George Hill Rising
When the Spurs traded for Richard Jefferson, Gregg Popovich began painting RJ in terms of the team’s new primary wing defender. The replacement Bowen. In time, Jefferson should prove a fine defender for the Spurs, but here is a takeaway from last night’s loss to the Bulls: George Hill is San Antonio’s most talented perimeter defender.
“I’m more concerned about winning and losing,” Hill told me after the game. “I’m trying to become a good point guard, someone Pop can trust to run the team when Tony is out of the game. But I do pride myself on defense.”
George Hill was reluctant to cast himself into the role of stopper, and he sounded sincere while rattling off a series of team-before-self platitudes. But few observers would deny his potentially game-changing expertise as a defender. In itself, that should keep him in the league for a decade.
The stat sheet will tell you Hill had two steals and a blocked shot against the Bulls, but that’s hardly adequate. Hill is long and he stays low. He likes to pick his man up early, pestering each advancing dribble. I lost count of his deflections, but Hill ran heavy interference for most of his 17 minutes of floor time; he had no fewer than three possession-irritating plays on the ball during the 4th quarter alone.
Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich played well for the Bulls, but Hill made each of them work hard for their production. And on a few occasions, Hill rose up like an angry worker to shut their assembly lines down. He deserves more minutes.
“I wouldn’t call myself the team’s best perimeter defender,” Hill continued. “But when I’m on the court, I want to be. It’s always my goal to play great defense.”
For Hill this is a nightly calling, and not just something he likes to cart out against the league’s best young point guards.
“I only try to compete my hardest. But I treat Derrick Rose like any other point guard. I want to make it hard for my guy to bring the ball up the court; I want to make it hard for him to make that first pass.”
George Hill keeps it simple. Win. Play hard. Compete. Irritate his opponent into a mistake. He accomplished three of four of those things against the Bulls.
