When someone mentions the name Grant Hill to me, two things come to mind. The first is the football-style inbound pass to Christian Laettner against Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA Regional Finals. That play is arguably the most famous (or infamous if you’re Wildcats fan) in NCAA history and watching the replay will never get old. While Laettner gets the credit for that shot, he would never have been able to get it off without the precision pass from Hill. And to top it all off, nothing can beat Thomas Hill’s blubbering like a little school girl after Laettner’s shot dropped.
The second thing that comes to mind is his 1994-1995 co-Rookie of the Year season with Jason Kidd. Averaging 19.9 pts, 6.4 rebs, 5.0 asts, Hill roared into the NBA and left his mark in the Motor City while averaging 21.6, 7.8, 6.2 over the next six seasons for the Pistons. Unfortunately, as the calendar turned to a new millennium and Hill cashed in on his first six years in the NBA with a FAT contract in Orlando, the Magic (pun most definitely intended) all seemed to vanish. Gone were the days of Hill’s highlight reel performances. In their place were numerous injury-marred seasons during his tenure in Orlando. Now you have to really think about when the last time was that anyone has even heard the name Grant Hill in a context outside of his multiple injuries and subsequent visits to various orthopedists and specialists.
Well fear not sports fans, this week there was a Grant Hill sighting and it was for neither his play nor his ankles. It was reported a few days ago that Hill has moved from Orlando to equally-sunny Phoenix stating, “The humidity wreaks havoc on my perm.” (Wait, that may not be an entirely accurate quote. Sorry). The deal, known as the bi-annual exception, is a 2-year deal slated to make Hill $1.8 million in the first year and $2 million in the following year. Paying such a paltry salary to a player that could be a marquee addition to an already championship level team seems like it couldn’t miss. The Suns certainly are making out like bandits on this one.
Or are they? Regardless of this seemingly fool proof deal, I’m not even sure that Hill’s rickety ankles can be worth that much. Remember, he’s had five ankle surgeries compared with one season that he finished healthy during his run in Orlando. I’m no expert, but that doesn’t seem like a very good ratio. That’s like the Tennessee Titans saying, “Well, Pacman Jones may have just been questioned by police again for the 956th time, but he did have a pretty good year last year … We should give him a contract extension when he finishes his suspension.”
I am not quite sure what Steve Kerr was thinking with this move. Maybe he wanted a golfing buddy for the off season, who knows. This move just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. The Suns have one of the most athletic and fun teams to watch in the NBA. To add a player who has terrible ankles and may not be able to keep up with their run-and-gun style baffles me. Kerr sited the need for another veteran presence for the addition of Hill. What’s wrong with pulling a deal for Kevin Garnett for a veteran presence? Kerr would have to give up either Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion for KG (a markedly steeper price than what they gave up for Hill, i.e. nothing), but he would gain a player that is looking to lock himself a place in the Hall of Fame and a championship would do that. The combo of Nash and KG would be electrifying and would put the Suns over their hump and into the NBA Finals finally.
Another confusing decision from the Western Conference is Sam Presti hiring PJ Carlesimo to be his head coach of the future. I loved what Presti has done over the past few weeks acquiring Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Delonte West and letting over-the-hill Ray Allen and over hyped Rashad Lewis go. But now with a great young nucleus to build upon he hires a coach with a career winning percentage of .452. .452!
The last most of us had heard of PJ Carlesimo, he was in Golden State being choked by one of the biggest nutcases in the NBA, Latrell Sprewell. (Note: Carlesimo cannot be entirely blamed for the situation because Sprewell is so far off the reservation that he once refused a multi- million contract citing “Guys gotta feed his family, yo.” Carlesimo has spent the past few season under the tutelage of Gregg Popivich in San Antonio, which hopefully has taught him a thing or two, most notably, some self-defense moves in case of another attack.
Let’s just hope the old PJ Carlesimo doesn’t shows up in Seattle. For all fans of basketball, I am praying that that is the case. They have the next great thing in the NBA with Durant and I don’t want to see Carlesimo ruining his career. In fact, if Durant has yet to reach the lofty expectations that we all have put upon him by the time he is entering his 3rd year (Blog note: This will henceforth be known as the “LeBron Rule.” Any player drafted with as much hype as a LeBron James or a Kevin Durant has exactly three years to catapult their respective teams to levels well beyond what they should be competing at by any stretch of the imagination), I will personally choke PJ Carlesimo with my own two hands.
So good luck PJ. I hope your self-defense moves are sharp. They’re going to have to be when the entire city of Seattle is hunting you down in three years because you turned one of the most touted players in NBA history into a total dud.
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