Marinated Sports

Fresh Ideas from a Marinated Mind.

[marinatedsports]

Moving to NBA Think Tank

I'm going to take a while off from Marinating over here in order to focus more on my new site, www.NBAThinkTank.com. NTT is going to be dedicated solely to the worst teams in the NBA as they fight for pole position at next year's Draft Lottery. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Love always,

Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[marinatedsports]

First episode of "The Untitled Podcast" - Ratchet Pod

This is the inaugural podcast that I put together with my buddy Mike today. Topics include Breaking Bad, Grand Theft Auto, the NFL, and MTV's The Challenge: Rivals II.

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The Tortured Fan: Los Angeles Dodgers

This is the first in a series of Marinated Sports pieces on Tortured Fans. There will be more to come soon from fans of other unsuccessful teams. We are not asking for pity, but we have stories to tell. Also, our favorite teams really, really suck.

The way that I see it, there are two types of tortured fans. Some fans suffer because their teams have always been mediocre or terrible, like fans of the Atlanta Hawks or Cleveland Browns. 

My love/hate relationship with the Dodgers falls into this latter, more successful group of fans, except that I was not alive for any of my favorite team’s historical moments. In fact, my exact date of birth, December 6th of 1991, is a reasonably accurate starting point for the Dodgers’ recent woes. After the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series against Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco’s Oakland Athletics in dramatic fashion, the Dodgers did not win another postseason game until 2004.

It never really made sense to me why the Dodgers were so damn mediocre. Nine year old me would walk into Dodger Stadium and I would see the retired numbers of Koufax, Drysdale, Pee Wee Herman, Roy Campanella, Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela, and Jackie Robinson. I mean, come on… JACKIE ROBINSON PLAYED FOR MY TEAM. That was pretty cool when I was nine.

These are Hall of Fame names that fans of any baseball team would recognize, so why did every move that the Dodgers make seem to blow up in management’s face? Why did Gary Sheffield’s three least-memorable seasons come in Dodger Blue? Why did the Murdoch ownership pull the trigger on trading fan-favorite Mike Piazza directly after buying the team from the O’Malley family in 1998? Why did Jason Schmidt get a 47 million dollar contract for a total of 10 games as a Dodger after playing like an All-Star for four seasons with San Francisco? And why did WE get suck with arguably the worst sports owner since the guy that sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees?

I didn’t see Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off homerun in the 1988 World Series. I never caught Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale throw a perfect game. Instead, I grew up with guys like Paul Lo Duca, Brad Penny, and Milton Bradley. Tommy Lasorda retired in 1996; Jim Tracy and Grady Little managed my Dodgers. It’s hard to be proud of a Dodger Blue legacy that has perennially sucked during your lifetime, but I always found out a way to do so, even if it meant convincing myself that Chad Billingsley would go on to win multiple Cy Young Awards in his career. Turns out I picked the wrong young starter to idolize back in 2009.

I can't compare it to being a fan of the Kansas City Royals or Pittsburgh Pirates over the past 21 years, as those teams haven't even come close to making the playoffs during my lifetime, but the way that the Dodgers lose is arguably worse. Would you rather have hope only to see it crushed, or expect failure and be pleasantly surprised by any little success?

There have been good times, like when the Dodgers hit four straight homeruns in the last game of the 2006 season to make the playoffs (back when I believed in momentum). That was cool... until the team was swept by the Mets in the first round. Mannywood was pretty fun in 2008 and 2009, and Manny Ramirez is still the best hitter I have ever seen play for the Dodgers, but he was also on steroids and served a 50 game suspension during that 2009 season. Éric Gagné is probably the most dominant player I have witnessed in Dodger Blue, as he won the Cy Young Award as a closer in 2003 and converted a ridiculous 84 straight games, but low and behold, "Game Over" was on HGH too. And it's not like the Dodgers ever did anything in the playoffs with Gagné at closer.

