Phoenix Suns welcome Grant Hill
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
Grant Hill slashing to victory
If ever there was a nicer guy in the NBA than Grant Hill, then that player would be a Saint.
Grant left the Pistons and they still wanted him back.
We are now very close to Grant Hill’s debut as a Sun.
Phoenix did not hesitate to pick him up, because Grant is more than nice, he is capable of still putting up big numbers.
When Grant played for the Detroit Pistons, back when he was healthy, they had him at a new position called point forward. In other words, he would not bring the ball up, but the point guard would immediately pass to Grant Hill popping out from the baseline on every play.
Grant then took over as the playmaker for that possession. Point Forward.
Grant Hill did not have a very good shot at that time and eventually had to hire a shot coach will helped him to a great degree. So, Hill was mainly a slasher and rebounder in those days.
The Pistons were an anemic team back then and Grant was not accustomed to being the sole leader. He needed a partner at that time, especially one that could knock down the crucial bucket.
The rules at that time made it difficult for a slasher with no jumper to score the big bucket. The referees tended to favor the defender, unlike now where some players have actually learned how to lean into their defender and earn a trip to the foul line.
After his Piston time came the Orlando years of having little talent around him and constant foot injuries. Hill enjoyed a huge salary at the time, but would have given it all up to win.
The Suns dial the phone
Phoenix came calling this year and what they offered was the chance to win it all. Come play with us and be involved and win it all. The contract was for a meager 1.83 million.
Phoenix has come so close year after year with always some freakish event holding them back.
If Amare Stoudemire could have stayed on the bench when San Antonio’s Robert Horry slammed Steve Nash into the scorer’s table in last season’s conference semifinals, the Phoenix Suns might be the reigning NBA champions….
If Nash hadn’t had to leave the court with a cut gushing blood from his nose last season in Game 1 of that series, maybe the Suns would have won. If Joe Johnson didn’t smash his face in the 2005 conference finals, if Raja Bell hadn’t missed two games of the 2006 conference finals. source
It is not to dwell on what might have happened if the circumstances had been slightly different, but it is more to show just how close the Suns are to finally winning it all with this nucleus of Nash, Marion, and Stoudemire.
Grant Hill longs for the winning feeling he once enjoyed at Duke.
Someday, the laws of nature insist Nash will show signs of age. These runs at the title won’t go on forever. Just ask Hill, who played on a constant contender at Duke but hasn’t come close in his injury-plagued pro career.
“I played 13 seasons in the NBA and we never expected to win a championship on those teams,” he said. “So I know these opportunities don’t come around often.
You could say Grant Hill longs for Phoenix as much as Phoenix longs for Grant Hill.
Grant has a chance to not only win with the Suns, but perhaps be that difference between winning it all and having to say what if.
And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!
strong>NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Phoenix win it all?
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POSTED IN: Orlando Magic, Shawn Marion, Detroit Pistons, Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns, Amare Stoudemire, NBA Basketball
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