You figure Pistons general manager Joe Dumars has this one tucked away in his back pocket: Grant Hill’s return to where he started, this time as a valuable reserve for a championship team in 2007-08.
“I’ve thought about that,” admitted Hill, who expected to be in Chicago, albeit not playing, Tuesday when the Orlando Magic meets the Bulls. “I’m human. I want to win. When you play, you want to be a part of a winning team. But my hope is to try to turn that around and have that here (with Orlando). Ideally, that would be the highlight of my career.”
Oh, but wouldn’t that be one heck of a story: Hill’s returning to Detroit, where he started and was on the way to being one of the game’s greatest players, to help the Pistons retool for another championship run and the continuation of a modern sports dynasty.
“San Antonio, Detroit, Miami maybe,” Hill mused in a conversation last week, “teams that realistically have a chance to win it all. Everyone is not that fortunate. Maybe the opportunity will be there in two years, maybe not. But I don’t look down the road after all this. Every day is a challenge and an obstacle and hurdle to get through. Tomorrow is not promised. If I don’t get back to a championship, I’m not going to feel my life is incomplete. It’s fun, but I don’t need that for validation.”
Hill, 33, is not playing again after surgery. How many times have we read that? Well, six, actually. That was the last one, said Hill, who is now out after complications from sports hernia surgery in October. Hill played in 21 games this season, averaging 15.1 points after his wonderful comeback to All-Star level last season when he averaged 19.7 points.
There may never have been a luckier unlucky man in sports. Hill is smart and talented, a favorite of media and fans, one of the best people the NBA has ever known. And good. By his final season in Detroit in 2000, he was averaging 25.8 points per game. He already had played for two NCAA champions, an Olympic gold medal winner and was all-NBA five straight times.
But then came five ankle surgeries, an almost fatal staph infection and nearly two full seasons missed and most of two others. Hill calls it six years of health and six years of cracked mirrors. His wife, popular singer Tamia, contracted multiple sclerosis. Hill returned, then came the abdominal problems. It seems Orlando has moved on with a youth movement after dealing Tracy McGrady and then Steve Francis. There have been inside suggestions of perhaps a buyout of Hill’s final contract season in 2006-07.
And yet it’s difficult to find anyone more upbeat about life and the NBA than Hill.
“With all that has happened to us, it makes you understand what is important,” he said. “Maybe I missed out on some really good years and things haven’t always worked out the way I would have liked. But it’s not life and death. You learn more in tough times, like a team learns more when it goes through difficult times.
“For me, my legacy is my daughter and when I’m old with all the other has-beens and whether I have the rings or not, the accomplishments are in the family relationships. I didn’t get into this to put together a resume or a legacy or think about the Hall of Fame. I’ve done this because I love playing and still love playing. If my health permits, I’m going to keep playing.”
Hill calls this episode of his medical drama the most difficult. He said he was feeling better in the fall than at any time in his stay in Orlando. He has insisted on staying with the team when not visiting doctors and is looking forward to an off-season rehabilitation.
“Maybe this was meant to happen,” Hill said somewhat philosophically. “It’s like I’m constantly fighting back, but I haven’t really stopped to ask why. I feel when I’m healthy I still have the talent to go out and compete. It’s a matter of just trying to get it right. Whether it’s with a 25- or 30-win team or at a championship level, I want to go out and respect the game and play the way you’re supposed to play. For the minimum, whatever. I’m sure my agent wouldn’t want to hear that. I understand when it’s over, there’s no coming back. When that day comes, I want to look back and say I gave everything and if it’s not meant to be, at least I tried.
“Sometimes I get out an old tape and put it on and it’s like, `Man, I’m looking at the movement, the numbers.’ It makes me feel good, but on the other hand it is kind of depressing. I was a pretty good player and I still think if I’m healthy I can play. There’s got to be a reward for all this. Maybe it was last year. But hopefully it’s still out there for me.”
Ben there, seen that
Ben Gordon took going back to the bench last week with class, but it’s likely to be an issue hanging over the Bulls as he becomes eligible for an extension after next season.
Gordon sees himself as a starter and is unlikely to settle for a reserve role. Players become especially concerned with minutes as their extension time nears. That’s why Gordon’s name often comes up in trade rumors.
