew Bynum

Guess what these players have in common? That's right. We could had chances to draft each of them. They play Hill's position. They're younger than him. They're more polished NBA players.

JohnWallace44 wrote:

Look, Taj Gibson, and Pendergraph are not the type of guys he's going to go up against in the NBA. Daye plays an entirely different position.

I still don't get it. What's with the disrespect for the Pac-10??? Gibson was drafted 26th overall by the Bulls and is gonna be part of Chicago's rotation. Length, athleticism, great defender (this guy was the 2nd best shot-blocker in the draft behind Thabeet), solid rebounder and a better offensive player than people think. More than serviceable. He's gonna help that club. Pendergraph was taken high in the 2nd round (31st overall by Sactown) then was traded to Portland where it looks like he's made the team despite being hurt and on crutches - quite a feat for a 2nd round pick. Tells you how high the Blazers are on this guy - they did trade Sergio Rodriguez for him and are content to wait for him. I think Gibson's better myself but this kid should be a solid contributor when healthy...Austin Daye's 6'11" 200+ lbs. and while I agree he'll see a lot of time at the 3, there will be times when you'll see this guy playing the 4 in Motown. As for Josh Heytfelt, he went undrafted but many thought he was 2nd round talent. This guy's got size & did a nice job for the Zags on the inside. Nice little jumpshot on this guy too. I think he's on his way to play in Turkey but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him resurface in the NBA somewhere within a few years.

Another Pac-10 guy I absolutely love is Ryan Anderson. I DVRed the Orlando/Atlanta game from the other night that was on TNT. Anderson's got game. At a mobile 6'10", he's very advanced in 3 key areas - rebounding, post offense & 3 pt. shooting. I really can't say enough about that trade Orlando made -- they made out like bandits. Not only did they get Vince but they also got this kid Anderson which basically gave them the leeway to let Turkoglu go. He might even be an upgrade over Turkoglu. This guy should be the starting PF on that team next to Howard even when Lewis gets back. If anything, Lewis should take Pietrus' spot or just come off the bench. They should keep this kid in the starting rotation. Very skilled & versatile with a very bright future...To me, Orlando's the team to beat in the East. They're better than Boston and the Cavs...Nelson looks healthy and ready to go, they went out and stole a star player away from Jersey in Carter (Howard's got his second banana now) and they have even more depth than they did last year with White Chocolate Williams, Brandon Bass & Matt Barnes. Right now, coming off a season where they just went to the finals, they're the team to beat in the East for my money.

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Why is it so hard to see Hill playing against these guys? He went up against them in college and should be matching up against them in the NBA for years to come -- that is if Mike ever gets around to treating him like he's part of the team and not some afterthought. They drafted the kid 8th because they presumably liked what they saw and liked what he brought to the table. OK so what's the problem? Give him a shot. How did he not get longer runs in these pre-season games? Because he made some mistakes trying to adapt to a brand new system that requires big men to do things he's not accustomed to doing?? WTF, I expect him to make mistakes. He's a rookie. This pre-season should've been all about Jordan Hill, building him up and building upon the encouraging body of work he put together this summer. As far as I'm concerned, the development process that began with Phil Weber out in Vegas basically came to a halt during the pre-season. The quicker Mike re-thinks this and begins to incorporate Hill into the scheme of things here, re-starts the development process once again and throws him some meaningful minutes the better off we'll be. The best frontcourt we can eventually put out there is Hill at the 5/4, Lee at the 4/5 and Harrington at the 3. You wanna sprinkle in a little Darko here, a little Jeffries there and a little Curry if and when he ever gets himself healthy, fine. But if D'Antoni's interested in winning 40 games and making the playoffs like he says, hopefully he'll realize that Jordan Hill can definitely help his cause..

Marv wrote:in the new uk jordan hill will be utilized properly.

JohnWallace44 wrote:Look, Taj Gibson, and Pendergraph are not the type of guys he's going to go up against in the NBA. Daye plays an entirely different position.

