When Paul George broke his right leg while with Team USA last August, Solomon Hill immediately became a much more important piece for the Indiana Pacers. After logging just 226 minutes as a rookie, fifteenth on a title contender, Hill would be asked to help soften the blow in the wake of George’s injury and Lance Stephenson’s departure.

By mid-November, Hill had logged more minutes than he did all of last season. When a very trying 2014-15 season ended for the Pacers last week, Hill was the team’s leader in minutes played. Roy Hibbert finished second on the team by more than 400 minutes. 

“As a guy that just loves to play the game, I’m trying to step up and make the most of it,” Hill told me back in November as the season was still unfolding.

Hill was the only member of the Pacers to play in all 82 games, proving to be Frank Vogel’s most reliable option just a few months after playing just one minute during a lengthy playoff run. 

Asked to do much more -- his usage rate jumped from 11.3% to 15.9% -- there were growing pains. Indiana needed perimeter help in all facets with Stephenson in Charlotte, George sidelined for all but 76 games and George Hill also hobbled for a good portion of the season. Hill played 72% of the time at small forward, according to an estimate by Basketball Reference, and with the Pacers looking to play faster and smaller in 15-16 he will continue to play some three with George trying his hand at the four. 

Hill’s shot attempts spiked dangerously with added responsibility. They increased 1,585% and his overall efficiency suffered. His True Shooting % dropped from .545 to .507 even though he got to the foul line at a higher rate and improved his accuracy from deep.

In a very limited role last season, more than half (57.5%) of Hill’s shot attempts came from three and he averaged just .175 free throws per field goal attempt. Relying more on a mid-range game as a prominent player, only a third of the 23-year-old’s attempts were from behind the three-point line in 14-15. Playing closer to the basket also meant more trips to the line. His FTr jumped to .304, nearly double his rookie rate.

Hill was hurt offensively by struggles around the rim. His most common shot attempt came from within three feet of the basket and he finished exactly half of those. Improving his work at the rim -- he shot 55.6% from within three feet as a rookie -- would go a long way towards improving his production and efficiency. He would have scored 12.5 more points this year had he matched success rate as a rookie. The league average for this season was 62.8%, although that’s skewed slightly by big men.

“It’ll definitely be a lot of offense. I’ll focus on ball handling and being more consistent with the three-point shot,” Hill told me earlier this month in Boston when discussing his plans for the summer. 

“I’ve got to be more confident on the offensive end. I pass up my shot on the offensive end a little too much, but I try to play in the means of the game.”

It will be interesting to see how Vogel transforms the offense with an eye towards increasing possessions with the Hills, a healthy George and C.J. Miles on the perimeter. Where and when Hill’s scoring opportunities come will be different than they were in either of his first two seasons. Hill averaged 7.7 attempts per game in a large role, but after putting up 10 shots in George’s first game on April 5 he got just 4.4 looks over the final five contests of the season (including a double-overtime war of attrition against the Washington Wizards in the penultimate game). 

Hill created his own shot on 65% of his two-point attempts, but was assisted on more than 97% of his three-pointers as Vogel tried to keep him on the perimeter when the ball wasn’t in his hands as a way to spread the floor. With Indiana’s reliance on Hill fluctuating over the course of the season, his offense could be described as disjointed.

Before Stephenson left and George went down, Hill’s biggest role with the Pacers was on defense. Vogel asked him to take on a number of different defensive assignments this past season and he did an admirable job even if he appeared tired down the stretch.

Hill was fourth on the team in Defensive Win Shares (2.6), behind Roy Hibbert, David West and Luis Scola, but opponents scored 105 points per possessions when he was on the floor. That was higher than Indiana’s team mark of 103.2.

His defensive metrics would have looked a lot better this season had George been alongside him. His work on that end figures to improve in 15-16 with a full season of NBA experience under his belt and assuming his offensive role is more defined.

“If we don’t make the playoffs, there’s no reason to even rate it,” Hill said when I asked him to grade his overall performance in the season’s final weeks. “I think all of our individual performances are based on team success. If we aren’t in the playoffs, that means we all didn’t do enough individually.”