So here’s two interesting situations: The Sonics and Chris Wilcox and the Bobcats’ need for scoring. The Sonics are thrilled with Wilcox.
Even when Nick Collision returns from injury, Wilcox probably will continue to start. The Bulls long have eyed Collision as the kind of rugged power forward they like, one who is smart and can step out and make a shot. A deal for Gordon?
Meanwhile, Bobcats general manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff is saying that with an abundance of big men, the team will look for a scorer with their No. 1 pick, which should be in the top five. Would they be interested in Gordon, a former No. 3 overall pick, giving the Bulls still another No. 1 to parlay into a big deal?
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Story of the week
In Amare Stoudemire’s return to the Suns five months after microfracture knee surgery, it was clear that he doesn’t have his lift and explosion.
But even though he had a big debut with 20 points in 19 minutes against the Trail Blazers on Thursday, the Suns seem to have learned from the mistakes of the Heat and Kings. Those teams pushed Alonzo Mourning in 2001 and Chris Webber in 2004 back into the lineup and both faltered down the stretch or in the playoffs.
The Suns are limiting Stoudemire and, to the surprise of many, Stoudemire isn’t trying to extend too often with dunks and highlight plays. So this may work.
“He doesn’t have to be the No. 1 guy, the No. 2 guy or the No. 3 guy,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He just has to be one of the top eight guys.”
If Stoudemire accepts that, the Suns could make a run against the Spurs and Mavs.
Bird’s the word
Leave it to the succinct Larry Bird to shut down the blathering of Celtics announcer Tommy Heinsohn, who should know better.
“Paul Pierce could end up being the best offensive player this team ever had,” Heinsohn said. “[John] Havlicek [is] up there, and Sam Jones was a great offensive player, but he didn’t have the repertoire Paul has. [Bill] Sharman was a great shooter, but one-dimensional. Even Bird, one-on-one, was not as good as this kid.”
The laconic Bird told the Boston Herald: “Are you basing it on the regular season or the playoffs? It’s hard to compare guys that have never been to the Finals.”
Strange but true stories
Seattle’s Luke Ridnour made the USA Basketball team for the Olympics but lost his fourth-quarter point guard job to Earl Watson. Ridnour questioned whether he’d re-sign with the team. . . . Many in Chicago question Tyson Chandler’s $63 million contract. The inspiration was the $64 million deal Samuel Dalembert got in Philadelphia. Dalembert now sits behind Steven Hunter, whose trade to the Hornets was voided when Hunter failed the physical. Dalembert said communication was better even under Jim O’Brien than Mo Cheeks. . . . The Lakers found a pulse for Kwame Brown, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds for the injured Chris Mihm in the last three games. . . . It just gets worse in Portland, where last week Darius Miles was talking about the team being tired. Before they played the Suns the next day, he missed a shootaround and said he overslept.
Double dribbles
Not sure what this means, but the Lakers hadn’t held an opponent under 90 points until a fast-food promotion began last month. The Staples Center fans got free tacos if the Lakers held an opponent under 90. They then did it in six of the next 12 games. . . . The Pacers retire Reggie Miller’s jersey number this week and last week the Jazz did so for Karl Malone’s. When Malone was a reluctant draft choice of the Jazz in 1985, he first identified Utah as a city. “I realize now, 20 years later, that it’s a state,” Malone joked at the ceremony. . . . This is why players won’t practice in the summer. Willie Green signed a prorated contract worth about $118,000 for the 76ers last week. He had agreed to a five-year, $17 million deal last summer, but suffered a serious knee injury playing a pickup game before signing the contract. . . . The Pistons’ five starters are working on an NBA record of 69 straight starts together. . . . Marcus Fizer, who was not re-signed when his 10-day contract with Seattle expired, returned to Austin and in his first game scored a then-NBDL-season-high 44 points and had 40 in a Saturday loss.
Scheduling note
The game of the season the NBA dreads? That could be April 18, the penultimate day of the regular season, when the Clippers are at Memphis. A win could mean getting the fifth playoff seed and an opening-round series against the Spurs or Mavericks; a loss could mean the sixth seed and matchup vs. Denver. If that scenario exists, it’s likely both teams will get a warning before the game about playing it seriously and to win.
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