Hill a prototypical Spur: College coach recounts examples of toughness, talent, loyalty, desire
Web Posted: 06/27/2008 11:12 PM CDT
By Jeff McDonald
Express-News
Late Thursday night, the Spurs made George Hill from IUPUI the 26th pick in the NBA draft, leading all of San Antonio to ponder just two simple questions.
Who? And, from where?
Ron Hunter, Hill’s coach at the obscure Indianapolis college, has this word of advice for Spurs fans when it comes to their new rookie point guard: Remember the name, if not the school.
“I’ve always said some guys have ‘it’ and some guys develop ‘it,'” Hunter said. “This guy was born with it. People have no idea how talented this kid is.”
The Spurs, who chose Hill over a handful of more highly touted guards from more prestigious basketball schools, apparently agree.
A little-known player from a little-known college, Hill will arrive in San Antonio with a chance to earn backup minutes behind Tony Parker at the point, and a chance to score points for overlooked mid-major players everywhere.
“I always think it’s harder coming from a mid-major,” Hill said Friday. “You always have to prove more.”
Officially known as Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, IUPUI will be confused with neither Indiana nor Purdue when it comes to basketball prowess.
The school began playing Division-I ball only eight seasons ago. It had never had a player drafted into the NBA before the Spurs called Hill’s name Thursday.
Hill’s selection represents something of a gamble for the Spurs, who under the NBA’s rookie salary structure must guarantee him about $1.7 million over the next two years.
To take him, the Spurs passed over more prominent big-school guards like Kansas’ Mario Chalmers and Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts, who four months ago were battling it out at the Alamodome for Final Four glory — a stage Hill couldn’t have hoped to sniff playing at IUPUI.
Had things broken differently, however, Hill could have wound up playing for college basketball royalty as well.
Coming out of Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis, Hill entertained scholarship offers from Temple and Indiana. He could have played for back-to-back national championship teams at Florida.
Instead, he chose to remain in Indianapolis, the city in which he was born and raised. He opted to stay, in part, to be near his great-grandfather Gilbert Edison, whose health was failing.
“I wanted to stay close to home so he could see me play, if he ever got better,” Hill said.
Hill’s great grandfather never got the chance. He died two months after Hill inked his letter-of-intent.
Hill’s loyalty was IUPUI’s gain: As a fourth-year junior last season, Hill starred in obscurity, averaging 21.5 points per game and garnering Player of the Year honors in the Summit League.
“He’s a very, very committed kid,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “He works hard, he’s tough. More than anything, he’s really grounded. Those type of guys and (coach Gregg Popovich) tend to work well together.”
The Spurs, however, coveted Hill for more than just his winning personality. They think he can play a little basketball, too.
One NBA scout, after watching Hill up close for much of the year, said he thought the guard could have started for any college team in the country.
Hunter surveys Hill’s gifts — the stunning quickness, dogged finishing ability and beyond-his-years basketball acumen — and sees a slightly more famous Spurs point guard.
“For the last few years, I’ve said he reminded me of Tony Parker,” Hunter said.
Hill, whose brother James Singleton spent two seasons with the L.A. Clippers from 2005 to 2007, always has been a natural athlete.
At Broad Ripple, Hill was asked to try out for the school soccer team, even though he had never played before. He wound up earning all-state accolades as a goalie that season.
“He’s a freak of nature,” Hunter said. “He’s a guy that could play three-straight NBA games, then go out and run a mile — and run it in five minutes.”
To Hunter, two moments from Hill’s IUPUI career will always top the highlight reel.
One came last season against Massachusetts. Hill had struggled in the first half against Gary Forbes, a future Atlantic-10 Player of the Year and a player at the time rumored to be an NBA prospect.
“If you think you’re a pro,” Hunter told Hill in the halftime locker room, “you have to be able to play with this guy.”
To that point, Hill had scored only four points. He finished with 30, leading his team to victory in the second half.
Another watershed moment came two years ago, during an early season game against Fairleigh-Dickinson in South Carolina.
Hill had been hobbled with a stress fracture in his foot, but he begged to play anyway. Hunter eventually relented, but didn’t expect much out of his injured star.
Playing on one leg, and without having touched a ball in weeks, Hill scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. A few days later, team doctors would shut the guard down for the rest of the season, and he took a medical redshirt.
IUPUI lost that game and its star, but a local legend was born.
“I knew right then how special this kid is,” Hunter said.
It wasn’t the only truth Hunter learned that night.
“I also knew I wouldn’t be getting him back for his senior year,” he said with a chuckle.
Earlier this week, the Spurs put the finishing touches on that realization. They targeted Hill from the get-go of the draft, telling him in the days leading up to it to expect a call if he remained on the board at No. 26.
The Spurs were somewhat surprised Hill lasted so long. Probably, team officials surmised, his availability had a bit to do with the anonymity afforded him at IUPUI.
“That late in the draft, most often, there are unusual circumstances for a great player to land there,” Buford said. “Probably, this is one of those where he was at a small college, didn’t play against the best teams all the time, and didn’t get much attention.”
The way his college coach sees it, Hill should enjoy his anonymity while it lasts.
“George Hill is a blessing,” Hunter said. “You have no idea how the Spurs bettered their program by picking this kid up.”