Solomon Hill will be wearing a different uniform next year. Having completed his rookie season, the 23-year-old has put in a request with the NBA to change his number from 9 to 44.
“This is the number I wore since high school so I figured I’d just go back to it,” he said Wednesday after camp practice, as he leaned up against the baseline wall at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse practice court.
“When I first just came in, I think Solomon Jones was drafted here and wore 44. A lot of people call me Solomon Jones, so I just didn’t want to get mixed up with him. I just went a different route and figured it was time to go back to 44.”
I’ll admit, even I slipped up and introduced him as “Solomon Jones” during a live video chat last year minutes after his introductory news conference. It was pretty funny and he played it cool. Now, he’d just like to go back to what’s comfortable.
Hill isn’t sure whether his request has been approved yet, but there’s no reason to think it’ll get held up.
Another odd thing I noticed is on his Twitter feed — his posts are gone. Though Hill didn’t directly address why he deleted his post, he did say his focus is where it needs to be, on basketball.
“Just staying off social networks,” he said. “Just staying off of it as much as possible. Right now it’s crunch time. It’s a big time for me, getting out here to play two-a-days. I think all my time needs to go to just relaxing, sleeping as much as possible and getting in the gym.”
Hill’s going for a clean slate as he heads into season two, one where he’s hoping to make a meaningful impact on the floor. Pacers President Larry Bird is optimistic.
“He’s improved a ton,” Bird said. “He’s a hard worker. He’s out there every day beating it. He’s going to be valuable next year.”
The head coach agrees.
“I think he’s got the ability to be an elite defender, an elite defender – not just an average defender – I think he can be exceptional,” Frank Vogel said one month ago at his end of the year presser. “His shot really looked like it was coming. In the second part of the season, you watch his shooting workouts after every practice and then within the practices, I think he’s got a great ability to impact this team next year and we’re really looking forward to seeing what he does in the summer league and how he grows coming into training camp next year.”