Of course, being a Dodger fan right now is better than anything I have come close to seeing from this team in my lifetime. It seems like every time. Was all that mediocrity really just ownership’s fault from 1992 to 2011? Did Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim group just roll in with a couple billion dollars and turn the Dodgers into World Series contenders in the blink of an eye?

But at the same time, I’m scared shitless. Being a fan of a heartbreaking team gives you PTSD, and this is the best yet most frightening Dodger season of my lifetime. In 2008, when L.A. lost in the NLCS to the Phillies, the team wasn’t expected to go all the way. Sure, I was heartbroken, but the team was not a world-beater that was expected to cruise into October. In 2009, when the Dodgers lost to the Phillies AGAIN in the NLCS, it was a little harder to take, but the Phillies were definitely favored in Vegas and I could definitely rationalize the team’s failures by saying things like, “Well, Manny was still rusty from his steroids suspension.”

But in 2013? This squad is an All-Star team, and I don’t think I could convince myself that this season was even a slight success if the Dodgers don’t at least lose in the World Series. This is our year.

Or, something like this could happen again:

Ugh.

by Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[marinatedsports]

12 tracks that put the Kendrick verse to shame

I don't normally ever use this site to write about hip hop, but Kendrick Lamar's verse on the Big Sean song "Control" practically broke the Internet on Tuesday. The verse, which you can listen to at the 3:20 mark here, is great. I really do like it. It is definitely a well above-average rap verse, and if people weren't saying that the verse has permanently changed the rap game, I probably would not have very much else to say about it.

But people are, and they need to stop. This wasn't a diss track. Don't call it a diss track. By calling it a diss track, or even a diss verse, you are dissing every legitimate diss track that has ever been recorded.

If I were to paraphrase the most inflammatory part of Kendrick's verse, when he drops the names of rappers J. Cole, Drake, Big KRIT, and Pusha T, among others, I would summarize these lines as, "You guys are my friends, but I am going to be a better rapper than you."

Is that really so controversial? He isn't saying that these other guys are bad rappers, that he despises them, or even that he doesn't particularly care for them. Why is it such a big deal that he name-dropped a bunch of his friends and said that he views them as competition? If anything, he is complimenting them and dissing contemporaries like Trinidad Jame$ and 2Chainz, who were unlucky enough to be left out.

12. "Murder" - UGK

Anybody who knows me will know that I was never going to complete this list without at least giving UGK an honorable mention...

Both Pimp C and Bun B shred this beat, but Bun B's verse is especially hard. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. This song doesn't explicitly call out one rapper or group of artists, but makes it known that nobody is safe from the Underground Kingz (R.I.P. Pimp C).

11. "Stan" - Cam'Ron (about Stan Spit)

You know it's a good diss track when it effectively ends the career or whoever the song is about. I don't think Tyler the Creator and Drake are going to have any trouble putting out hits after Kendrick dropped their names. Stan Spit appeared on a few Big L and Pete Rock tracks, and then was never heard from again.

And no, this song isn't about Eminem. Cam just borrowed the beat from him.

10. "Drop a Gem on 'Em" - Mobb Deep (about 2Pac)

Mobb Deep didn't do anything to end 2Pac's career, but you can't deny how hard this track goes in. Arguably Deep's best track after "Shook Ones Pt. II."

9. "The Sauce" - Eminem (about Benzino)

Eminem has numerous tracks to choose from, and "Go to Sleep, B*tch" might be my personal favorite (about the much-dissed Ja Rule). But this diss is fire, and is a little more polished than some of Em's other diss tracks, which tend to sound like the rapper is seizing with anger. Benzino survived a little longer than Stan Spit, but not by much.

The Game and 50 Cent have both gone on the record saying that they would never mess with Eminem, because the white boy's tracks end careers, plain and simple.

8. "No Vaseline" - Ice Cube (about his former group, N.W.A.)

