NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 potential destinations for George Hill
By John Buhler
Point guard George Hill had a solid year with the Utah Jazz in 2016-17. He will be hitting unrestricted free agency this summer. Here are five fits for him.
It’s a point guard-driven league and there are a handful of solid floor generals that will be hitting unrestricted free agency this summer. One of those guys expected to get a handsome bump in pay is Utah Jazz point guard George Hill.
Hill spent the last year of his five-year deal worth $40 million in Utah, after a three-team trade between the Jazz, the Pacers and the Atlanta Hawks last summer. Though he only appeared in 49 games for the Jazz, Hill helped the club reach the Western Conference Semifinals, averaging 16.9 points and 4.1 assists per game.
Hill shot 47.7 percent from the field and 40.3 percent on 3-pointers, both above his career averages. After being a solid player the previous five years in Indianapolis, Hill in a way took his game to the next level in Salt Lake City. He was a Most Improved Candidate before succumbing to injuries.
While Hill isn’t a top-tier point guard in this league, he is very valuable as one of the better two-way players in the game. For that reason, we all should expect that he will make well over the $8 million he got in the final year of his contract with Utah. When Hill hits unrestricted free agency this summer, expect these five teams to be highly interested in his services.
Toronto Raptors
East, Atlantic
The Toronto Raptors will have one of the most important free agency periods in the NBA this offseason. While they did the pragmatic thing by paying top-dollar to keep All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan for the foreseeable future last summer, Toronto’s two other best players are free agents this time around: point guard Kyle Lowry and power forward Serge Ibaka.
Toronto traded for Ibaka with the Orlando Magic not only with the hopes that he could be a LeBron James stopper (he wasn’t), but that he would re-sign with the club. Re-upping on a new deal with the Raptors could make sense for Ibaka. However, he may want the max and Toronto could be reluctant to give it to him.
As for Lowry, that’ll be an interesting domino to fall for sure. Though he has played by far and away his best ball of his professional career in Canada, Lowry has enough star power to make any team he joins a 45 to 50-win ball club immediately. He may want to leave Toronto before he exits his prime mid-max contract.
For that reason, Toronto needs to examine the point guard market should the Raptors be unable to bring back Lowry into the fold. Hill wouldn’t cost as much and could form a new big three with DeRozan and Ibaka in 2017-18. This would allow DeRozan to do the bulk of the heavy-lifting offensively with Toronto being better defensively thanks to Hill and Ibaka being stout on that end of the floor.
In short, Hill would be a satisfactory consolation prize for the Raptors should they lose Lowry in free agency. While Hill doesn’t raise the team’s ceiling, this would be a team with a very high floor. Toronto would certainly be a playoff team in the East with Hill at point guard. Who’s to say that they couldn’t win a series or two with him as the floor general?