New Philadelphia 76ers guard George Hill has yet to make his debut with the team as he continues to recover from a procedure he had on his thumb, but he expects to make an impact on his new team sooner rather than later.
He already has a connection on the team in the form of Danny Green. Hill and Green were teammates with the San Antonio Spurs for one season in 2010-11 before Hill was shipped to the Indiana Pacers in the Kawhi Leonard deal.
Green and Hill worked out over the offseason and there was a little recruiting going on as Green was trying to get Hill to Philadelphia. Now, it has happened and Hill is excited about it.
“Talking to Danny this summer in San Antonio, one of my stomping grounds here was, if I can go to a couple places, this is one of my choices,” said Hill on Thursday. “The reason why is I felt like we have a good enough team here to compete for a championship.”
He is right about that as they are led by a star duo in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who have continued to get better under the guidance of coach Doc Rivers. There has been a bit of a culture change in Philadelphia thanks to his arrival and Hill will look to add to it.
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“First of all, I think we have a great coach and the coaching staff to get us there,” Hill stated. “Me playing here in Philly as an opponent, you really kind of soak in the tradition here, the way the fans are, the atmosphere they bring, they’re diehard fans. If you’re playing good, you’re playing bad, they’re gonna let you know, but you want a city like that. You want fans that care about their sport, care about their team, and want to see their team win games so it was a great place.”
On top of that, Hill is a career 38.4% shooter from deep and that is something Philadelphia needs. Outside of Green and Seth Curry, the Sixers have needed another guy who can step up and knock down open looks from outside.
“I think they have a lot of guys that I can relate to,” Hill finished. “I think was one thing that they were probably missing was outside shooting and things like that outside of Danny, and a couple other guys and just trying to fill that void to fill that missing piece for a championship.”
The Sixers will continue their road trip on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans down in the bayou.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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