For those who don’t remember the circumstances surrounding and leading into the trade that landed the San Antonio Spurs the No. 15 pick of the 2011 NBA Draft where they selected current MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, the headline of this story may be perplexing. Why would Coach Pop have said the decision to trade up to land maybe the best two-way player in the NBA at this point was the hardest decision he ever made? Because it meant trading George Hill.
George Hill was another diamond in the rough unearthed by the Spurs three years earlier, a late-first round pick from IUPUI (seriously, look it up) that became one of Popovich’s favorite players to coach of all-time in short order because of his incredible work ethic, basketball smarts, willingness to learn and toughness.
The Spurs knew they needed to get bigger and more athletic though as their championship window appeared to be over in the eyes of most as a team that was bounced in the first or second round of the playoffs the three years prior.
Hence the need for a player they could groom like Leonard.
Here are Popovich’s comments about being very conflicted leading up to the trade to Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report:
“The toughest [decision] in whatever, 20, whatever years I’ve been coaching here as a head coach. It’s not even close. We were scared to death sitting in the room. I think it was the 15th pick, if I remember, and when we got to 11, 12, 13. Danny Ferry, our CEO, and I were looking at each other saying, ‘Are we really going to do this?’
“[Hill] was one of my favorite players. He was important to us, but we needed to get bigger. … So in the end, we said we’re going to roll the bones and we’re going to do it, but I can’t tell that at that point we knew that Kawhi was going to be what he is today. That would be an exaggeration.”
Pop liked Leonard, but wasn’t too sure he would become the scorer he is today. Here is what he told Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated in another piece a few years back:
“We were all looking at each other like, Are we really going to do this?. We were scared s—less. We don’t know this kid. He’s not a shooter. He’s not a scorer. He’s not a perimeter player. He’s a big guy who can rebound.”
That trade enabled the Spurs to position themselves to win another NBA title in 2014 and has put them in the position to remain a contender beyond the Tim Duncan era, so I would say it worked out pretty well, like most things do for the Spurs.
George Hill has continued to become a pretty damn good player himself, he is also a free agent this off-season and the Spurs are in need of a point guard, could they clear enough space to try and bring him back… time will tell.
