RealGM

A contract that once looked overwrought now appears eminently fair, to the point where the Lakers are considered likely to exercise the $9 million option they hold on Hill’s deal next season. On a roster widely viewed as devoid of trade assets, sources told Sporting News that Hill is the one guy about whom the Lakers get realistic trade calls—but that LA has no plans to move him.

When LA was criticized for the size of Hill’s contract, he mostly shrugged it off. He had been pursued by the Heat and Rockets—among others—but Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told him to make sure he checked back with the team before he signed elsewhere.

“I heard all that, but I didn’t pay any attention,” Hill told Sporting News. “I knew I had the skills to do it, I just needed the minutes. With D’Antoni, it was hard for me to find the minutes. He wanted me to do the things he wanted me to do to get the minutes. I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do, to play the way I know I could play.

"So, things happened and now it’s a whole new year. Now, I am one of the main focal points of the team, so I can go out there and do what I am capable of doing.”



“If I took 100 3s right now, I would say I could make close to 50,” Hill told me. “Probably 40.”

Hill smiled. “I can shoot 3s,” he said. “I can definitely make them. I am just not worried about making 3s right now because we have got our 3-point shooters on the team. But I know I can knock them down if I have the chance.”



http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2 ... ke-dantoni

dockingsched wrote:Funny thing is that aside from playing more minutes and drastically improving his ft shooting, he hasn't made too many improvements. His scoring efficiency is down a good amount which is shocking considering his ft improvement. His rebounding rate is down slightly which is understandable with the increased minutes. His defensive metrics have taken a total crap across the board, who knows how much he's responsible for, his teammates, or the staff.

Hill has a legit gripe about not getting more minutes under MDA, but as far as the " I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do, to play the way I know I could play" comment, there's really no evidence he's playing better, just playing more.

aaron_gray wrote:Is the last year of his contract a team option? I remember reading at the time that it was, but basketball-reference has it as a fully guaranteed year.

Hill took up $6.8 million of the Lakers' cap room as a free agent. The Lakers were able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him at roughly $9 million for the coming season. The team is also reported to have an option on Hill's second year.

Vae Victus wrote:Hill's defense is ass. He's another big reason why we have zero defensive presence in the paint. Any half smart GM would know that Hill is an at best 3-4 mil type 4th big off the bench type, his "improved" outside shot isnt reliable enough for him to set weakass picks and ALWAYS be popping instead of also rolling to help free up the penetrator or attract attention off of the other wing shooters. If you watch him set picks he barely grazes the guy and then hares off to pop and is pretty much always open (which the defense is fine with) and is shooting damn near all the time.

He's playing very selfish ball in that he's not helping the team enough doing the little things (hustle, hard picks, defense) and really only padding his own stats on offense.

Jajwanda wrote:I like Sacre

Jajwanda wrote:I like Sacre starting