Finestrg wrote:
I still don't get it. What's with the disrespect for the Pac-10??? Gibson was drafted 26th overall by the Bulls and is gonna be part of Chicago's rotation. Length, athleticism, great defender (this guy was the 2nd best shot-blocker in the draft behind Thabeet), solid rebounder and a better offensive player than people think. More than serviceable. He's gonna help that club. Pendergraph was taken high in the 2nd round (31st overall by Sactown) then was traded to Portland where it looks like he's made the team despite being hurt and on crutches - quite a feat for a 2nd round pick. Tells you how high the Blazers are on this guy - they did trade Sergio Rodriguez for him and are content to wait for him. I think Gibson's better myself but this kid should be a solid contributor when healthy...Austin Daye's 6'11" 200+ lbs. and while I agree he'll see a lot of time at the 3, there will be times when you'll see this guy playing the 4 in Motown. As for Josh Heytfelt, he went undrafted but many thought he was 2nd round talent. This guy's got size & did a nice job for the Zags on the inside. Nice little jumpshot on this guy too. I think he's on his way to play in Turkey but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him resurface in the NBA somewhere within a few years.

Another Pac-10 guy I absolutely love is Ryan Anderson. I DVRed the Orlando/Atlanta game from the other night that was on TNT. Anderson's got game. At a mobile 6'10", he's very advanced in 3 key areas - rebounding, post offense & 3 pt. shooting. I really can't say enough about that trade Orlando made -- they made out like bandits. Not only did they get Vince but they also got this kid Anderson which basically gave them the leeway to let Turkoglu go. He might even be an upgrade over Turkoglu. This guy should be the starting PF on that team next to Howard even when Lewis gets back. If anything, Lewis should take Pietrus' spot or just come off the bench. They should keep this kid in the starting rotation. Very skilled & versatile with a very bright future...To me, Orlando's the team to beat in the East. They're better than Boston and the Cavs...Nelson looks healthy and ready to go, they went out and stole a star player away from Jersey in Carter (Howard's got his second banana now) and they have even more depth than they did last year with White Chocolate Williams, Brandon Bass & Matt Barnes. Right now, coming off a season where they just went to the finals, they're the team to beat in the East for my money.

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Why is it so hard to see Hill playing against these guys? He went up against them in college and should be matching up against them in the NBA for years to come -- that is if Mike ever gets around to treating him like he's part of the team and not some afterthought. They drafted the kid 8th because they presumably liked what they saw and liked what he brought to the table. OK so what's the problem? Give him a shot. How did he not get longer runs in these pre-season games? Because he made some mistakes trying to adapt to a brand new system that requires big men to do things he's not accustomed to doing?? WTF, I expect him to make mistakes. He's a rookie. This pre-season should've been all about Jordan Hill, building him up and building upon the encouraging body of work he put together this summer. As far as I'm concerned, the development process that began with Phil Weber out in Vegas basically came to a halt during the pre-season. The quicker Mike re-thinks this and begins to incorporate Hill into the scheme of things here, re-starts the development process once again and throws him some meaningful minutes the better off we'll be. The best frontcourt we can eventually put out there is Hill at the 5/4, Lee at the 4/5 and Harrington at the 3. You wanna sprinkle in a little Darko here, a little Jeffries there and a little Curry if and when he ever gets himself healthy, fine. But if D'Antoni's interested in winning 40 games and making the playoffs like he says, hopefully he'll realize that Jordan Hill can definitely help his cause..

There's nothing wrong with the Pac10. Give me Derozan, Holiday, or OJ Mayo any day.

McGee and Thabeet housed Hill in the Summer League from my vantage point. Taj Gibson and Pendergraph are nice players, but they are not freaks of nature. There are plenty o' freaks in the Association.

Clyde keeps saying in the broadcasts that Hill looks like he's trying to learn to face up, but to me he looks like he's not comfortable posting up NBA big men. The point guard issues are certainly a big part of the issue though. Duhon should be able to run a poor man's Nash/Amare pick and roll move, but he's not doing it for whatever reason.

The point of the this thread though is that he's being played out of position. I don't think that's it. I think part of it is that the PG's on the Knicks can't feed him well, an issue we've had continuously since Marb's started to break down shortly after his arrival in NY, and the other part is he's not nearly ready.

nyk4ever wrote:Marv, now that we're on 2.0, is Hill being utilized properly?

SupremeCommander wrote:

Marv wrote:in the new uk jordan hill will be utilized properly.

now here's a couple of sharp cookies who pay attention.

since uk 2.0 launched we have not seen jordan hill improperly utilized a single time.

Things are working EXACTLY to plan.