Apparently no one was fond of coach Mike D’Antoni and they’re all happy he’s gone. It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant didn’t respect him, Pau Gasol didn’t like riding the bench under him and now Jordan Hill is speaking out.
via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
“If Mike was here, I wouldn’t be back,” Hill said. “That’s the way it was. No disrespect to Mike, but apparently I didn’t fit his system. Why would I come back?”
“Last year, I was thinking too much about playing,” Hill said. “If I messed up, I wondered if I would see the floor again. Right now, Byron is relying on me and I’m one of his guys. That really builds more confidence in me to come out this year and play my game.”
Hill said he has stopped drinking alcohol, admitting it hurt his efforts on becoming the Lakers’ renewable energy source. Hill said the lifestyle change helped him drop from 253 pounds to 240.
I wasn’t fond of D’Antoni as a coach either but it’s odd Hill would speak out against him since Mike used him more than any other coach has. Hill tied a career high with 72 games played and set career highs with 32 starts and 20.8 minutes per game. Also I doubt Hill would’ve seriously turned down the Lakers offer of two-years, $18 million. Other teams were interested in him but none of them would’ve given him that much money. If he did turn it down, he must’ve really disliked D’Antoni.
As for the giving up alcohol aspect, bravo for that.
