Grant Hill Possibly Retiring After Season - Or Not

[-bdbd]

Kinda sad, but it appears that Grant Hill is going to be retiring at the end of this season, at the spry young age of 40... That's, what, like 120 in "NBA years???" :( What a great ambassador for Duke University.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/grant-hill-hints-retirement-following-season-booed-clueless-161516856--nba.html

[JasonEvans]

I pulled this out of the Dukies in the NBA thread because it deserves its own home.

Grant has been one of the greats!

-Jason

[sporthenry]

Hopefully he can go out on top. I must say I thought he was wrong when he went to LAC instead of LAL but it appears he was very right. I was hoping he'd have another year or two left or at least see if he could stay healthy one last time. But it appears he has taken on a very Shane-esque role on a very deep team.

[Mike Corey]

He deserves every accolade and bit of praise that is about to come his way.

One of the all-time great Dukies on and off the court. He's supremely accomplished in basketball (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/grant_hill/), and has used the stage to do good (http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/phoenix-suns-forward-grant-hill-stands-up-for-gay-community), leading by example and, when necessary, with his voice (http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/grant-hills-response-to-jalen-rose/). On top of all that, he's an accomplished art collector (http://granthill.com/ghc/), and has a wonderful family to boot.

[Dev11]

The more involved Grant decides to be with Duke Basketball and Duke University upon retirement, the better those institutions will be.

[brevity]

He deserves every accolade and bit of praise that is about to come his way.

One of the all-time great Dukies on and off the court. He's supremely accomplished in basketball (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/grant_hill/), and has used the stage to do good (http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/phoenix-suns-forward-grant-hill-stands-up-for-gay-community), leading by example and, when necessary, with his voice (http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/grant-hills-response-to-jalen-rose/). On top of all that, he's an accomplished art collector (http://granthill.com/ghc/), and has a wonderful family to boot.

Also plays a mean piano (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKAd7urSeo). (Can anyone find "Tender Love"?)

Maybe Grant can go into politics while Shane is still busy with basketball. It would be nice to see Duke boast back-to-back U.S. Presidents.

[superdave]

Here is Grant's basketball-reference.com page. (http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hillgr01.html)

A few highlights -

7 time All-star
Rookie of the Year
1st team All-NBA once, 2nd team four times.
#82 all time in points scored. #73 in steals and #83 in assists.

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, they rate his Hall of Fame probability at 0.383 which is good for #21 out of active players (sandwiched between Steve Nash and Shawn Marion). I think he's got a chance because voters will have a great deal of respect for him as a person and discount stats based on missing the equivalent of about 4 peak seasons.

I like what Magic Johnson tweeted at Grant a while back - http://vlsportysexycool.com/2011/02/26/magic-shows-grant-hill-love-says-he-would-have-been-next-mj/ Sorry about the odd link but that's the best take on Magic's tweet I found.


Super "We are not worthy!" Dave

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Phenomenal human being, great ambassador for the university. You could not ask for more out of a player.

I would love a thread of Grant memories. I know I have many.

[throatybeard]

Aw, man, I was hoping he'd outlast Kurt Thomas.

[sporthenry]

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, they rate his Hall of Fame probability at 0.383 which is good for #21 out of active players (sandwiched between Steve Nash and Shawn Marion). I think he's got a chance because voters will have a great deal of respect for him as a person and discount stats based on missing the equivalent of about 4 peak seasons.


Grant's HOF resume obviously won't be just related on his NBA career. ESPN had this discussion with a few other guys and this is what they had to say about Hill.


Adande: Yes. Even though injuries rerouted the course of his pro career, he nearly maxed out his college career by winning two championships at Duke and reaching a third Final Four. In the NBA he finished in the top 10 of MVP voting five times. He's also in the top 10 in all-time triple-doubles, even though he hasn't had one since 1998. That just shows you how good the pre-injury part of his career was.

