NBA: Ranking all 30 starting small forwards for 2018-19

29. Solomon Hill, New Orleans Pelicans

A fully healthy Solomon Hill could vault a couple spots up this list if he’s able to capably defend the wing and somewhat spread the floor for an up-tempo offense ready to unleash Anthony Davis at the 5 full-time. However, Hill has been entirely disappointing throughout his New Orleans Pelicans tenure.

That disappointment reached new lows in 2017-18, when Hill missed all but 12 games, barely saw the floor in the playoffs and averaged a meager 2.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game on abysmal .268/.190/.500 shooting splits. There’s rust, and then there’s whatever the hell happened to Solomon Hill.

Still, as much as E’Twaun Moore was efficient enough last year as the team’s starting 3, he’s only 6’4″. For this team to reach its fullest potential, it needs Hill’s 6’7″ frame on the wing and Moore coming off the bench, with both spreading the floor and defending the wings. A full-blown bounce-back season seems like a bit much though, especially since “bouncing back” doesn’t mean as much for a guy whose career-high scoring average (8.9 points per game) was back in 2014-15.