The Baseline: Which Laker do teams make trade calls for? Surprise, it's Jordan Hill
Back in mid-July, when the Lakers gave free-agent big man Jordan Hill a two-year deal worth $18 million, the contract brought some head-scratching and furrowed brows. Hill had bounced through three teams in his five years in the league, mostly coming off the bench as an energy guy, and had clashed with Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni the previous year.
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.”
The tables have turned. Getting consistent minutes now with coach Byron Scott, Hill is averaging career highs in points (13.0) and rebounds (9.0) and has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal Lakers season.
Scott was among those who thought that the problem with Hill last season was the way that D’Antoni was deploying him—Hill had begun to show a pretty good midrange shot last season, but his attacking, high-energy style didn’t fit for D’Antoni.
“I thought that Jordan could be a double-double guy, and he is pretty close to that,” Scott said. “I sat down with Jordan before the season and told him what I expected from him. I saw him in the summer, in the gym, and he was knocking that (midrange) shot down. I saw him in training camp knocking it down on a consistent basis, so that has not surprised me at all.”
Hill makes 36.7 percent of his attempts from 16 feet out to the 3-point line, and he has gained confidence in that shot—they now account for more than a third of his shots, up from 11.3 percent last year.
That confidence began this offseason, even before he had committed to stay with the Lakers. Hill said that at age 26, he wanted to really establish himself in the league this season. He changed up his diet, cutting out junk food while cutting back on going out and drinking alcohol.
Most important, he reported for workouts with Atlanta trainer Derrick Hamilton, a former star at Southern Miss who played for 15 years in the minors and overseas, on June 1. Typically, Hill said, he would start workouts at the end of July, but he was determined to get better this year.
“With Derrick, it was definitely my jumpshot,” Hill said. “We focused on my jumpshot a lot more than usual. A lot of footwork things, things I can change with my footwork. A lot of confidence things, too, where I can go out there and play my game and have confidence in those shots.”
And while no one has been looking, Hill has been pushing his game out to the 3-point line. He said that will be a focal point of his workouts next summer, and he’s already begun working on the shot with Lakers coaches.
“If I took 100 3s right now, I would say I could make close to 50,” Hill told me. “Probably 40.”
I pointed out that would point him in Stephen Curry territory, and that he is thus far 0-for-11 from the arc in his career.
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.”
if Mitch holds onto Hill like he did Pau. 
