Jordan Hill Will Be Very Important
Jordan Hill has always been a hustle player, through and through. As we’ve covered before, Hill is a great rebounding presence, being one of the very best offensive rebounding players in the league despite only being 6’10”. Hill will never be a star player in this league. He can’t create his own shot and will never lead a team in points or to the playoffs.
Nonetheless, Jordan Hill will be an important part of the Lakers team next season. The Lakers don’t have a player who can rebound like Hill can, and he will work in a way similar to Robin Lopez of the Portland Trail Blazers. He will rebound like very few players can offensively and he will keep the offense efficient with put backs and extra possessions.
The Lakers also have no size in their front court going into next year. The team has Carlos Boozer, Julius Randle, Ryan Kelly and Jordan Hill as players who are 6’11” or under. Boozer, Randle and Kelly have major problems when it comes to protecting the rim because none of them are very good defensive players. Hill, however, can protect the rim. He isn’t a top defensive player and he will never win the Defensive Player of the Year award, but Hill has good defensive awareness and he does try hard on that end. In fact, he might try too hard because he is a fouling machine as well. He averages 4.1 fouls per 36 minutes and it really limits his effectiveness. He can’t stay on the court for long periods of time because he simply cannot avoid foul trouble.
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With that said, the Lakers defense probably won’t be in the top half of the league next year. It will be on Jordan Hill to ensure that teams do not get extra possessions and making sure that the Lakers take advantage of all of their extra possessions.
The Lakers simply cannot have Jordan Hill go down with injury. With only Hill and Robert Sacre who can man the center position for long periods of time, it’s imperative that Hill stay on the court. That is easier said that done, however, because Jordan Hill has proved to be injury prone. Hill has played 72 games in only two seasons out of five total seasons. Hill has missed a total of 135 games, which averages out to 27 games a year. Because he has only played in 259 out of 394 total games, Jordan Hill isn’t exactly a guy who can be trusted to play the whole season.
The Lakes will be in big trouble if Jordan Hill misses extended time. Hill is important to the team simply because the team has very few options to turn to at center. Obviously, Hill is more than just a warm body and he can do some pretty incredible things when he is hot. There is a reason why Jordan Hill led the Lakers in Win Shares per 48 minutes (.141) and Player Efficiency Rating (19.3) and was second on the team in total Win Shares with 4.4.
As it is, the Lakers will be driven by Kobe Bryant next year. But he needs to have role players who do their jobs correctly and he will have one in Jordan Hill. Without him, the Lakers will be in big trouble.