Haubner: Yes, based on precedent. Remember that college counts, and Hill's résumé is quite similar to Hall of Famer David Thompson's: great college player who had six exceptional pro seasons. Plus, Hill's post-injury run has given him more longevity. If there were an NBA-only Hall of Fame, as there should be, I'd lean against Hill's candidacy, due to his unfortunate career-derailing injuries.

McPherson: Yes. If we keep going down the path of what players mean to the game beyond the numbers, Hill should be in. It's a trip to go back and watch Old Sprite ads and see him being sold on his superhuman abilities. After his lost seasons in Orlando, it seemed like he was washed up. But against all odds, he's become what he maybe always was: a player defined more by hard work than sheer talent. A basketball player. Throw in his Duke career and that's a story worth learning.

Nowell: Yes. Originally my thought was that Grant had been too injured for too long, and should be a tragic exclusion. But Hill was just too good in his Detroit years -- I'll cast my vote for his inclusion happily, and let more practical voters deny him if they want.

Strauss: No, sadly. Grant Hill's NBA career might be the greatest Duke ever produced -- which may be an indictment of that university's pro development. Hill had the talent and desire to be a Hall of Famer, but his ankles had other, devious plans.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-HOF-121212/nba-carter-hill-sheed-t-mac-iverson-make-hall-fame

So that is pretty promising. But it just seems like Hill's career is often lost. His teams never went too deep in the playoffs and he sort of got lost in the MJ, Malone, Hakeem eras. I was young back then but it feels like people anointed him superstar in waiting so he never got his due b/c people assumed he'd be doing it for the next 10 years.

And I would love to see him come back to Duke. What about a future bench consisting of Hill and Battier?

[juise]

Strauss: No, sadly. Grant Hill's NBA career might be the greatest Duke ever produced -- which may be an indictment of that university's pro development. Hill had the talent and desire to be a Hall of Famer, but his ankles had other, devious plans.

I would love for someone to explain to me how a university can be indicted for their "pro development". I know the falsehood about Dukies in the NBA has been out there for a while, but the way that this is stated really annoys me.

[Acymetric]

Yeah I am officially 100% a Clippers fan the rest of this season. If you don't already have a dog in the fight you should be too. I was only 5 when he was at Duke but still absolutely my favorite Duke player ever...sad that I won't be able to see him retire but loved the way he was able to have a great finish to his career after all the injuries and I hope we get to see him visit Duke on a regular basis in the future!

[basket1544]

I guess Duke has reached the NBA's maximum allowed players limit so for Mason, Seth and Ryan to go in at least one is going to have to sit out. It really is the end of an era. The first NBA season that I followed every game for was as an 8th grader watching Grant and Kidd dual for Rookie of the Year... and to a lesser extent Glenn Robinson. I still have a scrapbook filled with their headlines (I'm in Dallas so it has more of Jason's stuff, but the national newspapers gave me a lot of Grant's stories). And more importantly, all I have to do is close my eyes and I see Grant soaring for a certain ally-oop. In my head he's always the 18 year old jumping out of the Indianapolis gym.

[throatybeard]

I guess Duke has reached the NBA's maximum allowed players limit so for Mason, Seth and Ryan to go in at least one is going to have to sit out. It really is the end of an era. The first NBA season that I followed every game for was as an 8th grader watching Grant and Kidd dual for Rookie of the Year... and to a lesser extent Glenn Robinson. I still have a scrapbook filled with their headlines (I'm in Dallas so it has more of Jason's stuff, but the national newspapers gave me a lot of Grant's stories). And more importantly, all I have to do is close my eyes and I see Grant soaring for a certain ally-oop. In my head he's always the 18 year old jumping out of the Indianapolis gym.

Me too, just earlier. Grant's four years in college were my four in HS. It felt a certain way.

