Grant Hill

This article is about the basketball player. For the film producer of the same name, see Grant Hill (film producer) .

Grant Hill
Player information
Full name	Grant Henry Hill
birthday	5th October 1972 (age 47)
place of birth	Dallas , Texas , United States
size	203 cm
Weight	102 kg
position	Small forward
college	Duke
NBA draft	1994 , 3rd pick , Detroit Pistons
Clubs as active
1994–2000 Detroit Pistons 2000–2007 Orlando Magic 2007–2012 Phoenix Suns 2012–2013 Los Angeles Clippers
National team 1
1991-1996	United States	15 games
1 As at: 09/08/2009

Grant Henry Hill (* 5. October 1972 in Dallas , Texas ) is a retired American basketball player who of of 1994 bis 2013 American US in the professional league NBA played.

Hill was long considered a "heir" to Michael Jordan and was one of the most popular advertising vehicles of the 1990s. From 2000 to 2006 he had to sit out a large part of the season due to injuries. In March 2018, his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was announced.

biography

Grant Hill is the son of Calvin Hill , a former NFL running back, and Janet Hill , a diplomat in the United States Department of Defense . As a result, although he was born in Dallas, Texas, Hill spent much of his childhood near Washington, DC The Hill family's friends there included Bill and Hillary Clinton .

Hill has been married to Canadian R&B singer Tamia since July 24, 1999 . With her he has a daughter, Myla Grace, who was born on January 23, 2002 .

college

To protect him from the pressures of excessive expectations, Calvin Hill forbade his son to play football. Grant therefore decided on basketball, where his extraordinary talent soon attracted the attention of numerous college coaches. Impressed by Mike Krzyzewski's coaching personality , Hill decided in 1990 to accept Duke University's sports scholarship . At the side of Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley Hill won the NCAA Division I Basketball Championships in 1991 and 1992 with Duke . After four years of studying political science , Hill moved to the NBA in 1994.

Detroit Pistons (1994-2000)

The Detroit Pistons ranked Grant Hill, considered extremely talented, third in the 1994 NBA Draft . In his first year in the NBA, he scored 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.77 steals per game and became the first Detroit Pistons rookie since Isiah Thomas to score more than 1,000 points in a season. He was also the first rookie to ever win the most votes among all players in the fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game. Together with Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks , Hill was named NBA Rookie of the Year at the end of the season . So they both led the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1995.

In his second NBA season ( 1995/96 ) he again led the fan voting for the All-Star Game. He even won more votes than superstar Michael Jordan , who returned to the Chicago Bulls after a year off . Grant Hill led the league that season with 10 triple doubles and was part of the US national basketball team, which won gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In the following season, Hill was able to raise his average to 21.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He became the first player since Larry Bird 1989-1990, who could achieve over 20 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists on average over a whole season. Although his individual performances were excellent and he finished third in the Most Valuable Player election , his team played comparatively unsuccessfully. In the two following seasons Hill again led his team in points as well as in rebounds and assists, becoming the only player alongside Wilt Chamberlain to achieve this feat for three seasons in a row.

In the 1999/2000 NBA season , Grant Hill showed with 25.8 points per game and a hit rate of 49% that he could really be one of the most dominant point collectors in the NBA. Only Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson had more points on average than the star of the Detroit Pistons. Despite all individual performances, Hill never managed to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs until 2000. After his first six years in the NBA, Grant Hill had 9,393 points, 3,417 rebounds and 2,720 assists. Only Oscar Robertson , Larry Bird, and LeBron James were better in their first six NBA years.

Orlando Magic (2000-2007)

Before the 2000/01 season he moved to Orlando Magic in a so-called sign-and-trade . The Magic hoped that Hill would work well on the field with their fellow signing Tracy McGrady and lead the Magic to one ( or more ) NBA titles. However, Hill was continuously followed by injuries to his ankle. Between 2000 and 2004 he played only 47 of 328 possible games for Magic. It was not until the 2004/05 season that he made a respectable comeback with an average of 19.7 points and a hit rate of almost 51%. The fans thanked him with another vote for the NBA All-Star Game. In the following season, however, injuries plagued him again and he could only play 21 games in the first half of the season. He underwent an operation to encourage healing.

In the 2006/07 season , Hill returned again. He was still plagued by injuries but was able to play 65 games. At the end of the season he had 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. It was also the first year that Grant Hill was in the playoffs with the Orlando Magic. Their opponents in the first round were Hill's old team, the Detroit Pistons, who quickly knocked Orlando out of the tournament after four games.

Phoenix Suns (2007-2012)

On July 11, 2007, Hill signed a two-year contract with the Phoenix Suns as a free agent . He was able to adapt quickly to the high game pace of the Suns and ended the season with 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. In his second year with the Suns Hill played for the first time in his career in all 82 games of his team, scoring 12.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

After the contract expired, despite numerous offers, including from the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks , he decided to spend another year in Phoenix. In addition, Hill's new contract included a player option for another year with the Phoenix Suns. 2010 was the year in which the Suns made it past the San Antonio Spurs to the Western Conference semifinals and thus the first time that Grant Hill could bring a playoff series victorious behind them. The Suns had to admit defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers . After the end of the 2010 season, Hill made use of his player option. After the contract expired, he extended his contract in Phoenix for another year.

Los Angeles Clippers (2012-2013)

After his contract expired in the summer of 2012, Hill decided to leave the Phoenix Suns after 5 years. He justified this with the departure of Steve Nash to the Los Angeles Lakers . Hill received offers from many clubs and eventually joined the Los Angeles Clippers led by point guard Chris Paul . Hill started the season with a delay due to another, albeit minor, injury. After the end of the season, which the Clippers ended in the first playoff round, Hill announced the end of his playing career.

Achievements and Awards

• 7 × NBA All-Star : 1995-1998, 2000-2001, 2005
• All-NBA First Team 1997
• 4 × All-NBA Second Team 1996, 1998-2000
• NBA Co-Rookie of the Year : 1995
• NBA All-Rookie First Team : 1995
• 3 × NBA Sportsmanship Award 2005, 2008, 2010
• 2 × NCAA Champion: 1991, 1992
• Gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games

Others

As the first active NBA player ever, Grant Hill was named to the board of directors of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 20, 2011 . The appointment is valid for a period of three years.

Alongside Jason Kidd and Mike Conley, Jr., Grant Hill is the only recipient to date to receive the NBA Sportsmanship Award several times (2005, 2008, 2010).

Since June 2015 Hill has been part of a group of investors who own the NBA team Atlanta Hawks .

literature

• André Voigt: Grant Hill. With all my might. in: Five 12-2004, pp. 60-63.

See also

• List of members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Web links

• Official Site of Grant Hill (in English)
• Grant Hill on: NBA website; New York, NY, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018 (in English).
• Grant Hill at: Basketball Reference website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018 (in English).
• Grant Hill in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018 (in English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ usabasketball.com - All-Time USA Basketball Men's Roster // H ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Grant Hill. Retrieved April 21, 2020 (English). 
3. ↑ nba.com: Player biography
4. ↑ Hill & T-Mac on Orlando Magic  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Grant Hill exercises Player Option
6. ↑ http://www.nba.com/2011/news/12/11/suns-moves.ap/index.html
7. ^ ESPN report
8. ↑ Press release of the Basketball Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original dated May 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 14, 2011  
9. ↑ goduke.com , accessed November 30, 2011.
10. ^ Grant Hill Among New Owners of Atlanta Hawks