Should Jordan Hill be getting minutes?
Jordan Hill, the next Amar’e Stoudamire? A lot of people have said that Jordan Hill has the potential to become as good, if not better than Amar’e. How can potential be put to use when you are sitting at the end of the bench at the end of the night? It seems like his potential is being wasted by being on this Rockets team where minutes are limited and thus far playing time has been minimized to mop-up minutes at the tale-end of blow out wins.
Hill may need room to grow as a player and the only way it can happen is if he gets the minutes. He may be better suited being sent down to the D-League were he would definitely get his minutes and he can maximize his playing time. Don’t get me wrong, the D-League is far from the equivalency that Triple A is to Major League Baseball. Nevertheless, Jordan Hill was drafted on upside and that upside will likely go unachieved, or at best, underachieved if he doesn’t get the PT to allow him to develop his skills.
Playing time is very important. It’s one of the crucial necessities to becoming a solid role player or even a star in this players’ league called the NBA. Moreover perhaps Hill, more than the average player, needs so desperately to play because of his raw talent that is still very much unpolished.
The Rockets are loaded at the power forward spot so minutes are very hard to come by for most rookies trying to crack into Rick Adelman’s rotation, but that’s still no excuse. Even Chase Budinger is getting minutes which are allowing him to grow and develop into a decent NBA rotation player.
The Rockets have played small ball all year long and to their credit, it worked at the beginning of the year when things were looking promising. As the season has rolled along, the Rockets have struggled. They struggled through January, February, and are continuing to look like they will struggle for the rest of the season. They will most likely continue to flirt with being a .500 team for the remainder of the regular season.
So why not start giving players like Jordan Hill or Hilton Armstrong minutes? Why not allow them to develop more so that way next season when Yao Ming comes back, you will be able to put the best team possible on the floor next to him? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s judgment day and if we are going to be contenders than we need to pick it up, otherwise, this team and its prospects would be best served getting the minutes so they may develop and reach their great potential.
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