Grant Hill in his own words

[mkwest]

This article is about a week old, so many of you might have already read it.

Grant Hill's life intersects with almost every major basketball story for the past quarter century. He's the only active player with ties to all of the last legendary college squads: Tark's Runnin' Rebels, the Fab Five and the dawn of the Duke dynasty. He's one of only eight players who can say he beat the Dream Team, a list that's as exclusive as living men who walked on the moon. When Shaquille O'Neal signaled a new NBA era by dunking on David Robinson in the 1996 All-Star Game it was Hill who gave him the pass. And whom did LeBron James need to pass to move into second place on the list of active career triple-double leaders? Grant Hill.

In the summer of 1992, Hill was among a group of eight college players that included Chris Webber, Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Jamal Mashburn, Eric Montross, Bobby Hurley and Rodney Rogers that was selected to scrimmage against the Dream Team during training camp in La Jolla, Calif., as it prepared for the Tournament of the Americas and the Olympics. In their first scrimmage, the college kids beat what is widely considered the greatest team ever assembled. Hill got a copy of the video years later and has watched it a few times. "Everybody was skinny," Hill said. Even Charles Barkley. Hill's fondness for that experience reminds me of the sentiment Michael Jordan expressed for the days before he entered the NBA, as captured in Wright Thompson's outstanding profile. It was a time when things were, to use Jordan's word, "pure."

He's playing his first season with the Clippers after signing a two-year contract last summer. He has played in only 26 games is averaging only 3.2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1 assist. The nagging injuries last longer. The reactions are a little slower, the shooting a little more hesitant. Everything points to retirement after the season.

"This will probably be it," Hill said. "I have committed myself to not making any decisions until I get to the end of the year, like I've done the last three or four years, but this is probably it.

"My body and also my mind are in agreement on this. Yeah. It may be time. But I don't want to say officially that that's the case. I want to see what happens and see how I feel when we get to the end of the year. But I'm pretty close to being there."

J.A. Adande, ESPN