From Duke to Phoenix, Grant Hill fought on
To picture Grant Hill now is to imagine a real-life phoenix. While that comparison might be overused metaphorically, this one is quite literal. It is hard to imagine anyone who has fallen further, with higher stakes, and lived to happily tell the tale.
Maybe your current mental re-creation of No. 33 is one of him on NBATV’s Inside Stuff alongside Kristen Ledlow. He might even be cooking chicken skewers with Kevin Durant. Mind you, that program is very fun and often intellectually stimulating, as he has earned an obvious respect from even the league’s youngest players. Whether he’s playing tennis with Gordon Hayward or interviewing Doug McDermott in the draft’s press tour, Hill seems to have found a niche in the growing NBA community where the sillier side of his laid-back personality can flourish and have value.
To truly remember Grant Hill, though, is to realize the full scope of an athlete’s life. Sure, there is the opportunity to reach the highest of heights and become a champion. Perhaps, if personal pride is in your bones, the individual accolades are instead your pinnacle of achievement. However, to compete athletically at the highest level means physical exertion past the normal level of human capability. No one knows that better than Mr. Hill.
His lost peak of 2000-04 stands as one of the more troubling what-ifs in NBA history, even ignoring the potential of the Orlando Magic wing that would have paired him with Tracy McGrady. But to truly declare yourself a proud G-Money fan, you had to be there for the (not so) bitter end. In 2007, on the first day of free agency, Hill’s agent Lon Babby (funny how that all worked out, right?) declared Hill’s intent to sign a two year contract with the Phoenix Suns for the bi-annual exception.
Hill played in 152 games over the next season, and that in itself ought to be considered a resurrection of epic proportions. Over those two seasons and the two following them, he was good for a solid twelve points, five rebounds and two assists every night. What endeared him to fans, though, was his ability, even into his late thirties, to take on whatever defensive assignment he was given for about thirty minutes per contest. This is when one Kobe Bryant was still the featured performer in the nightmares of fans and players alike in Phoenix.
Along with guys like Michael Redd, Steve Nash and Vince Carter, Hill is also responsible for the well-earned reputation of the Suns’ training staff as one of the best in basketball. It might be hard to remember, but it was pretty fun to be a Suns fan once upon a time. Hill was an enormous part of that. The 2010 Western Conference Finals appearance was the cherry on top of a delicious cake.
On his last legs, Hill started all six games. Again, though, Bryant pushed just past the Suns’ highest reaches on his last pillaging expedition through the NBA playoffs. At age 38, Hill faded away from the league’s forefront after that final Nash-led playoff run, spending two years with the Los Angeles Clippers before retiring in 2013.
A couple of months back, my official Grant Hill drawstring bag, a free souvenir at one of my first live NBA experiences, ripped right in half. And boy, oh boy, I assure you it was a bigger deal than it ought to have been. I’m too young to remember the glory days of Hill and Laettner, but as a fan in a smaller basketball market like Phoenix, getting to appreciate the twilight of a basketball legend’s career was ultimately a beautiful gift. Seeing Jahlil Okafor give Dukies another title last April and Brandon Ingram garnering draft buzz now gives me the smallest of attachments to Durham. But if that small attachment is in the form of a basketball lifer, a true gentleman, and a hell of a courageous fighter, that’s more than okay by me.