 Jordan Hill is all smiles before taking the tip-off against the Grizzlies.
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(Las Vegas, NV) - It was a short, contested jumper in the final seconds of a two-point game, one that could have forced overtime and perhaps vaulted his team to victory.
It missed. Jordan Hill managed a wee smile a few minutes later.
“You can’t make them all,” he said. “I’ll try better next time.”
He knew it was only a Summer League game, the result of which would be quickly forgotten. The real pressure will come soon enough.
For now, Hill could look back on his first game as a professional, with a linescore of 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting, along with eight rebounds and two steals over 29 minutes in the Knicks’ 90-86 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Tuesday’s opener for the New York squad at the 2009 NBA Summer League presented by EA Sports at Cox Pavilion.
After a slow start, Hill scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, including five in the final minutes of the back-and-forth contest. His last-second miss was the final footnote to his first run as a pro.
“It was kind of like my first NBA game, so I just had to go out there and see and get a feel for it and just play my game,” he said afterward.
“Rebounding, I did pretty good. But I definitely think I can be a lot better. It was my first game, so I just have to get loosened up and have fun.”
Hill’s infant pro career began last month on Draft Night at the Garden. After the Warriors selected fan favorite Stephen Curry of Davidson, the Knicks made Hill the eighth overall pick in the Draft, prompting the by-now predictable mixed reaction from the Garden faithful. That won’t deter Jordan from embracing the Big Apple.
“I’m anticipating it,” he says. “The Knicks saw something in me so I’m just going to go ahead and do what they expect me to do; play hard defensively and offensively; rebound and do what I have to do to help the team win.”
What the Knicks saw was an athletic 6-foot-10 total-package-in-the-making out of Arizona, who earned Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors and was a Third-Team Sporting News All-American following his final (junior) season with the Wildcats. Last year, he became the first Wildcat to average double figures in both scoring (18.3) and rebounding (11.0) in 30 years, leading the Pac-10 with 20 double-doubles.
“Jordan Hill, we think, can be really good,” said head coach Mike D’Antoni during the opening days of Summer League. “He’s relentless on the offensive boards and has a lot of offensive skills that remind the coaching staff of (Amar’e) Stoudemire when he first came in. He has a great work ethic right now and seems to be bright and intelligent and willing to do what it takes to be a great player.”
Hill’s transition to the pro game could be a seamless one, as D’Antoni’s wide-open offensive scheme is similar to the Arizona style installed by the legendary Lute Olson.
“They’re close,” says Hill. “Mike D’Antoni likes to run the floor and Lute Olson is the same way. He likes to run the floor as well. Basically with teams like that, you’ve just got to stay in shape and do what you have to do.”
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“It’s definitely more strength and more speed when you get to the next level,” he said after Tuesday’s opener. “Out here it’s good competition, most of the guys here I played against in college so I know how they are, so I’ve just got to go out there and compete.
“Just have fun and just go out there and play my game and don’t let nobody, no matter what size or the strength of the player, all of that, intimidate you.” In his final season at Arizona, Hill ranked second in the Pac-10 in blocked shots (1.71), and finished his college career as the sixth-best all-time shot blocker in Wildcat history with 140 career rejections. With that in mind, it was pointed out to Jordan that he was joining a team that, in both of the last two years, had set an all-time NBA record for the fewest blocked shots in a season.
With Hill in the post, that dubious distinction may be a thing of the past.
“I definitely can bring shot-blocking,” he says. “I’m long, athletic, I can jump, I can time the ball and just go out there and get the ball. If I don’t block shots, I can definitely alter shots and help the team out in many ways.”
TUESDAY’S GAME: Point guard Toney Douglas, the Knicks’ other Draft Night acquisition, had 11 assists, eight points and no turnovers over 29 minutes in Tuesday’s loss. . .Former Utah Jazzman Morris Almond led the Knicks with 17 points while Nikoloz Tskitishvili added 12, with Almond and Tskitishvili combining to go 6-for-11 from three-point range. . .Darrell Arthur scored a game-high 22 points for the Grizzlies while former Net and Warrior Marcus Williams scored 10 of his 16 points in the deciding fourth quarter, as Memphis outscored the Knicks 26-14. . .On Wednesday (July 15), the Knicks face the Detroit Pistons at Cox Pavilion (4:00 p.m. New York time on MSG Network with Mike Breen, Walt Frazier and Tina Cervasio).
