Bob Hill Helps Talent Develop In The NBA D-League
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Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images |
by Stuart Winchester, D-League.com
You have to catch Bob Hill between games, or maybe at halftime. Because when the game’s going on, he’s busy – watching every dribble, every shift and screen and set play, just like any coach of any of the 16 NBA Development League teams that gathered in Orem, Utah for the 2009 D-League Showcase would do. But Hill does not coach any of the NBA D-League teams. In fact, right now, he’s not coaching any team of players at all. Instead, he is the league’s Coaches’ Consultant, traveling to all 16 markets to help each coach develop.
Hill is ideally suited for this position. He’s been a coach for 37 years, acting as the lead man for a slew of college and NBA programs, including the 1994-95 San Antonio Spurs team that won a league-best 62 games and lost to the eventual-champion Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals. So when the NBA D-League approached him last year and asked if he’d be interested in the position, he didn’t hesitate. “I love coaching,” Hill said. “But I enjoy helping younger coaches. That’s part of the responsibility of having the experience that I have.”
While Hill has the courtside credibility of decades spent in the game and unfettered access to every coach in the league, he is clear that he is neither in the role of evaluator nor commander. His role, appropriately enough, is that of a coach.
“I don’t go in and try to push my philosophy. I go in and try to facilitate whatever the coach wants me to do,” Hill said between games on the third day of Showcase. “Every coach is different. I’ve sat down to dinner with them. I’ve watched tape. I’ve sat in on meetings. I’ve taken notes. Then I share with the coaches and they can do with it what they want.”
While the Texas-based Hill has only been in the league for a few months and hasn’t made it to every market yet, he has had a chance to at least talk to all of the coaches when they gathered in Orem for Showcase, and has found them very receptive.
The coaches appreciate Hill’s flexible style and his hands-on approach. “Bob came out to Broomfield and we sat around for four-and-a-half hours and just talked,” said Colorado 14ers head coach Bob MacKinnon. “We talked about basketball philosophy, about dealing with players, about X’s and O’s. He’s been at every level and been successful at every level. Resources like that are phenomenal for coaches who want to get better.”
Hill’s easygoing style stems from a deep understanding of both the predicament and the position that the coaches are in. “They have constantly shifting rosters. If a team is playing well and an NBA team sends a new guy in, then it can mess up the chemistry and that’s bad. The coaches are trying very hard. They have a difficult existence. The owners want them to win games and the league wants them to develop players. But just because a player is getting minutes, it doesn’t mean that he’s developing.”
While Hill is adamant that every coach has a unique philosophy and approach, he admits that there are some universal characteristics of effective coaches: the importance of preparation in a job with an array of ever-evolving opponents; the logistical challenges of moving so many people and so much equipment around the country; the importance of team management and discipline, of being fair and firm and consistent; and the necessity of building good chemistry among the team. Many of the coaches in the NBA D-League already have these essential skills, Hill says, but it’s important that he helps those that may be struggling to master them.
His leadership is appreciated at the highest levels of the league. “The NBA Development League is all about developing coaches and players, and to have a coach with decades of NBA experience only accelerates that process,” said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. “The fact that we can have a consultant of his stature just speaks to the high caliber of play in our league.”
The appreciation is mutual. Hill sees the NBA D-League as an integral part of the NBA, and he thinks it’s improving all the time. “I have great respect for the league,” he said. And he enjoys being there. “I love to talk and teach, and I steal plays every game. Coaches are great thieves. I’m always a student of the game, so I’ll add this or that to my own personal strategy.”
For now, Hill is content to mentor and watch. He likes the progress he has seen from Sioux Falls and Utah so far this season. But he’ll keep watching for improvements in every NBA D-League team. Every dribble. Every move. Every game.
Read The First Four Editions Of A Day In The Life:
A Day In The Life Volume One: Sioux Falls Skyforce Owners
A Day In The Life Volume Two: Kevin Carroll
A Day In The Life Volume Three: Make Way For Brent Petway
A Day In The Life Volume Four: Tulsa's Ryan Humphrey
