Paul Coro

The Arizona Republic

It has been nine years since Bob Hill coached from a NBA bench.

The game has evolved. Hill's familiar white hair now covers his jawline. But Earl Watson still is to his right, just much closer now as fellow Suns coaches than when Watson was Hill’s Seattle SuperSonics point guard.

Watson told Hill during their two shared seasons in Seattle that he hoped to coach together eventually. When his chance as Suns interim head coach came a week ago, Watson quickly brought aboard Hill as his assistant coach to have an innovator who would challenge his thinking. Hill, 67, is a four-time NBA head coach with three of those stints starting on an interim basis.

“He says a lot of the right things very naturally to these guys,” Hill said. “I’ve always believed that we’re all separated by the instincts to do what we’re doing. So far, his instincts to be a coach are excellent. He really knows how to communicate with them and manage them. I think the players respect that. He’s got a chance to be a really good coach.”

After being away from the NBA for nine years, any return would be special but the chance to be alongside Watson in Phoenix has more meaning. The Suns were Hill's favorite team in the franchise’s early years, when he visited an aunt in Phoenix, attended Suns games and wore Suns shirts at home in Ohio.

Hill considers Phoenix to be a NBA cornerstone for their perennial playoff success and passionate fans. In 1996, his Spurs team won a best-of-five, first-round series against the Suns with a 116-98 Game 4 rout in Phoenix.

“Nobody left,” Hill said. “When the buzzer went off, they gave their team a standing ovation. I’ll never forget that. That was really special.”

Hill’s successful run in San Antonio is often too readily forgotten for the era that followed his tenure. Hill guided the Spurs to 121 wins over the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, which included a Western Conference finals trip, David Robinson winning Most Valuable Player and Sean Elliott becoming an All-Star.

With Robinson out to start the 1997-98 season, the Spurs struggled to a 3-14 start. On the day that Robinson returned, then-general manager Gregg Popovich fired Hill and took over as head coach. San Antonio won three of the next five games before Robinson suffered a season-ending foot fracture, leading the Spurs to a 20-62 season that put them in draft position to add Tim Duncan.

Five NBA championships later, Popovich remains coach.

“We did really well but that’s part of life,” said Hill, who has kept home base in Boerne, Texas, which is an hour northwest of San Antonio. “I guess I didn’t do good enough. I don’t know. He wanted to be the coach. And as soon as he had an opportunity to get rid of me, he did it. It’s too bad. The league’s like that sometimes. You’re going to run into people like that sometimes and that’s part of life. It was a great experience. I’m happy I had that. It hasn’t affected my coaching. I continued to coach and always will.”

Hill was Fordham’s head coach for four years after that and had his last NBA stint in Seattle, adding it to a NBA head coaching resume that began with New York (1986-87) and Indiana (1990-93).

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Hill’s coaching circles have changed since he was fired in Seattle once Sam Presti became GM in a job he still holds for Oklahoma City, Monday’s visitor to Phoenix. Hill invested in the United States Basketball Academy in Eugene, Ore, where Chinese pro teams would come to train for one to two months. Through that, he formed a bond with Chinese Basketball Association coach Li Chun Jiang to help his teams win seven CBA titles.

Hill also was the first former NBA coach in Japan’s pro league and coached in Taiwan but he works annually with Li, spending training camps and portions of CBA seasons with him. Hill also assisted Mike Fratello with the Ukrainian national team.

Hill runs perimeter big man camps each summer, making him develop a quick affinity for Suns centers Tyson Chandler and Alex Len. He said Len’s size, length, mobility and shooting is promising.

Like most everyone, 19-year-old Suns rookie Devin Booker has won him over.

“He’s going to be pretty darn special in time,” Hill said. “He can be extra special in terms of his ability to shoot but he also has to develop an in-between game because teams are going to run him off that line.

“I know I can make a difference with some of them as I get to know them.”

Reach Paul Coro at paul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him at twitter.com/paulcoro.

Suns' T.J. Warren adjusts to season-ending foot injury

Monday’s game

Thunder at Suns

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena.

TV/radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7).

Thunder update: Oklahoma City (38-14) had won 12 of 13 games before losing 116-108 Saturday night at Golden State. The Thunder has 24 of its 38 wins at home, going 14-9 on the road. Oklahoma City has the NBA’s No. 2 scoring offense (109.7 points per game) and third-best shooting percentage (47.5). Kevin Durant averages 27.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Russell Westbrook averages 24.0 points, 10.0 assists and 7.6 rebounds.