Coming into the 2014-15 NBA season, Jordan Hill had the added motivation to prove his worth to the Los Angeles Lakers with the incentive of $9 million to be made next season. Hill signed a two-year deal with the team in the off-season with the second year being a team option.
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Hill has been filling up the stat sheet on a consistent basis throughout the first few games of the season with some impressive performances against the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. The veteran forward/center has three double-doubles so far this season, but has struggled in the shooting department.
After going 4-for-13 in the loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, head coach Byron Scott expressed some concern about Hill settling for jumpshots, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Byron Scott: "I think Jordan (Hill) right now is settling for the jumper a little too much."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 15, 2014
In the first eight games of the season, Hill was shooting 48.4 percent from the floor. Not a terrible percent for a frontcourt player in this league, but the consistency simply isn’t there.
Hill has made an effort to improve his mid-range jumpshot over the past few years and actually looked like he was going to have a breakthrough year in that area this season.
Unfortunately, after shooting 35.3 percent against Memphis Grizzlies and a season-low 30.3 percent in the loss to the Spurs, Hill might have to think twice before shooting those jumpers near the top of the key.
As for the rest of Hill’s game, the 27-year-old is averaging 13.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game to go along with 2.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per contest. Hill is definitely one of the better players on the team right now behind Kobe Bryant, but he’s got to start getting back to being a force from mid-range.
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