George Hill might not be as good as we think is and what I mean by that is Jazz fans have been watching such garbage point guard play for the past 6-7 years, that when he arrived on the court to run the show, he was practically radiating competence. I already have stories queued up to tell my grandchildren about the first time I saw George Hill in a Jazz uniform. Some of them start with "When George Hill stepped out onto the floor for the very first time, verily I say unto you rainbows protruded from his nether regions and his vintage shown like unto the glory of the sun..." Relative to previous humans to man the controls, he was like freakin John Stockton incarnate. It was unusual! Or perhaps about damn time ( *Pounds his fist on the desk*) that the Jazz had something at the position that made you feel some semblance of confidence.
With all that said, George Hill is really good at playing basketball and the Jazz need him or someone on his level. A little bit of incompetence on the floor from any one position can be endured, provided you have really good to elite talent elsewhere (see the Jazz of '97 and '98 as Exhibit A and B) but unless you have Lebron James or Michael Jordan, incompetence at the point guard is not so easily endurable.
If the Jazz lose Hill in the offseason, they're still pretty talented but without adequate pg play they are a ship without a rudder in western seas storming with elite star power and up and coming teams. Dante could improve and grow into that role, but you're investing a lot in hope if you see Dante as the answer, especially if you are looking at next season in a vacuum, which is exactly the thing Hayward might do when he's wined and dined this summer by teams whose future, may at that time, seem brighter than that of Utah's. I'm a Jazz lifer; I'll be here for the duration of my lifespan and as much as I want to sprinkle some bias on the current situation, I can't really do so with impunity, not with jiminey Cricket beating on my ear drums. So I'll just say it as clearly as I can. If our point guard play is bottom 5 next season, Even if Hayward stays, It's a step backward and that sucks. If this season has taught us anything, its that the Jazz are really good when Hayward Gobert and Hill are on the floor together. Sans Hill, they are sort of good sometimes and sort of bad sometimes but mostly just pedestrian. Perhaps the biggest issue is our offense stalls out for minutes at a time; hell it stalls out at times even with George, but not nearly as much. The cerebral aspects of his game along with his basketball gravitas is more often whats needed to grease the wheels and get the offense purring again.
If I were Hayward, and I saw Hill was on his way out the door this offseason, I'd definitely consider looking elsewhere to cement my legacy. Before this season, Hayward had played his whole career with either incompetent point guard play (I guess Devin Harris was sort of competent)or with a point guard who was an a**hole. At some point its gotta get tiring, shouldering all the weight. At least he knows he's got Rudy and Quin but in the end I think Hayward has to believe they have a chance to be one of the best in the conference for him to stay.
And by the way, even if Hill stays, Jazz will be paying 20-30 million a year for a guy that's not top 10 at his position, thereby shrinking your ability to keep current Jazz up and comers or attain interested high level Free agents in the future. I guess even if the Jazz lose Hill in FA, they could look elsewhere, but I'm not so confident in whats out there... Really think Hayward wants to play with DWill again? Jrue Holiday? You and I both know the Pelicans front office is dumb enough to overpay him and likely will.
All I've gotta say, its gonna be an interesting offseason.
