Actively Helpful: Jordan Hill Steps His Game Up

In the first few games of Jordan Hill’s tenure with the Indiana Pacers were… not great. Our own Will Furr used the term “actively harmful” to describe his play. In his first two games his shooting percentage was at 30.8% and he was averaging 6 points a game and 7 rebounds.

As a starter or coming off the bench, it didn’t matter, it looked like he just wasn’t fitting in with the Indiana Pacers. He got a DNP from coach Frank Vogel in the Pacers miserable performance against the Jazz but there was little reason to think he would have made things any better.

But when Ian Mahinmi exited the game early against the Detroit Pistons with a back injury, Jordan Hill stepped up his game and looked the best he had all year.

One thing that helped his game was Monta Ellis starting to find his shot as well. The duo ran the pick and roll very well against Detroit and Hill shot 55.6% from the field on 5 of 9 shooting. Three of those game on assists from Ellis out of the pick and roll on high screens that gave Monta room to drive for himself or kick it back to Hill if the defense collapse on him.

Monta Ellis and Jordan Hill running the pick and roll.

Mahinmi wasn’t available for the next game against the Boston Celtics in the back-to-back and Jordan has an even more productive evening. Hill was 7 of 14 with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Indiana used the pick and roll for several baskets but a more confident Jordan Hill also worked the boards for 3 put back baskets to help keep Indiana in the lead. He played better defense and his net rating was in the positive the past two games as he played a much more active and engaged game that we had seen from him in his first two games.

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So what’s his role going forward? He isn’t the same rim defender that Mahinmi is so I don’t know if you can start him at center. The concern I have playing him at the power forward in a starting lineup is the pick and roll might not work as well as the center covering Mahinmi could guard the lane and there won’t be the clear spaces that both Monta and Jordan have been doing so well from. Mahinmi’s offense has been better than expected so far this season but I don’t think he’s going to lure too many centers out of the pain. Maybe later this season Myles Turner can with his shooting, but that’s down the road. Another option could be making him the backup center and hope he has similar chemistry with Rodney Stuckey as he’s had with Ellis.

Regardless of role he’s shown why Larry Bird wanted him on the team with his past few games. In that span he’s shooting over 50% while grabbing plenty of rebounds including the 10 he got in his double-double against Boston. Vogel will be looking to put him in similar situations where he can be successful and contribute as he as had over the last two games.

Perhaps it was confirmation bias in the first few games that clouded judgement or at least had us being hypercritical of Jordan Hill’s play. Our own Jon Washburn put it this way.

"Jordan Hill has played for mediocre to bad teams for entirety of his career. Admittedly, I’ve never really paid much attention to him past the occasional matchup against the Pacers. But playing for bad teams can alter opinions about individual players. Often, a “stench” exists over these types of players, and Hill has that reputation, fairly or unfairly. Because of his reputation that goes along with so much losing, it’s easy to look for things that would confirm in our minds that he’s a bad player. I’m not saying this is right. I would even acknowledge that it’s unfair. I’m simply saying that I think a lot of people (and if I’m honest, I would include myself) watch Jordan Hill with this perspective."

He’s started to convince Pacers fans that he’s deserving of a spot in the rotation, now it is up to Vogel to figure out exactly where.