[davekay1971]

Just watching ESPN Sportcenter and they gave some good mention of Grant's defense on Carmelo Anthony in the fourth quarter last night when Grant shut down a red-hot 'Melo to help the Clippers win the game. Grant's defense was a huge part of the 1994 team's success, so, 19 years later, nice to see him still doing it to the best of the best in the NBA.

I never follow the NBA except to see how the Duke guys are doing at the next level. I like to see all their teams do well, but I'd certainly love to see Grant add an NBA championship to his stellar career resume.

As an aside, since Grant has recently said he might not retire at the end of the season, maybe we should change the thread title to "Grant Hill Retirement Vigil". We don't have enough vigils around here.

[Mike Corey]

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2013/02/10/chris-paul-carmelo-anthony-los-angeles-clippers-new-york-knicks/1907043/) and the NYPost (http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/old_tricks_iUuPvhAcxevRFoKc4H6ljP?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Knicks) both have write-ups on Grant's defense of Anthony.

“Everybody contributed. Grant Hill sits the whole game and comes in ... nobody can stop Melo, but he made things pretty difficult. We probably don’t win that game without him." - Jamal Crawford

“Grant was the difference in the game.” - Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro

"I think the game ball goes to Grant Hill." - Chris Paul

[Billy Dat]

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2013/02/10/chris-paul-carmelo-anthony-los-angeles-clippers-new-york-knicks/1907043/) and the NYPost (http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/old_tricks_iUuPvhAcxevRFoKc4H6ljP?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Knicks) both have write-ups on Grant's defense of Anthony.

“Everybody contributed. Grant Hill sits the whole game and comes in ... nobody can stop Melo, but he made things pretty difficult. We probably don’t win that game without him." - Jamal Crawford

“Grant was the difference in the game.” - Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro

"I think the game ball goes to Grant Hill." - Chris Paul

I was at the game. This was no small feat. Melo had it going in a big way. He had 38 at the end of 3 and I swore he was going for 50. G comes off the bench, cold, and takes him out of the game. Obviously, defense is a team effort and they were doubling/tripling, but he was face-guarding Melo and really frustrating the hell out of him. People in the Garden were screaming, "Retire already!!!" Even though I am a Knicks fan, I was quietly delighted and screaming out, "He's 40, Melo! You're being stopped by a 40 year old!!!" just to try and incite more insanity from the fans...didn't really work but it made me smile. For what it's worth, Chris Paul is, also, kind of a problem (25-7-6-4 in 29 minutes, second game back of injury).

[Dev11]

I was at the game. This was no small feat. Melo had it going in a big way. He had 38 at the end of 3 and I swore he was going for 50. G comes off the bench, cold, and takes him out of the game. Obviously, defense is a team effort and they were doubling/tripling, but he was face-guarding Melo and really frustrating the hell out of him. People in the Garden were screaming, "Retire already!!!" Even though I am a Knicks fan, I was quietly delighted and screaming out, "He's 40, Melo! You're being stopped by a 40 year old!!!" just to try and incite more insanity from the fans...didn't really work but it made me smile. For what it's worth, Chris Paul is, also, kind of a problem (25-7-6-4 in 29 minutes, second game back of injury).

I was watching on TV, and towards the end they played a little "mic'ed up" between Paul and Grant at the end where Paul said something to the effect of "Grant, you're 40, but man you're really contributing to this win!" Grant shied away from the praise, and it was sort of adorable, and Chris Paul was involved in no junk-tapping on that day.

[DukieinSoCal]

I believe he actually told Grant something to the effect of 'you are the difference in this game' and Grant tried to turn it around and say that Paul was the one who deserved the credit. In any case, another example of Grant's pure class.


I was watching on TV, and towards the end they played a little "mic'ed up" between Paul and Grant at the end where Paul said something to the effect of "Grant, you're 40, but man you're really contributing to this win!" Grant shied away from the praise, and it was sort of adorable, and Chris Paul was involved in no junk-tapping on that day.