Could the Pacers Look to Trade George Hill?

The Indiana Pacers have a lot of work to get done this offseason with very little cap room and not very many movable trade pieces. Larry Bird wavered a bit on his support of George Hill, and it could be a very good possibility that the Pacers look to move their starting point guard. He simply doesn’t fit at the point guard position, and the Pacers need to bring in a better playmaker and ball-handler in order to beat the Eastern Conference that is improving in a major way.

Perhaps the biggest question that has to be asked, is whether or not there will be any teams that want to acquire Hill. It seems likely that the Pacers could sell him as a combo guard that can help teams off the bench, but his days as a starting point guard are numbered. He has shown that he doesn’t understand how to run an offense, and he certainly isn’t able to put his teammates in better positions to succeed.

Apr 26, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Indiana Pacers guard George Hill (3) shoots over falling Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver (26) during the first half in game four of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

There is no denying his ability to score the basketball when he decides to be aggressive, but that simply wasn’t the case very much this past season. That being said, on February 7th against the Portland Trail Blazers, Hill exploded for 37 points on 12-19 shooting and was also 11-12 from the free-throw line. It is extremely frustrating for the Pacers to see him play extremely aggressive on some nights, but seemingly take other nights completely off.

Hill did play in and start 76 games for the Pacers this past season, and was fairly reliable despite some nagging injuries that forced him to miss a few games. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and just 3.5 assists per game which show just how down of a year he had in Indiana. His defense was solid once again this year, but it didn’t seem that he was completely engaged all season long.

Overall, the Pacers have a big decision to make on the Hill front this offseason. There is no denying that the organization loves Hill and that he is a hometown hero, but the Pacers also need to make their decision based off of what is best for their team. Trading Hill to either move into the draft or clear out more cap space would certainly be a smart decision for Bird to make.