This song would have been a little higher, but then this happened. And then this. And then this. What happened, Ice Cube?

7. "F*ck wit Dre Day" - Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg (about Eazy E)

"Used to be my homie, used to be my ace... Now I wanna slap the taste out ya' mouth." Enough said, Dre.

6. "Real Muthaf*kkin G's" - Eazy E (about Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg)

But you can't just toss out Eazy's name and expect to get away without an even harder response. Snoop and Dre are called "studio gangsters" about five different times in this track, and Snoop is essentially referred to as Dre's lackey. Eazy E's untimely death but an effective end to this feud, but it was shaping up to be something utterly epic after this track came out.

5. "Back Down" - 50 Cent (about Ja Rule)

Ja Rule just picked all of the wrong fights... 50 Cent and Eminem teamed up to effectively end his rap career. And while Fat Joe is still kind of relevant, "Piggybank" almost put him out of work as well.

4. "Who Shot Ya" - Notorious B.I.G. (allegedly definitely about 2Pac)

2Pac is never mentioned by name here, but Mr. Shakur definitely felt that the song was about him. Maybe rappers don't put out tracks like this anymore today because of all the needless shootings that happened as a result of them? Anyways, this track is great, and it officially lit a fire under the "West Coast-East Coast" beef of the '90s.

3. "Ether" - Nas (about Jay-Z)

This song absolutely destroys Jay-Z, and while Nas was certainly not on Jigga's level when this track was released on Stillmaticin 2001, the old-timer proved he still had plenty of fire in him. Interestingly enough, this track and its numerous references to Jay-Z's selling out is probably even more relevant in 2013 than it was in 2001...

2. "300 Bars and Runnin'" - The Game (about all of G-Unit besides Young Buck)

Say what you want about where The Game's career has gone since his feud with 50 Cent began, but this track is arguably the most epic diss of all time. I mean, it is FIFTEEN MINUTES LONG! The Game had basically no friends in rap at this point, and he made sure it would stay that way for at least a couple of years by firing shots at basically everybody (except for Young Buck, who Game very clearly steers around hating on... always found that interesting).

1. "Hit 'Em Up" - 2Pac (about Mobb Deep, Notorious B.I.G., Bad Boy Records, Nas, Jay-Z, Lil' Kim, and the entire East Coast)

Just listen to these lyrics. Nobody was safe from Pac... "Who shot me? But you punks didn't finish." Sadly, somebody did finish him shortly after this song was released.

So, after listening to these older raps, do you still think Kendrick's verse on "Control" qualifies as a diss? Didn't think so. Although, you really shouldn't be allowed to call something a diss in the first place if you're appearing on the same track as Jay Electronica...

by Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[marinatedsports]

Upcoming Marinated Sports project: "The Tortured Fan"

The site has been, well, inactive this summer due to being busy with a new job (check out my latest musings at FOX Sports here if you feel so inclined), but I think that this series is going to be one of the coolest things that has ever appeared on Marinated Sports.  

For the first time, I am going to solicit outside writers to talk about something that most of us have no trouble identifying with: rooting for a sports team that makes you want to pull your hair out. As of now, I have agreements with die-hard fans of the Chicago Cubs, New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, and a couple of other miserable franchises. Chances are that you root for at least one team that hasn’t given you many reasons to smile in your lifetime, but even if you don’t, you might have some fun learning about “the other side.”

I am personally going to kick things off by writing something about my troubled history of being a Dodgers fan in the Post-O’Malley/Pre-Magic Era. Expect to see something soon, but in the meantime, keep Marinating.

Sincerely yours,

Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[marinatedsports]

Yasiel Puig Dodger Earbud Commercial

It was only a matter of time before Yasiel Puig started getting endorsement deals, and I happen to think that this one is hysterical.

[marinatedsports]

Congratulations to your 2013 NBA champs, the Miami Heat. And shout out to Papi Le Batard, this rant is absolutely priceless.

