[Quack Attack]

Old friends find Hill's growth startling


By Bruce Pascoe
ARIZONA DAILY STAR





CHICAGO — As a high schooler basketball wasn't the only thing Jordan Hill initially struggled with.

"I remember guys in the weight room, everybody was making fun of him, saying 'You're weak. You can't even get in your weight training,'" said Mike Lacey, a longtime friend and former teammate of Hill's.
They didn't, or couldn't, see what everybody in and around the NBA sees now: that Hill is a near-certain lottery pick in the 2009 NBA draft.
They didn't see the expanded court sense, post moves and midrange game that Hill developed over three years at Arizona, nor could they have envisioned the 11 reps Hill logged in the NBA's 185-pound bench press test during this week's pre-draft combine.

They just saw him then and can't believe what he is now.
"It's funny," said Lacey, now a junior guard at Idaho State who is working out with Hill this month in preparation for the draft. "I just went home for the weekend, and everybody I saw from high school that used to make fun of him, now they're like, 'Hey, did you see Jordan's top five (in the mock drafts)?'

"These last three years, every time he's on ESPN, it's like, 'Is that the Jordan I went to high school with?' It's crazy, like he went from nothing to something." In a sense, he did. Hill's late-blooming game has been well-documented at UA, where he first arrived as little more than a dunk-and-foul machine but blossomed into an explosive and athletic big man under the cover of older players who were initially more established.
"Coming from high school to college, I had Chase (Budinger), Marcus (Williams), Mustafa (Shakur), all big-name athletes who were going to play," Hill said. "Nobody knew who I was, but I stayed on the court and got better. … I had to wait for my time to shine."

Hill progressed rapidly each season at UA, producing regular double-doubles as a junior. He averaged 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds last season, becoming the first Wildcat in 30 years to average in double-figure points and rebounds in the same season.

NBA executives likely see that upward arc continuing in his career, which is why mock drafts have Hill projected solidly in the top 10 of the June 25 draft. Both Draft Express and ESPN.com have him going to Washington at No. 5, although the Wizards may trade the pick.
"He hasn't been consumed by basketball since he was 5 years old," said Chris Ekstrand, a scouting-oriented NBA consultant. "People see he has more room for growth. But at the same time, you don't want to be labeled with just potential."

Hill's strategy this spring has been to show teams he is ready to contribute immediately. Hill moved to Chicago last month, saying he withdrew from his UA spring courses to sharpen his focus on basketball and has been working out with Budinger and several other draft prospects at Chicago's Attack Athletics facility. The group works out twice daily four days a week and once daily two days a week.
"It's been kind of hectic," Hill said.

Hill said he's been heavily focused on footwork, with a particular eye on what he can do legally in the NBA that wasn't allowed in college, and on improving his athleticism through training. He has also taken plenty of midrange shots. "I'm the only big man in our group," Hill said. "So basically I'm with the guards doing guard stuff. That's helped my midrange game."
Although Hill did not participate in many of the skills tests this week, he held his own in weightlifting, while measuring in at 6 feet 9 1/4 inches, with 232 pounds and a 7-1 1/2 wingspan.

Those measurements are almost exactly what Suns forward Amare Stoudemire had when he entered the league, according to Draft Express president Jonathan Givony, although Suns GM Steve Kerr shied away from any other comparisons. "He's not as explosive as Amare," Kerr said. "But he has a chance to be a very solid player and dependable scorer."

Off the court, Hill's transitions also will be dramatic. Having already survived a difficult upbringing in South Carolina and Atlanta, with his mother dying when he was 3 years old, Hill is now juggling visits to Chicago from his father, brother and 3-year-old son, Jordan Crawford.
Pretty soon, he'll have added celebrity and income on top of it all. If selected fifth, Hill would earn a first-year salary of about $3.3 million.
"It's definitely gonna change," Hill said. "It's the process of trying to go to the next level. I've got to deal with that. But we know what the process is, so I've got to relax and enjoy the ride."