Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

[Sollozzo]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Hill had a massive series against Dallas in the playoffs, and was so badly outplayed in the following round against the Suns that he got removed from the starting lineup halfway through and never played another game for the Spurs again.

Not true. That was the 2010 playoffs you're referring to. Hill played another season in SA after that and his final series was when the 8 seeded Grizz beat them.

[Kstat]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Hill had a massive series against Dallas in the playoffs, and was so badly outplayed in the following round against the Suns that he got removed from the starting lineup halfway through and never played another game for the Spurs again.

[doctor-h]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Hill had some massive playoff games in S.A. He routinely played a similar role in that team.

Would you remind us of the MASSIVE playoff games Hill had with San Antonio

[BillS]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

I'll answer the original question with this - The Spurs certainly liked Leonard better than Hill.

They were in a position to - as well as being squeezed by the cap and Hill's contract. Remember back - there was speculation by more in the NBA world than just people fooled by San Antonio that they would not have done the deal if Hill had not been up against a new contract.

[Tom White]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

I'll answer the original question with this - The Spurs certainly liked Leonard better than Hill.

[PacerPenguins]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...f-spurs-system

Ignorant fan tweets about how he would take Leonard over Paul George all day, and KD tweets back u trippin' and claims Leonard is a product of the Spurs system.

Leonard is good no doubt but KD is right. In a couple of years when Kawhi has to be the star we will see what he is capapble of. No doubt he is a great defender but I don't buy int his offensive game.

[BlueCollarColts]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2098643-kevin-durant-believes-kawhi-leonard-is-product-of-spurs-system

Ignorant fan tweets about how he would take Leonard over Paul George all day, and KD tweets back u trippin' and claims Leonard is a product of the Spurs system.

[Ace E.Anderson]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

I'm so glad you added the DWest part.

Whether you personally like him or not, Hill was a BIG part of keeping that team afloat. He had a few game winning shots (@TOR, @ Lakers, @ NO Hornets) and was averaging nearly 16 a game through November/December.

He then chipped in another 15 ppg during the playoff run that year.

Whether or not he's a starting PG on a championship team could be debatable but this idea that he's completely inept and hasn't contributed to this teams success in a big way since his arrival is trivial. Easily the most under appreciated player within this forum IMO.

[Unclebuck]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

I'll say this again, the Pacers will NEVER win a championship with George Hill as the PG. You can take it to the bank, bet the farm on it as it will NEVER EVER HAPPEN.

I think it certainly could happen. I won't rule it out. If Lance and PG mature well over the next two season (assuming Lance is here) I think a championship is certainly possible.

I am more worried about our bigs going forward.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Also don't forget Hill when Granger went down in the beginning of '12-'13. The team wouldn't have been near .500 about 30 games in without Hill and West.

I'm so glad you added the DWest part.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

From the Spurs view the deal was right, and as I said before the Spurs wouldn't have won the 2014 championship with George Hill instead of Leonard. I'll say this again, the Pacers will NEVER win a championship with George Hill as the PG. You can take it to the bank, bet the farm on it as it will NEVER EVER HAPPEN.

I'm not saying Hill can't be on a Pacers championship team, just not Hill being the starting PG. If the FO doesn't see that, then don't expect to go any further in the playoffs than the last 2 years.

[Nuntius]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

So is Pop the only coach in the world capable of making his players better and finding a system that lets his players succeed? Is there no inbetween? If the coach isn't good enough to do that, is he good enough to be your coach?

No, Pop isn't the only one. He is just the best at it by a wide margin. There is obviously an inbetween that contains the rest of the good coaches and Frank is in there.

It's just that Frank (or any other good to great coach) isn't Pop. There is only one Gregg Popovich.

[Ace E.Anderson]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Clearly in the world of "what have you done for me lately" hindsight, the trade seems like it is no-brainer bad.

But I really don't understand how history has gotten rewritten that Hill failed to do exactly what we needed him to do in those first couple of years. Remember he was a sixth man in SA with occasional starts - that's what we expected him to do here. While he got to start due to injury, it became clear even after DC came back that Hill's defense was miles better. At that time, Hill was performing ABOVE what we had gotten him to do.

We simply did not have the luxury to develop Kawhi. If we had tried, there would be people today screaming about how terrible it is that Lance was stuck on the bench and why could we not find minutes for this amazing player we probably ended up trading for someone else.

As long as fans live in hindsight, forgetting anything between then and now, there will be something to be upset about.

Ya know, I never looked at it that way - but you're totally right. Hill wasn't originally brought in to be our starting PG, because we still had DC whom we thought was our PG. Hill was brought in to be our 6th man, and eventually was turned into our starter after that 14-5 (I do believe) stretch with him as the starter towards the end of the '11-12 season.

[Tron]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Clearly in the world of "what have you done for me lately" hindsight, the trade seems like it is no-brainer bad.

But I really don't understand how history has gotten rewritten that Hill failed to do exactly what we needed him to do in those first couple of years. Remember he was a sixth man in SA with occasional starts - that's what we expected him to do here. While he got to start due to injury, it became clear even after DC came back that Hill's defense was miles better. At that time, Hill was performing ABOVE what we had gotten him to do.

We simply did not have the luxury to develop Kawhi. If we had tried, there would be people today screaming about how terrible it is that Lance was stuck on the bench and why could we not find minutes for this amazing player we probably ended up trading for someone else.

As long as fans live in hindsight, forgetting anything between then and now, there will be something to be upset about.

Also don't forget Hill when Granger went down in the beginning of '12-'13. The team wouldn't have been near .500 about 30 games in without Hill and West.

[BillS]

Re: Would we be a better team right now if we would have kept K. Leonard?

Clearly in the world of "what have you done for me lately" hindsight, the trade seems like it is no-brainer bad.

But I really don't understand how history has gotten rewritten that Hill failed to do exactly what we needed him to do in those first couple of years. Remember he was a sixth man in SA with occasional starts - that's what we expected him to do here. While he got to start due to injury, it became clear even after DC came back that Hill's defense was miles better. At that time, Hill was performing ABOVE what we had gotten him to do.

We simply did not have the luxury to develop Kawhi. If we had tried, there would be people today screaming about how terrible it is that Lance was stuck on the bench and why could we not find minutes for this amazing player we probably ended up trading for someone else.

As long as fans live in hindsight, forgetting anything between then and now, there will be something to be upset about.