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Sit down, Tiago

This is the most hysterical moment of the NBA Finals thus far. If Tiago Splitter pulls this dunk off, he creates the most unlikely poster of all time. Instead, however, we get an absolute REJECTION from King James.

Walk it off, Tiago. LeBron don't have time for that.

[marinatedsports]

Puig does it again

This kid is going to be special. You heard it here two days ago, and now Marinated Sports is telling you again: watch out for Yasiel Puig. The 22 year old Cuban prospect capped off another Dodgers win tonight with a grand slam in the eighth inning of a 5-0 victory over the Braves.

Hard to possibly have a better first four big league games, but he just keeps raising expectations. Anything is Puigsible!

[marinatedsports]

Yasiel Puig: The Cuban Phenom Has Arrived

1. The Arm

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Puig's MLB Debut ended after he gunned down an unsuspecting Padre who underestimated the right-fielder's cannon of an arm. This was the second display of throwing power that Puig had in this game, as he earlier made a close call out of what should have been a routine run for the Padres, nearly gunning down Alexi Amarista at the plate from deep right field in the game's sixth inning. Puig borders on reckless with his arm, and it is captivating to watch. Can he make some bad throws? Yes, he had an error on Tuesday night that cost the Dodgers a run when he foolishly tried to throw out Kyle Blanks at third. But he also almost threw Blanks out... Every baserunner needs to be wary of "The Cuban Missile."

Aside from his defense, Puig was able to connect on his first two big league hits on Monday. He did not yet get a chance to show off his breath-taking power (that would come the next evening...), but he did display his speed on the bases, aggressively rounding every base that he touched. At one point, he went from first to third on a very shallow single by Nick Punto, and it was the kind of play that made me say "WOW" out loud. Simple but incredible.

2. The Power

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Puig's first big league home run came in the 5th inning of his second professional game, and it was an absolute jack. The Cuban swung at the first pitch he saw and saw it go 439 feet into the left field pavilion. Did I mention that it was a three-run bomb, and that the Dodgers were down 5-2? That leads me to the next reason why Puig is so exciting...

3. He has already displayed the will to win and impress

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Puig went deep AGAIN in the 6th inning of Tuesday night's game, this time displaying opposite field power and driving in two runs when the Dodgers badly needed insurance runs to give the club's horrendous bullpen some wiggle room. Dodgers win, 9-7. Puig had five RBI's, the most of any Dodger ever in his first two games.

4. THE EXCITEMENT

Here is what Vin Scully, the Dodgers announcer of 64 years who has called more than a few perfect games and World Series, said during tonight's 8th inning: "I can't help but thinking how amazing it is... I mean he's only in his second game and we're already thinking: well, with that base hit, that could very well mean that we might see Puig one more time in the 8th inning. I can remember saying that about Henry Aaron and Ralph Kiner... big home run hitters, but he just got here!"

He did just get here, Vinny, and I'm just as excited as you are. Can he bring the Dodgers to the playoffs this season? This club might be in too deep of a hole, but Puig is 2-0. Right now? I believe.

[marinatedsports]

Baptism by Paul George

Dunk of the Playoffs, definitely... but Dunk of the year? Birdman got a mouthful more of Paul George than he wanted, that's for sure. And when you put somebody on a poster like this, you HAVE to follow it up with a mean-mug. Well played, Paul.

[marinatedsports]

An open letter to Vinny Del Negro, former Coach of the Clippers

You were never supposed to be coaching a 50-win team like you did in 2013. When you were first hired by the Clippers, you were a bargain for the team's owner, Donald Sterling, as you were still being paid by your previous contract with the Chicago Bulls. You inherited a young team that needed to develop and learn, and you allowed it to do just that, playing rookies Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe substantial minutes along with other youngsters like Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, and Al-Farouq Aminu. Blake Griffin earned Rookie of the Year honors for his season, and for the first time since 2006, the Clippers were exciting to watch. You let the youngsters make mistakes and grow from them, and all of them are better players now because of your patience. Even though this was your least successful season in terms of wins and losses, it can be argued that you did your best coaching ever with this team.

