Dametri Hill

Dametri Antonio Hill (born January 8, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6-foot-7, 290-pound center/power forward, he played high school basketball at Dixie Hollins High School in his native St. Petersburg, Florida and played four years of college basketball for the Florida Gators. During his college career he reached the Final Four as a sophomore during the 1994 NCAA tournament and was an All-SEC selection as a senior in 1996. After going undrafted in the 1996 NBA draft he started his professional career in Israel, and in his first season he led the league in scoring with 22.8 points per game. He went on to play in France, China, Latvia, Cyprus, Portugal and Slovakia (where he won a league title in 2009).

High school career Hill was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he attended Dixie M. Hollins High School. He was a member of the high school varsity team since his freshman year and started to get state recognition during his junior year, when he led Pinellas County in scoring, averaging almost 28 points per game, and also averaged 15 rebounds. He was selected in the Class AAAA All-State teams BOYS First team as a junior, and was also a Street & Smith All-American selection. making the All-Southern state team. He finished his career at Dixie Hollins with a total of 2,392 career points, a Pinellas County record. The following year Hill was included in the starting five, and started all of the 37 games he played that season. He averaged 26.2 minutes per game and he ranked third on the team in scoring (12.7 points per game) and second in rebounding (4.9 per games, behind Andrew DeClercq and tied with Craig Brown). Hill participated at the 1994 NCAA tournament, reaching the Final Four where his team lost to Duke: during that game, Hil scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. That season he was also noted for having lost a significant amount of weight: The New York Times reported that he went from 351 to 286 pounds.

Hill kept his starting role for his junior season, led the team in field goal percentage (.525) and ranked second on the team in scoring (13.7 points per game behind Dan Cross) and rebounding (5.9 behind DeClercq). The team qualified for the 1995 NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, and Hill played Florida's only game against the Iowa State Cyclones, recording 11 points and 3 rebounds in 31 minutes. For Hill's senior season he was named team captain and he played 33 minutes per game (a career-high), leading the team in scoring (17.6) and rebounding (7.8) average. and on March 2, 1996, he scored a career-high 30 points against Tennessee, including a 18-footer game winner. At the end of the season he was named in the All-SEC Second Team by the Associated Press and by the coaches, and won the MVP award during the NABC All-Star Game. His signature hook shot earned him the nickname "Da Meat Hook" during his Florida years.

College statistics

Professional career After his senior year of college, Hill was automatically eligible for the 1996 NBA draft: he went undrafted, but was selected in 6th round (65th overall) of the Continental Basketball Association draft by the Florida Beach Dogs. In the following season he ranked 4th in the league in scoring (19.3 points) and 3rd in rebounding (8.2). In 2009 he won the league title with Nitra, contributing with 17 points during the final game against Pezinok, and was selected for the All-Star game, during which he scored 15 points for the West team. After playing the 2009–10 season with Nitra, Hill moved to Astrum Levice, where he averaged 10.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game in his last season of professional basketball.