re: Solmon Hill to Pels 4yr/50 potential 2 mill for good behavior on line

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Solomon Hill: Perhaps no under-the-radar player other than Biyombo made himself more money in the playoffs. Hill emerged as a dependable, small-ball power forward on Indiana's reserve units. The Pacers tried to give him away at the deadline, disenchanted with his busted jump shot, and found no takers. Now, Hill might earn almost $10 million per season, perhaps more, though a few GMs remain unconvinced that he's an NBA player. He has an NBA-level feel -- a sense of rhythm, timing and vision that is hard to teach. Defenders sagged way off him to clog Indiana's already cloggy offense, but when they rushed back to close out on him, Hill sauntered by them with herky-jerky drives that often ended in slick interior passes: He has a nifty spin move and can unleash out-of-nowhere, mean-spirited dunks in traffic. Hone his jumper, and you should have a solid rotation wing player. Hill nailed 11 of his 19 3s in the playoffs and shot a very encouraging 44 percent for the season on corner 3s. Those looks weren't quite Andre Roberson-level open, but opponents are fine with Hill chucking. How many can he make if they take one step closer? His so-so jumper is less of a problem at power forward because Hill's team should have at least three other decent shooters on the floor. As a pseudo-big, Hill can hang around the baseline, set screens and thread smart passes when he catches the ball on the pick-and-roll.

Problem: It's unclear if Hill can guard real power forwards. Light-in-the-butt stretch guys and backups? He's got those down, and he can switch easily between them and almost any wing player. He toggled from Patrick Patterson to DeMar DeRozan in the first round, and guarded everyone from Draymond Green to Russell Westbrook in the regular season. He's solid against perimeter players, strong and generally in tune both on and off the ball. He gets a little handsy against speedsters who can zoom past him. He needs a loose whistle to survive those matchups.

Stick him against a real big with a post game, and he's roadkill. He might be able to drive-and-kick by those guys on the other end, but only if he becomes a reliable 3-point shooter -- someone plodders have to defend outside their comfort zones. If he can't get there, Hill will end up a wing-sized guy who can't really play the wing on offense but can only slide down a position against bench guys. If he pulls it off, he might be a borderline starter. Still, that innate feel is intriguing. He showed enough in the playoffs that some team should take a flier on him, even a pricey one.

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