Your second season brought with it your first serious expectations for success, as Chris Paul joined the Clippers via trade. While most coaches would love to have Chris Paul on your team, I would not blame you if you felt a little nervous when the organization pulled the trigger on this deal. In 2011, your only job was to oversee the development of a bunch of young and talented players. WIth Chris Paul, however? There was pressure! You had to produce results and make all of the pieces fit. To make matters worse, you were in what could have been the last year of your contract. All things considered, you did pretty well for yourself in 2012. The Clippers made the playoffs, and in the playoffs your team upset a Grizzlies squad that many analysts had picked as a dark-horse in the Western Conference. Your greatest moment came in Game 1 against the Grizzlies, when you decided to leave Chris Paul in the game with the bench unit at the beginning of the fourth quarter, leading to a 26-1 run and one of the five greatest comebacks in playoff history. You generally out-coached Lionel Hollins throughout the series, and your trust in physical veterans like Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans allowed the Clippers to match the Grizzlies' style of play. After the Clippers advanced to the second round, your team was swept by Gregg Popovich's heavily-favored Spurs team, but nobody in their right mind truly expected you to out-coach Popovich. You had done your job by getting the Clippers out of the playoff's first round, and for this success you were rewarded with another year to coach this team.

Still, the cracks were beginning to show, and there were many Clipper fans out there who wanted you gone. The team's offense looked simple and one-dimensional at times, as if you called timeouts just to say: "Chris, work your magic... and Blake, maybe you should set a screen in there too." The defense was a trainwreck, as Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan looked either confused by the system or confused as to whether there was any system at all. You also had some puzzling substitution patterns, as you refused to play Eric Bledsoe as much as you did during the athletic point guard's rookie season even though Bledsoe was clearly the team's best perimeter defender and most dynamic guard off the bench. You also tended to rely too heavily on veterans solely because they were veterans, probably because you felt that they posed less of a risk on the floor. That patience that you had displayed with the youngsters in your first season with the Clippers disappeared when Chris Paul and his lofty expectations came to town, and while you were brought back for the 2013 season, you were clearly going to be on the hot seat unless the team continued to improve.

Your final season as the Clippers head coach began as well as anybody could have hoped. December was a perfect month, as your team went 16-0 and ended up winning 17 straight games on its way to becoming a legitimate contender in the Western Conference. The defense improved drastically, as Blake Griffin looked more comfortable individually as well as in the concept of the team's defense, and DeAndre Jordan evolved into a more complete rim-protector. The team's offense looked just as predictable as it had the year before (as it still employed the late-game strategy of "GIVE CHRIS PAUL THE BALL"), but still ranked in the league's top five in offensive rating. The Clippers finished with a record of 56-26 and the franchise's first Pacific Division title, but once again, cracks started showing.

After the club's perfect December, the Clippers began to look far less invincible. With a pedestrian record of 24-19 between January and March, the Clippers went from a potential 2-seed in the West to a team fighting for home-court advantage in the first round. The rotations were once again questionable, as Eric Bledsoe emerged as the team's third or fourth best player while seeing the seventh-most minutes per game on the roster. DeAndre Jordan lost all offensive confidence as the year went on, as his free throw percentage fell to a terrible 24.5% over the season's final two months. Reports also surfaced before the trade deadline that you were openly clamoring within the organization for a trade that would send Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan to Boston for Kevin Garnett, showing that you had no confidence or interest in playing these promising young athletes down the stretch of the season. It became increasingly clear that you were coaching for your job rather than for the organization's future. This is a fact that shouldn't be held against you, as you were in the final year of your contract and winning now was the only way to ensure yourself an extension, but this growing gap between your wishes and the wishes of the Clippers' front office made it clear how small the margin for error was for you in the playoffs.

