Lakers' Hill on D'Antoni: 'If Mike was here, I wouldn’t be back'

Jordan Hill earned a two-year, $18 million contract from the Los Angeles Lakers this summer after a solid 2013-14 season, but he doesn't believe that would've been possible if Mike D'Antoni was still coaching the team.

“If Mike was here, I wouldn’t be back,” Hill told the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina. “That’s the way it was. No disrespect to Mike, but apparently I didn’t fit his system. Why would I come back?”

Hill posted career-highs across the board under D'Antoni last season, including minutes played, but the power forward will seemingly fill a larger role under new coach Byron Scott.

“He is one guy who can play this game without having to have someone run plays for him and can still average a double-double,” Scott told Medina. “That’s pretty rare in this league. I think he’s going to have career numbers again this year.”

Hill may have a fan in Scott, but he'll still have to earn his minutes in a frontcourt that includes Carlos Boozer, Ed Davis, Julius Randle and Ryan Kelly, as well as Robert Sacre at the end of the team's rotation of bigs.

If Hill is able to log more than the 20 minutes per game he played last season, he may be able to attribute it to a new lifestyle that has seen him give up alcohol. According to Medina, Hill has subsequently cut his weight from 253 pounds to 240.

“It was that time to step out of my old ways and to grow up,” Hill said. “Now I feel really, really good. I can run and down more often. My wind is back. My body feels good. I feel like I could go for days.”

Hill's contract carries a team option for the second season, so it could end up being just a one-year, $9-million deal if Hill doesn't fit into Scott's system as well as he expects to.