Spurs take needed risk; Pacers score with Hill

George Hill will help bolster Indiana's backcourt with his scoring and defense. (Soobum Im/US Presswire)

We’ll never know precisely what the Spurs tried to do and how close they came to doing it. But we can be certain now that they were shopping to unload a guard with an eye on long-term salary concerns. The chosen one turned out to be George Hill, who is headed home to Indiana in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, the San Diego State forward whom the Pacers selected with the 15th pick on Thursday. San Antonio also received the rights to the 42nd pick (Davis Bertans) and the rights to 2005 second-round pick Erazem Lorbek, who plays in Europe.

This isn’t as splashy as the rumored swap that would have sent Tony Parker to Sacramento for the seventh pick — a trade we can’t be sure was ever truly in play. But the deal serves the same purpose of shaking up the current roster, cleaning up the Spurs’ cap picture a bit and (hopefully) keeping them in play as a contender next season. It’s a risk, but it’s one a team in San Antonio’s position must be willing to take. Complacency can land you in mediocrity pretty fast, and Hill will be set to make at least a league-average salary once his rookie deal expires after next season.

It’s a significant gamble, though. Hill was a crucial cog in San Antonio last season. He worked as the Spurs’ best perimeter defender, and his long, 6-foot-9 wingspan allowed San Antonio to play three-guard lineups without compromising all that much on defense; the Hill/Manu Ginobili/Gary Neal trio was a Gregg Popovich favorite last season. Hill isn’t a dynamic creator off the dribble and probably never will be, but he could handle and pass just well enough to allow Ginobili and Parker to work off the ball for chunks of every fast-moving Spurs possession. And his maturation as a three-point shooter, especially from the corners, was crucial to San Antonio’s offense.

The Spurs have players on hand who can replicate some of those skills, but no one who can combine all of them — at least not yet. Neal can shoot as well as anyone, and perhaps one of San Antonio’s youngsters — James Anderson, Da’Sean Butler and Cory Joseph, the 29th pick on Thursday — can grow into a Hill Lite role next season. Some combination of those guys will have to soak up Hill’s minutes, because Parker and Ginobili won’t.

The upside of the risk in dealing Hill is Leonard. He is a 6-7 whirlwind at small forward who can do a bit of everything and could develop into a big-time NBA defender, at least according to draft gurus. He’s not a long-range threat yet, but he’s probably shooting corner threes somewhere right now. With Richard Jefferson fading, the Spurs have taken a shot at filling the small forward spot with a player who might be able to step in quickly and help revive their defense. Leonard doesn’t solve the interior issues Memphis exploited in the playoffs, but he represents a way for the Spurs to wean themselves off three-guard lineups if they wish to. He also provides an insurance policy if San Antonio can ever dump Jefferson, who has three years and $30.5 million left on his contract.

There’s also this: I’d bet that if you got Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and Popovich in a candid moment, they’d say they’re comfortable wagering that Hill has just about hit his ceiling. Hill just turned 25, and he did not evolve all that much between his second and third seasons in the league. It’s fashionable to refer to Hill as something of an heir apparent to Parker, but he has never really shown that he’s going to be a dynamic NBA point guard capable of running an offense. His assist rate — the percentage of baskets Hill assisted on while on the court — was about the same as those of Ray Allen and Kevin Martin. Hill also depended on teammate assists for slightly more than half of his baskets, an average mark for a guard. Some of this is due to playing alongside Ginobili so much, but the numbers peg Hill more as a shooting guard with nice ball-handling skills than someone ready to run a team full time.

Luckily for the Pacers, they have a young point guard ready to run an offense full time in Darren Collison, and they have a major need for consistent scoring on the wing. Hill, an Indianapolis native who starred at IUPUI, can fill the same role with the Pacers that he played in San Antonio. He’ll be an immediate upgrade over shooting guards Dahntay Jones, Brandon Rush and Paul George.

Yes, Hill’s acquisition leaves the 2-guard rotation a bit crowded and the small forward spot relatively bare, but those are problems the Pacers can deal with later. You don’t pass up a chance to acquire Hill because you have Rush and Jones, both of whom could be gone after next season. Each of the Rush/Jones/George trio is capable of sliding to small forward for stretches to spell Danny Granger.

Hill will cost the Pacers a bit after next season, but they have only one player, Granger, locked into guaranteed money beyond 2012. (They will, though, certainly exercise rookie deal options for Collison, George and Tyler Hansbrough, and Jones would be foolish not to pick up his $2.9 million player option for 2012-13.) The Pacers are set to have major cap room as soon as free agency begins, but they have no guarantee any star-level player will ever sign in Indiana. Hill gives them a league-average starter at a position of need, and the Pacers will be able to control his free agency if the new collective bargaining agreement maintains a form of restricted free agency for rookies.

This is a fun little trade that makes sense for each team. Let’s hope we get to see it play out before 2012.