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The New Orleans Pelicans have reached a verbal agreement with former Indiana Pacers small forward Solomon Hill, according to Marc Stein and confirmed by Scott Kushner. Hill, a three year NBA veteran, averaged 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds for the Pacers last season while posting a 12.2 PER. Contract details are still being released. The contract cannot be signed until after the NBA morotorium on July 7th.
There is reason to believe Solomon Hill has the potential for more, going beyond his breakout performance against the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs during April. Hill is young and just turned 25, fitting in with the Pelicans age range. His PER has increased steadily in all three seasons in the league. While his career three point mark is less than desirable, a career 83% mark at the free throw line demonstrates potential and consistency in his stroke.
ESPN sources say that New Orleans has a verbal agreement to sign Salomon Hill
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 1, 2016
Sources: Soloman Hill agrees to deal with #Pelicans for 4 years, 48 million.
— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) July 1, 2016
That deal is guaranteed for #Pelicans, with incentives. Sources say he was a very high target and was one Demps wanted from the beginning.
— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) July 1, 2016
Free agent forward Solomon Hill has agreed to a four-year, $52M deal with New Orleans, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) July 1, 2016
Earlier reported deal for Solomon Hill in New Orleans: $48 million over four years, sources say, with incentives to hit to pass $50 million.
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 1, 2016
Note: The higher number from Wojnarowski likely includes incentives that are considered improbable. Hence the disparity between Woj's numbers and Kushner's.
In this new salary cap world, Solomon Hill was first on Zach Lowe's most recent column of potential free agent bargains, "The next DeMarre Carroll" as it were.
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:
Solomon Hill is not the sexiest pick, but he doesn't break the bank either. We will update this story as it develops.
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