San Antonio Spurs: 5 PG options in free agency for Tony Parker successor
3. George Hill
Gregg Popovich loves George Hill. Remember, this is the same guy that could barely stomach trading Hill for Kawhi Leonard back in the 2011 NBA Draft. What better way to come full circle than signing a Pop favorite and former Spurs floor general to put alongside Leonard?
Sadly, it wouldn’t be that simple, especially with Hill coming off one of the most productive seasons of his career — even with 33 games missed due to injury.
The Utah Jazz were a different team with Hill on the floor, and he averaged a career-high 16.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game on .477/.403/.801 shooting splits. The Jazz also went 33-16 with him on the court, as opposed to 18-15 without him, which means they may just have to grin and bear a huge contract extension to keep him around.
In February, ESPN‘s Tim McMahon reported that Hill’s camp turned down an extension with Utah prior to the start of the 2016-17 season in the belief that he could earn something in the range of a four-year, $132 million deal this summer.
Free agent look: George Hill. pic.twitter.com/8MLSezrTDS
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 29, 2017
That number should shrivel a bit considering how injury-prone he was this season, but as we saw with Jrue Holiday, even a contract in the four-year, $90-100 million range would seriously cripple San Antonio’s depth.
To make room for a $100 million contract for Hill, the Spurs would have to trade or use the stretch and waive Gasol (assuming he opts in), hope Manu retires, renounce Mills, Lee and Dedmon, pray Simmons didn’t sign an offer sheet elsewhere, and still wouldn’t have enough room to offer Hill a deal worth $25 million annually.
From there, it’d be a matter of making a long-term decision on the future of Tony Parker, Danny Green or even LaMarcus Aldridge — thereby defeating the whole purpose of signing an upper tier point guard. George Hill is good, but he’s not that good.
He’s not a great playmaker, and unless the Spurs were trying to sign a superstar point guard, this much roster-shaving would be excessive, even to make room for a Pop favorite.
Popovich says Spurs waited until the final min to make draft night trade for Kawhi, partly because George Hill was 1 of his fav players ever
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) November 25, 2016
Hill’s defense, three-point shooting and team-first mentality would still make him a solid short-term understudy for Parker.
But even though the prospect of reuniting Hill with Pop and the Spurs is an enticing one, unless the 31-year-old point guard was willing to take a significant pay cut compared to what Utah might offer, the roster sacrifices that would need to be made wouldn’t warrant such a signing.