Starting or off the bench? It’s ‘never been a big factor’ for George Hill
Over George Hill’s 12 seasons in the NBA, he has started the majority of games played in seven of them. He has missed the playoffs only one time.
Now, he goes from a role as a backup guard on the Finals-contending Milwaukee Bucks to a young Oklahoma City Thunder team embarking on a rebuild.
It’s a very different team with very different expectations and roster construction, but Hill expressed a positive outlook on the upcoming season.
“Even though the roster’s been shaken up a little bit, still have a good group of young men here willing to learn and compete night-in and night-out,” he said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for me to come in and try to be a leader and try to help these young guys.”
His role as an experienced leader on and off the court is obvious, but what will his spot in the lineup be?
After starting the majority of games between 2012 and 2018, Hill came off the bench for the Bucks over the last season and a half. In 106 games, he averaged 21 minutes per game, a far cry from his 30-plus minutes per game in the mid-2010s.
He’s clearly one of the better guard options on the Thunder. Hill’s experience and basketball IQ makes him an obvious option in the starting lineup, and his career 3-point percentage of 38.4% provides shooting the Thunder have traditionally lack.
But for as many question marks as the Thunder have in their rotation, there are a handful of starting options.
Will Hill be one of them? The guard said he hasn’t discussed his role in detail yet with the Thunder coaching staff, and the individual workouts mandate has prevented Oklahoma City from doing group or five-on-five activities.
“We haven’t gotten into anything team-wise due to all the regulations and things we have to do,” Hill said.
As different as the lineup looks, most of the starting group is predictable.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will start at one of the guard spots. Lu Dort can start at either shooting guard or small forward. Darius Bazley can be expected to start at power forward and Al Horford should be the center.
That leaves one spot on the court at either the guard or small forward position. If it’s not Hill, it would probably be Trevor Ariza.
Entering his 17th year in the league, Ariza is another veteran who has started the majority of his career. He could slot into the small forward role and be part of a versatile, defensive lineup.
Doing so would also allow the Thunder to bring a proven facilitator and playmaker off the bench instead of giving second-year guard Ty Jerome or rookie Theo Maledon all the backup point guard minutes.
It would also allow the Thunder to test Gilgeous-Alexander as the primary ball handler more often.
Hill, for what it’s worth, said he doesn’t care.
“I’ve never been a big factor on starting or coming off the bench, it really doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I just want to compete night in and night out, do whatever the team asks me to do and do it at a high level.”