We all know what happened to your Clippers in the postseason. After winning the first two games against the Grizzlies at home, your team dropped four straight. You did not make any noticeable adjustments until your team's back was completely up against the wall in the series' sixth game, when you finally decided to double-team Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol (who were absolutely dominating the Clippers in the paint), and you made some absolutely perplexing decisions in this final game, like leaving Jamal Crawford on the bench for the entire second half and refusing to stick Eric Bledsoe on Mike Conley for extended periods of time even though Bledsoe has had considerable success against Conley in the past. These decisions are hard to justify, and when asked about them after the game, you really had no answer. One can only assume you thought that these moves gave you the best chance to keep your job, and nobody can blame you for that. Unfortunately, things did not work out like you had hoped.

Maybe, once all is said and done and we get a chance to see what the next Clippers coach can do, we will grow to appreciate you. Maybe the offense will be exactly the same, and we will find out that it was Chris Paul demanding all of those isolations that reflected so poorly on your coaching ability. Maybe DeAndre Jordan won't improve, and people will look back on that potential Kevin Garnett trade and wonder "what if." Maybe you will get hired by the Brooklyn Nets and take them deep into the playoffs next year. We don't know what the future has in store for you, Vinny, but what we do know is that the Clippers job suddenly became one that you were under-qualified for when Chris Paul came to town. Ken Berger of CBS Sports reported earlier today that Paul did not back you to Clippers management after the season ended, and this is as big of a reason as any as to why you will not be brought back next year. The Clippers' most important player lost faith in you, and truth be told, his faith lasted a lot longer than the faith of most Clippers fans. The Clippers need to win now, and the organization did not have anymore time to learn from your mistakes. You will have another coaching opportunity in the future, maybe even next season, and your success and failure in Los Angeles will make you stronger than you were these past few years.

Thanks for the memories, Vinny, and best of luck with your next job.

by Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[sbnation]

Josh Turnbull, son of Chelsea’s reserve goalkeeper, Ross Turnbull, scores the most adorable goal you’ll see today. 

[marinatedsports]

Oh my god British football is awesome... the best part is the "Sign him up" chant at the end that everybody in the crowd seems to know.

[marinatedsports]

Is this the last goal Gareth Bale will score in a Tottenham uniform?

Gareth Bale had a season for the ages in the Premier League this year, but it still was not enough to will Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League qualification. Finishing just one point behind the club's hated rival Arsenal will be tough to swallow for Spurs fans, and making it tougher is the growing likelihood that Bale will have to be sold to a bigger-name club this summer. Bale could net as much as 60 million Euros on a transfer to a club like Real Madrid, and if this game-winning goal against Sunderland in the 89th minute is the Premier League Player of the Year's last for Tottenham, the club's fans cannot be upset by the goal's quality.

All of this being said, Tottenham is confident that Bale will sign a lucrative deal with the club next month that will ensure that the dynamic winger stays in London for the long haul. It will be a monumental moment for Tottenham if this deal comes to fruition.

[marinatedsports]

Roy Hibbert stuffs Carmelo Anthony at the rim

This is one of the greatest blocks of all time considering the magnitude of the moment (New York was up 92-90 with five minutes left in a crucial Game 6), the noticeable boost it gave the Pacers (Indiana went on an 11-2 run after this play, culminating in a 106-99 victory), and the fact that Hibbert was able to keep the ball in-bounds for his teammates to recover. Far too often do we give excessive credit to players who swat balls emphatically out of bounds (ahem, Dwight Howard and Serge Ibaka), even though a block that stays within the boundary of play is infinitely more valuable to a team's defense. If there are Vegas odds on next season's Defensive Player of the Year, I'm putting what's left in my piggybank on Roy Hibbert.

