Spurs, Duncan want George Hill to return?

Written by Jeff Garcia on .

The San Antonio Spurs traded fan favorite George Hill to the Indiana Pacers during the 2011 NBA Draft for rookie Kawhi Leonard, a move that had Spurs fans scratching their heads and asking why trade a proven asset for an unproven rookie.

Fast forward to today and it would seem the trade as worked great for San Antonio and Indiana.

Both Leonard and Hill are helping their team in the playoffs (both Spurs and Pacers are in the Western and Eastern Conference Semi-Finals respectively) and have been key to their team's overall success this season.

But could the Spurs, who need a back up point guard (no offense to rookie Cory Joseph), be interested in bringing back Hill?

Hill recently turned down a contract extension with Indiana and will be a restricted free agent this summer and according to the New York Daily News, San Antonio wants him to return to the team.

Pacers PG George Hill is helping his value. He turned down a $6 million-per-year extension before the season and now might get more this summer as a restricted free agent. The Spurs and Tim Duncan, especially, want him to return to San Antonio, but San Antonio might not be able to afford him.

As the report states, it would be difficult to bring back Hill financially. Duncan, Boris Diaw, Gary Neal, James Anderson, and Danny Green will be free agents this summer. Not to mention the Spurs hold the team option (at $1,054,000) for DeJuan Blair next season and will have to decide whether to bring him back. Also, Patty Mills has a player option after this summer (at $1,000,000).

Moreover, the Pacers might be willing to match any offer the Spurs or other teams make for Hill thus driving up the cost to a point San Antonio wouldn't be able to match.

However, it's not like the Spurs have succeeded in bringing back players after a trade. Sean Elliott spent the 1993-1994 season with the Detroit Pistons in a trade for Dennis Rodman. The next season, the Spurs traded back for Elliott.

But with the financial situation the Spurs are under and with Hill looking for a lucrative long-term contract, it would seem Hill's chances of coming back to the Alamo City are slim. So much for the revival of Hill and Blair's video series "Big n' Smallz."

25 comments
greboR
greboR

Lorbek and De Colo and Ryan Richrads

greboR
greboR

Spurs need BIG men and Back back for Tim...only Big Men and young is needed....

greboR
greboR

Ryan Richards is the Best Twin towers of Duncan...He is young and better for the future.....

LincolnKreifels
LincolnKreifels

Hill is and always was a wussy. We don't need wussies.

PopKat
PopKat

Now that the  Spurs are out of the playoffs, Green (restricted free agent)  did well in the first and the second round of the playoffs, but not so well in the third round. Overall I'll give Grene in the range of a C+ to B- and thats worth bringing him back for at least a couple of years, but we do not need to over pay him.  The Spurs have kept Bonner mulitple years and he cannot hold his own in the playoffs.  I know Bonner is a good guy and I'm cool with that, but he needs to be packaged (Blair) and traded or moved up into the front office.  The Spurs need two bigs not just one.  If they can get Okafar and/or Kaman (if the price is right), then that would be a start.  If Gary Neal is unrestricted free agent, Spurs will not be able to afford him, since he is a cold-blooded clutch shooter, but he is a liability at the point and struggles to play defense.  Neal may end of with the 76ers, since they need to a scorer and Neal is much better coming off the bench.

SpurGuy
SpurGuy

Some of you belong in the puzzle house.

TitletownX4
TitletownX4

@SpurGuy Even Mills is a eay better ball handler and shooter. Puzzle that.

PopKat
PopKat

The trade worked out well for both teams, but we do not need Hill. Are Neal and Green unrestricted or restricted free agents?  Does anyone know?  If so, one are both will receive offers from other teams.  Neal is a dead-eye clutch shooter and I'm waiting to see what Green does in the second round of the playoffs. I would rather have Mills as a back up point guard than Neal.

jerico21
jerico21

hill, green, leonard defending the perimeter? hell yeah! but not gonna happen. i don't see the spurs signing hill unless neal, mills and joseph are hurt or gone.

jerico21
jerico21 like.author.displayName 1 Like

but what the spurs need is a BIG man.

russman138
russman138

aight aight just messing around..

 

Yeah 2 guard rotation in San Antonio is stacked. He'll have to get behind Green and Manu..

russman138
russman138

Who is this George Hill you speak of?

JosephPais
JosephPais like.author.displayName 1 Like

No sense in bringing back Hill. Patty Mills is a real PG. We got what we needed out of Hill and that's Leonard.

andres783
andres783 like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @JosephPais Not to mention that we would get Mills at 1,000,000 instead of Hill at 6-8M (since he passed on that 6M extension) I would say Mills gets a bigger role just like Splittler has this season, plays very well and we keep him long term on a salary that works for our cap.

rtesoro440
rtesoro440

The past is past. Let hill remain with the pacers. It's his hometown. But let go of anderson, blair, bonner and joseph. The spurs should draft higher in the 1st round by trading the aforementioned players with multiple 1st round teams like the jazz, rockets, bobcats, nets and the hornets. The priority is to sign a big man like zeller, jones 111, moutrie or melo or look to the free agents like kaman, okafor or humphries and never again be short in big men. Why not call on richards and deColo or bertans? 

TitletownX4
TitletownX4 like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @rtesoro440 I would trade for a high draft pick if possible like you mentioned and if anything Richards can be given a look at. He's 5 inches taller than Blair and can shoot from anywhere on the floor and can get rebounds being 7 foot. Even if he's on the bench like Blair at least he's 7 foot with a hell of stroke on the bench. I've been saying for 3 years it's only a matter of time for Blair to hit the road. the only reason he started last year and this year during the regular season is because he needed to be paired with the best big on the floor to make up for his defensive and offensive liabilities. It would have been nice to see Splitter and Timmy paired up since day 1 but Blair couldn't be on the court with Bonner you know how that worked out.

Spurs_n_Devs
Spurs_n_Devs

re-sign Timmy, Neal, & Green, hopefully Mills decides to come back. I say bring up Joeseph & Dawson too

UsernameAlvin
UsernameAlvin

Let's check first what Nando can offer on the table this summer when he attempts to lure the Spurs on signing him. He will be certainly seen playing on those summer leagues and I have a gut feeling that he will fit like a glove on the Spurs' system.Hill is a favorite. But as what Jeff already mentioned, the chance on signing him is as slim as Diaw's waistline. :)

 

TitletownX4
TitletownX4

 @AlvinPatacsil Actually you can see him and Richards in the summer Olympics. Richards team will probably be eliminated first and the French team will give the others some fits but not good enough to win it all.Look for Spain and Brazil  other than USA to make some noise.

spurs123
spurs123 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

How about not resigning Blair and Anderson after the season and picking up Hill and a big man like Timothy Mozgov, Ryan Richards, or Lorbek?

TitletownX4
TitletownX4

 @spurs123 Like to keep Anderson for the fact he's cheap and is waiting to explode. He needs minutes and to be healthy and then you'll see. Who else is going to rotate with Danny Green once Manu is gone? 

PopKat
PopKat

The Spurs did re-Anderson, he'll be luckey if he is back with the Spurs next year. He get a shot with a team like the Bobcats.

This comment has been deleted

TylerCameron
TylerCameron

As much as I love the Idea of hill coming back wouldn't it mean that we would have to get rid of 2 or 3 of the following 5 players, TP, Mills, Joseph, Neal and De Collo. It just doesnt make sence for the future of the team to bring hill back. This is hard to say as one of hills biggest fans!

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