After his Milwaukee Bucks handled the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday, George Hill touched on what he sees now from his former team, and based on his comments, it seems Cleveland is moving in the right direction.
As we’ve previously emphasized, George Hill was the consummate professional when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and has always seemed like an ideal teammate. Hill was reportedly traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in December, but before that time, seemed to have helped Cavs youngsters, and most notably, rookie point guard Collin Sexton, in every way possible, which is something I’m sure that the organization was grateful for.
Even after the Bucks beat the Cavs easily yesterday by 22 points, Hill seemed optimistic about what’s to come in the near future for his former squad, and there’s never been any hard feelings from the veteran point guard toward Cleveland.
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After scoring 17 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday, his biggest output as a Buck, Hill emphasized postgame that he still appreciates all of his former teammates in Cleveland, which was cool to hear, per Cleveland.com’s Tim Bielik.
"“It’s nothing against them. I like every guy in that locker room,” Hill said. “We’re all still brothers. We’re all playing the same sport, trying to do the same thing.”"
Hill does not have nearly the same role as he’s feasibly behind Eric Bledsoe and Malcolm Brogdon on Milwaukee, which is the best team record-wise in the NBA at this point, but Hill doesn’t seem to have any problem with that, and continues to show he’s always been a team-first guy.
Bielik would add that Hill is “still playing the role of a mentor to a degree.”
Hill would go on to express that he believes that Cleveland, and Collin Sexton in particular, are playing better lately, again, per Bielik, and I’m sure the Cavs love to hear that.
"“They’re coming together. I think the young guys are playing at a high level,” Hill said. “Collin Sexton has come into his own, doing a phenomenal job over the last six, seven games.”"
Sexton’s averaged 20.5 points on 60.0 percent true shooting post-All-Star break (per NBA.com), and as Bielik highlighted, had a team rookie record stretch of “eight consecutive games with 20 points or more” going that was snapped last game, when he still put up 18.
Hill understands that Cleveland’s had all kinds of adversity this year, but they’re playing better now with players such as Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. healthier, to go with Sexton, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic playing much better than they were earlier in the season with more experience.
These sort of postgame comments from Hill project optimism heading into the offseason, which is just how the Cleveland Cavaliers want it to be for their key young pieces and veterans coming off tough injuries for much of 2018-19.