[marinatedsports]

Tim Lincecum Fail

Not "The Freak"'s best pitch ever. Expect to see this on blooper films for a while...

by Jack Kuhlenschmidt

[marinatedsports]

The NBA's most underrated point guard

The NBA's most "rateable" position is point guard. Right now, basketball is blessed with a generation of athletic, exciting, and intelligent players who can run an offense just as well as they can create points for themselves. Chris Paul is the consensus number one at the position, but Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, and Stephen Curry have captured the imaginations of basketball fans in ways that nobody has before. A good example of the NBA's recent point guard obsession is Adidas' latest ad campaign, which features three of the league's youngest and most promising ball-handlers:

With a ridiculous wingspan of 6'9", it should come as no surprise that Hill is a key component to the Indiana Pacers' league-best defense. To put things in perspective, Blake Griffin is 6'9" and has a wingspan of 6'11.25". Hill stands just 6'2" tall.

Drafted with the 26th overall pick in the 2008 Draft, Hill was stuck behind Tony Parker on the Spurs' depth chart until he was traded to the Pacers for the rights to Kawhi Leonard before the 2011 NBA season. Hill spent his first season with the Pacers as the backup point guard behind Darren Collison, and the Pacers' defense took a noticeable leap when he took the starting job for the 2012-13 season. In 2011-12, the Pacers defense was the 9th best in the league at 103.1, and this number improved to the league's top-ranked rating of 99.8 when Hill became the team's starter in 2013.

With Hill on the court this season, the Pacers had a league-best defensive rating of 96 (according the NBA.com's statistical databse). Without Hill on the floor, the team's DRTG jumps up to 97.8, the most meaningful hit to Indiana's D outside of anybody named Paul George and Roy Hibbert. With his backup, former Texas standout DJ Augstin? This defensive rating inflates all the way up to 98.4. Clearly, the league's best defense was dependent on George Hill's length and quickness to stop the elite point guards who dominate the NBA today. Hill can defend both guard positions due to his length, and his defensive chemistry with Paul George and Hibbert was crucial to the Pacers this year.

This season, however, Hill was much more than just a defense-first point guard. How many players in the NBA this year averaged more than 14 PPG, 4 APG, 3 RPG, and less than two turnovers? Just one: George Hill. On 44% shooting (36.8% behind the arc), Hill was much more than just a spot-up shooter, as he posted above-average shooting with solid assist numbers with a low turnover-rate. According to NBA.com, the Pacers had an offensive rating of 104.8. Without Hill on the court, the Pacers had an extremely low ORTG of 95.3, which is the lowest off-rating of any other Pacers player. That's right: if you look at the numbers, George Hill is more critical to the Pacers' offense than David West or Paul George. He may not score at will like Russell Westbrook or Deron Williams, but Hill can efficiently put his teammates in position to score without negatively affecting the team with turnovers.

Adding to his value is that the Pacers signed Hill to an extension that pays him $8 million per year through 2017. At that pricetag, Indiana knows it has an absolute bargain in George Hill. The organization is so confident in Hill ability to run the team that he is currently the only player on contract for the 2016-17 season. Obviously, George Hill is part of the Pacers' long-term plans.

The on/off statistics for George Hill with the Pacers are almost absurd, as NBA.com ranks him as the Pacers' most important player in both +/- and net rating. What happens in a game when Hill doesn't play? We saw the perfect example of what happens when the Pacers play without Hill when the Knicks defeated them 85-75 this past Thursday. Hill missed Thursday's game with a concussion, and Indiana was lost in his absence. The Pacers' offense looked lost with DJ Augstin running the point, and Raymond Felton had arguably his best game of the series. There is a good chance that Hill will not be able to play on Saturday against the Knicks, and if he cannot go, New York will have a great shot push this series to a seventh game. If the Knicks can do just that, it will officially be time to stop overlooking George Hill in the conversation of the league's best point guards. He won't "wow" you like John Wall, but Hill does everything an NBA team could ask for.