http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...coll=orl-magic
Hill: 'I don't see getting another surgery. We tried it. It didn't work.'
Published April 21, 2006
Grant Hill gave Gucci designer watches to each of his teammates and coaches and some staffers when the Orlando Magic met Thursday to pack up the season.
Token of his appreciation or parting gift?
Interesting choice of a present, considering Hill either is buying time or running out of it.
Will he be back next season? Or has he finally run out of comebacks and will be forced to retire?
Hill reiterated to the Sentinel on Thursday what he told the newspaper several weeks ago: He will retire if the last option to correct his nagging sports hernia injury this summer is surgery.
"I would probably say yes," Hill said by cell phone after being unavailable to the media at RDV Sportsplex. "I don't see getting another surgery. We tried it. It didn't work. I don't see doing another."
Another surgery would run Hill's six-year total to seven -- five on his infamous left ankle and two on his sports hernia. He has exhausted his physical and, particularly, his mental capacity to endure another trip to the operating room.
Hill disputed Assistant General Manager Otis Smith's notion that he ultimately would opt for a second hernia surgery if his plan to rest and rehab the injury fails.
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it would work 100 percent; I would move on right now," Hill said of the extensive rehab program he'll start soon. "I know there's always the worst-case possibility of anything.
"But I'm excited. I have a better understanding [of the injury] now. I feel good about it."
Hill played in just 21 games this season after undergoing sports hernia surgery Oct. 31.
Bottom line: Hill wants to play and to be a part of the Magic's promising future, but he won't subject his body to more intrusions.
After another lost season, Hill can hear the ticking of the clock growing louder as well as fans frustrated with his snakebit career.
He will enter the final year of his seven-year, $92.88 million contract, standing to make $16.9 next season.
Hill acknowledged discussing a career-ending buyout with Magic President Bob Vander Weide and becoming a part-owner of the club.
He said he knows the Magic can trade his cap-friendly expiring contract -- perhaps in a deal for a disgruntled superstar such as Kevin Garnett -- but "that really hasn't come up."
"I want to be here, but I've been around pro sports my whole life [his father is former NFL running back Calvin Hill] and I know things can happen."
He's again at a heavily traveled crossroads.
Hill said he has been in contact the past several weeks with abdominal specialist Alex McKechnie.
His tentative plan: Rehab with McKechnie and then -- when, and if, the hernia area responds -- subject it to the stress in simulated games.
If the pain returns, Hill won't.
"I'm not going to go under the knife," he said. "I believe this approach will work. The problem was we didn't have the timing [early this past season]. And the problem was that the few people that rehab this weren't available.
"Now we have availability and time to go about it this way."
Smith said Hill will rehab for three months and "retrain his body before trying basketball stuff. His timetable is about right. When training camp starts back up, we'll see where he is.
"We'll have a better gauge of how much of Grant is going to be part of our team, and I think he will be."
Hill returned after his healthiest and most productive stretch in the 2004-05 season, looking as if he finally had escaped the left-ankle nightmare that had threatened his career and robbed him of the prime of his career.
He came back with a vengeance, voted by fans to play in the 2005 NBA All-Star Game.
He played in 67 games and averaged 19.7 points. Last summer, for the first time since his arrival in Orlando via a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons, Hill did not have to undergo a surgery or rehab the ankle.
At some point this past summer or in training camp, Hill felt an uneasiness in his lower abdomen. A slight tug became a painful pull, and then it became a tear during a preseason game.
Hill was back in an all-too-familiar, all-too-frustrating pattern: More doctors, more decisions, more depression.
And then, more surgery.
Six weeks on the sideline was the prognosis.
And almost six weeks to the day, Hill was back on the court in New York to face the Knicks on Dec. 14.
The surgery either didn't take or Hill came back too soon and unraveled the handiwork.
He made several visits to see Dr. William Meyers. He played between rest and rehab stints but never could stay on the floor and missed the final 21 games.
"It's been weird. I had an unbelievable six years [in Detroit] and an unbelievably rough six years here," he said. "I've been on both ends. It's tough for everybody. I know how hard it has been on the organization."
Hill will turn 34 during the Magic's training camp in October in Jacksonville. He said he's prepared to accept any role that Coach Brian Hill lays out for him -- be it starter or reserve.
The Magic had a nice chemistry in their late-season playoff chase without him. But Brian Hill said that welcoming back the seven-time all-star is a "no brainer for me" and that he is certain that Grant can adapt.
"If he's healthy enough to come back next year, I think that just makes us that much more effective," Brian Hill said.
"The people out there saying we should just leave the team the way it is and don't worry about Grant. . . . I think that's insane. We're definitely a better team if he's healthy."
For Grant Hill, it's a big IF -- more than ever. Time will tell all.
i dont think the wolves are goin to accept the magics offer of hills contract+scrubs, unless they pack in d12. dont think they are high on darko when he has a full season starters mins under his belt to see his real stats. there are better offers out there for the wolves imo.
Poor Grant. Such a great player and great guy, had Michael Jordan like talent, yet his injuries crippled him. So sad.
He just needs to retire already.
Grant Hill is a special player. I agree that his injuries plauged his legacy. His talent is amazing.
yeh he should just retire
I've never seen such a good guy with so much talent experience so much bad luck injury-wise.
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