Jordan Hill says he re-signed with Lakers only because Mike D’Antoni left
Oct 22, 2014, 8:20 PM EDT
Los Angeles Lakers v Los Angeles Clippers Mike D’Antoni is still a popular punching bag in Los Angeles.
After D’Antoni resigned, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant have taken turns taking shots at the former Lakers coach.
Now, Jordan Hill is getting in the act, confirming a previous report he wanted to leave Los Angeles in free agency if D’Antoni remained coach.
Hill, via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
“If Mike was here, I wouldn’t be back,” Hill said. “That’s the way it was. No disrespect to Mike, but apparently I didn’t fit his system. Why would I come back?”
“Last year, I was thinking too much about playing,” Hill said. “If I messed up, I wondered if I would see the floor again. Right now, Byron is relying on me and I’m one of his guys. That really builds more confidence in me to come out this year and play my game.”
Hill said he has stopped drinking alcohol, admitting it hurt his efforts on becoming the Lakers’ renewable energy source. Hill said the lifestyle change helped him drop from 253 pounds to 240.
Last season, Hill tied a career high with 72 games and set career highs with 32 starts and 20.8 minutes per game. There’s little evidence D’Antoni punished Hill for not fitting a certain style.
And how much more playing time could Hill have handled? As he acknowledged himself, he wasn’t in ideal shape to play hard for extended stretches.
Besides, the Lakers gave Hill $9 million guaranteed this season with a $9 million team option for the following year. Would he really have turned down that generous offer if Los Angeles had kept Mike D’Antoni?
Really, this probably speaks to D’Antoni’s poor communication skills. He used Hill more than any NBA coach ever has, and Hill still felt underutilized. Perhaps, D’Antoni could have done more to make Hill feel valued. That – even more than minutes – matters.
-
- adoombray - Oct 22, 2014 at 8:33 PM
-
the Lakers are salary flooring this year as they are the one bad team in the league that has no incentive to flat out tank because Steve Nash was totally worth this years first. Hill is making like 3-4 mill a year more than he would make on the open market because Kobe or no Kobe, the banners and ancient history are irrelevent because Dr. Buss is dead and nobody wants to play for his idiot kid.
-
- divan22 - Oct 22, 2014 at 8:59 PM
-
It’s not Jimmy’s fault superstars don’t want to play there. Money is green in LA like it is anywhere else.
If Kobe he was as good as LeBron like his supporters think he is, some other superstar would’ve chosen to go to LA.
Instead, you’ve got Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol leaving for LESS MONEY. I guess they weren’t cool with Kobe taking as many shots as both of them COMBINED.
-
- express34texas - Oct 22, 2014 at 9:50 PM
-
Nice try divan. Kobe’s in his last few years, while James is still in his prime. You think that might have anything to do with it. Also, no superstar has ever joined James. The best player ever to join him was Larry Hughes probably, and his career went straight downhill after teaming up with him.
-
- oslo23 - Oct 22, 2014 at 11:22 PM
-
Why is Kobe ok with getting paid like he’s in his prime, if he is so keen on getting ring #6?
-
- express34texas - Oct 22, 2014 at 11:37 PM
-
Oh, it’s ok for others to get paid and not Kobe? Who would be stupid enough to turn down 48mil over 2 years to play basketball? They offered him that money. Why would he turn it down? He didn’t ask for it. Why do people think like that? Makes no sense. Not one player in the nba would do that. And just because he is the highest paid player doesn’t mean he’s not severly underpaid. If the lakers front office was competent right now, the lakers would be contenders.
-
- ranfan12 - Oct 23, 2014 at 11:44 PM
-
Then wouldn’t it make more sense to say that the Lakers FO suckered Kobe then in that case? One could argue they used him to their advantage to resign him for big bucks, knowing they would just make it back and probably even more just to sign some fresh good players after. If the FO was serious about getting that 6th that soon, they would’ve negotiated for less. Kobe was intent on winning more rings back then
-
- ranfan12 - Oct 24, 2014 at 1:22 AM
-
“If Kobe he was as good as LeBron like his supporters think he is, some other superstar would’ve chosen to go to LA.”
Well…
Keep in mind this basically what it looked like for them even though it was known league wide they were basically at the top of the league, especially with lebron 20, 27, and 31ppg in his previous seasons not to mention his averaged 6+ assists and rebounds per game, so people obviously knew he wasn’t a slouch. Lebron took a bum team to the finals and still couldn’t get anyone lol.
-
- dondada10 - Oct 22, 2014 at 9:01 PM
-
Those Suns teams were star studded. Nash, STAT, Marion, Joe Johnson, Barbosa, Hill, Q-Richardson, Diaw, Raja Bell, ect. A lot of coaches would’ve won 55+ games a year.
-
- campcouch - Oct 22, 2014 at 9:14 PM
-
So being liquored up and meatier really didn’t jive with D’Antoni’s running style? Ya think? I’ll give coach some credit, he hasn’t said anything while a list of characters continue to kick him. I recall one Kobe Bean Bryant gushing over D’Antoni, how he was his favorite player in Italy and how he loved his coaching style. I guess you can’t spit on the GM and owners that hired him and built the failed teams because they’re still there paying you, but give it a rest.
-
- express34texas - Oct 22, 2014 at 9:52 PM
-
Kobe like Dantoni as a person and former player. He obviously isn’t a very smart coach. You have to play some defense as a team. Even with the stacked rosters in PHO, they never made a finals.
-
- 00maltliquor - Oct 22, 2014 at 9:44 PM
-
Jordan Hill is a borderline All-Star and double-double machine. He is so much better then what anybody gives him credit for and if Nikola Vucevic can make 14 mill a year average then you can’t hate on the Hill deal, especially since it’s essentially a one year deal. Hill may have started more then he ever had last year but there was plenty of evidence D’Antoni was holding him down.
For one, he played so much because there were so many injuries and next to nothing for big man backups. We were using Sacre way too much and Wes Johnson, a guy that came into the league as a SG had to play PF for long periods of time. Hill should have played more!! He was our best big man defender and rebounder and would put
up insane stats in such a short period of time.I always said that if given the chance to start on the regular and get 32+ min. a game he would be All-Star caliber material and be in the top 3-5 in rebounds if not the leader all together. The guy is a fricken beast.
-
- mrbhenderson - Oct 22, 2014 at 10:17 PM
-
Vin Baker, and Rod Strickland are somewhere wishing Mike D’Antoni was their coach.
-
- stephenlin - Oct 23, 2014 at 12:51 AM
-
“There’s little evidence D’Antoni punished Hill for not fitting a certain style.” Goodness, Feldman, go write about a team you actually watch. That simplistic stat belies MDA jerking around the rotations, and sometimes barely playing Hill at all.
-
- lakerade - Oct 23, 2014 at 5:56 AM
-
I hope Ed Davis rises to the top of the rotation along with Hill. Randle bring along slowly, Boozer phase out as the season goes on, or now.
