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While spending a lot of time scouting Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger during the 2007-08 season, the improvements being made by Jordan Hill during his sophomore season were clearly palpable. I had him pegged as being drafted in the late teens, early twenties, but he decided to remain at Arizona for his junior season and he now will become a classic success story of how staying in school one extra year works to some players advantage.

Let's say he went to the Nets with the 21st overall pick in 2008, an optimistic projection, Hill would then have earned about $6.2M over his four-year rookie contract. We don’t yet know the exact figure of the 2009 rookie scale, but Kevin Love was drafted fifth last year and his four-year deal is worth about $14.8M. That’s an $8.6M decision in Hill’s favor.

But onto the report; Hill made another giant step forward in his play and will take advantage of that improvement, along with a dearth in other quality bigs by being one of the top five or six players selected in the 2009 NBA Draft. Hill has been on scouts’ radars for many years now because of his athletic gifts, but he has really brought together his skills this season where he’s a much purer basketball player now.

Hill is one of the best rebounders in college basketball, particularly on the offensive end. He gets into space ahead of shots to anticipate put back slams. On the defensive end, he boxes out well by feeling for his man without taking his eyes off the ball. He excels at intercepting passes due to his leaping ability and exceptional hands.

Easily the best part of his offensive game is how quickly and strongly he attacks the rim. He gathers himself and elevates in one rapid motion whether on a pass or rebound.

His confidence and array of moves with the ball improved leaps and bounds since arriving in Tucson and even over the course of this year. Hill has a very nice up and under move but can also dribble into the defender before hitting a turnaround fadeaway shot. Additionally, he has a strong dribble jump-hook move and even a little ‘Hakeem’ dribble move to the middle of the paint where he shows ball to left before turning around to shoot a 7-foot jumper. His jump hook is extremely difficult to guard.

Hill’s offensive skill set beyond being a finisher needs consistency, but he has shown enough glimpses of excellence to suggest he will eventually evolve into a serviceable player in this facet of his game on the NBA level. One area of glaring weakness that will be a bigger problem on the next level is how susceptible he is to the secondary help defender.

His shooting form reveals that although he isn’t a lifelong basketball player, his movements are fluid and improving. He can already hit a 12-footer when his man sags providing evidence that he will improve his jumper, if for no other reason because it is obvious he thoroughly enjoys shooting it. Hill also already uses the glass from a variety of angles. Sometimes he shows the ball a little too early, which allows inferior defenders to block his shot.

The offense is decidedly better when he touches the ball and while less than graceful, he is actually an above average passer.

Without the ball, he positions himself well in halfcourt sets. Hill posts up aggressively and is aware of spacing. He gets his body extremely wide on screens to free up shooters. He is much better at the pick-and-roll than the pick-and-pop. He is able to go down the lane, catch and finish in one fluid motion.

Defensively, he is very quick and physical and is a highly talented shotblocker both on ball and off. He doesn’t allow many easy shots and takes charges in the halfcourt while keeping his hands up to block/affect the shot.

Hill does have a bit of a balance problem with his defensive stance, which is part of the reason why he is foul prone. His head gets too far out ahead of his feet instead of emphasizing bending his knees and keeping his upper body more upright. Another reason why he is foul prone is actually because he’s simply so active and has a great motor. He uses his long arms to deflect and affect the passing lanes.

Hill is obviously not even close to Griffin at the power forward position and probably doesn't have as much upside as other players in this draft, but he is a safe selection and will be a reliable, above average big for many years to come.

Click here to read RealGM's draft reports on other members of the '09 class.