George Hill was a breath of fresh air last year, and he started off this season making everything behind the arc. But now the Aggressive George Hill has disappeared.
Last season was a nightmare year that many Pacers fans have partially or completely deleted from their internal hard drives. However, there was at least one fond memory: the return of Aggressive George Hill.
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When George Hill was healthy enough to play last year, he was often the focal point of an offense that lacked Paul George for the entire season and many other key cogs throughout the 82-game slog. Aggressive George Hill was a breath of fresh air, answering many of his critics with All-Star-level play despite only playing 43 games. In that half-season games, Hill averaged more than 16 points per game on an effective field goal percentage over 54%. He slashed to the bucket, shot 36% from deep, attempted more shots and free throws than at any time in his career, and generally looked like a completely different player on offense.
Fans loved the new and improved Hometown Hero. Hopes were high coming into this year. Hoosiers were dreaming of Aggressive George Hill teaming up with Monta Ellis and Paul George — and early on this year, the Mr. Blonde’s game was electric as his new hair cut.
But aside from the first few games of the season, where George Hill kept his office hours in the corners, making nearly all his 3s from this zone (while Paul George struggled), we’ve yet to see Aggressive George Hill team with Paul George simultaneously.
This year, George Hill’s shooting percentage (41.5%) and effective field goal percentage (which takes 3s into account, 49.6%) are the lowest they’ve been since he was a rookie. He’s even shooting a career worst 70.4% from the line, after never shooting below 77% in his career.
Hill’s struggles are currently being masked by his hot start and solid mark from deep (38.4%). Once you get past his hot October, here’s George Hill’s numbers for the year:
10.9 ppg
3.4 apg
40.4% (FG)
36.1% (3PT)
67.5% (FT%)
These are not the hallmarks of an effective scoring player. Hill is not shooting well, not getting to the line as much, and not making as many when he gets there. He is still hitting his 3s at a fine clip, although he has clearly tailed off even, hitting just 17 of his last 50 attempts (34.0%) since returning after missing three games with illness after starting the year by knocking down 24 of his first 53 (45.3%).
The prevailing theory behind Hill’s struggles would be his missed time with illness (he had an upper respiratory infection), and there may be something there. He’s only averaged 9.2 points since he returned from illness, and hasn’t looked like the same player. The hope is that Aggressive George Hill has just been on hiatus — but a month would normally be plenty of time to recover from illness.
So it is time to put out an APB on Aggressive George Hill.