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Damn,Hill would've been a nice FA pick up for the spurs. Too bad he chooced to end up his career ringless.
Buck Harvey: Years later, Hill finally alters Spurs
Web Posted: 12/18/2007 12:20 AM CST
Buck Harvey
Express-News Staff Writer
Mike D’Antoni’s angry face was back in town, as was Jack Nies’ confused one.
Back, too, was some familiar violence. Robert Horry slammed into Steve Nash again.
It wasn’t the same. This time, Horry bounced Nash off of Bruce Bowen instead of the scorer’s table, and Nash also failed to add a dramatic touch. He chipped a tooth in a game last week, and he could have waited until Monday.
Still, they acted as if last May’s series had never stopped, with every participant present and sweating except for Tony Parker and David Stern. And with just under three minutes left, with Amare Stoudemire leaving his feet again and Tim Duncan rising again, the Spurs were ready to do what they did before.
That’s when Grant Hill, as he threatened to do once before, got in the Spurs’ way.
Hill said he didn’t watch a minute of the Spurs-Suns series last spring. “I was still recovering from my seven years in Orlando,” he said, and he was smiling.
Now he can smile. He’s finally playing in games that matter.
But he was supposed to do this for a career. He was once a kindler, gentler Jordan, and when he visited the Magic in 2000, he was ready to change the NBA landscape. Duncan traveled with him.
The prize free agents of that summer were friendly, and they had the same agent. But they weren’t a package. That didn’t make the Spurs feel any better, however, and they envisioned the worst. Hill was ready to commit to the Magic, and the Spurs feared he would persuade Duncan to follow.
Hill, as much as Orlando, appeared to be the Spurs’ enemy.
But Duncan hesitated, and Hill didn’t try to talk him out of it. Later, Gregg Popovich flew to Detroit to recruit Hill, though both clearly understood the roadblocks. The Spurs didn’t have the necessary cap room.
Still they talked. And afterward, Hill called Duncan to share how impressed he had been with his coach. “I know why you have a tough decision,” Hill said then.
Duncan would go on to win three more les. Hill would go from ice pack to ice pack. He missed 374 of 574 regular-season games over the next seven years, and he also missed something that Spurs fans have enjoyed for a decade — rivalries.
Hill says the closest he’s had is Carolina-Duke. And when he was told Monday night how sad that sounded, he nodded. “It is sad. And it’s the truth.”
Last summer, his 2000 contract finally completed, Hill faced what Michael Finley faced two years ago. Free to choose any team — and ready to play for the minimum — Hill looked to play for a winner.
Hill would have been a perfect Spur. At 35, he would have made them younger.
His famously chronic ankle would have fit in among the suddenly sore ones owned by Parker and Cisco Elson. And then there’s his football father; Bowen would have loved to hang with the son of a former Dallas Cowboy.
So Hill and Popovich talked last summer, just as they had seven years before. But whereas money had been the issue before, now it was timing. “They had their nucleus,” Hill said.
Hill might have signed with the Suns no matter. “Just all across the board, everything checked out,” Hill said. “OK, except for money.” He earns a little more than Sean Marks.
He gets satisfaction instead, and maybe there is something healthy to this at ude. Hill showed up in Phoenix looking like a revival-tent miracle who has thrown away his crutches. He’s started more games to begin a season since before he went to Orlando.
Hill helps the Suns close the basketball IQ gap with the Spurs, and he also gives Phoenix some poise they didn’t have before. That was clear Monday night after he came from the weakside to block Duncan. Then, with everyone’s hearts racing, he calmly threw in a 17-footer for the lead.
And when Bowen missed? There was Hill, grabbing the rebound, drawing the foul, tossing in the following free throws. The buzzer sounded, and Hill was the only Sun to look toward the Spurs’ bench.
Then he gave a nod to Popovich.
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LINK: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....282f2fc7.html
Damn,Hill would've been a nice FA pick up for the spurs. Too bad he chooced to end up his career ringless.
He wanted to go to a team that wouldn't make him practice hard.
Duncan would go on to win three more les. Hill would go from ice pack to ice pack.
ah... such as their lots in life.
Does Harvey write this article if Parker plays and Bowen is so far inside Hill that he needs a pregnancy test after shooting 2-12 on the night? I think not. Sports writing is so myopic sometimes.
Finley, when he's on, can be just as good as Hill
But he's rarely on :P
Hill had a good game and I thought he would have made a good Spur but he'll get more minutes in Phoenix than here. It was a nice win for the Suns but a little tainted - no TP. With the Suns' focusing in on the perimeter shooters and rarely doubling TD I wonder what TP would have done with such a wide open lane to drive into?
FWD noted as much.
Let's see what happens next time we play and both teams at full strength.
I'm so glad Duncan didn't sign with the Magic.
I would have had to be a Magic fan.
I'd probably still root for the Charlotte Spurs.
On a tangent, how will the Spurs go when they enter their next rebuilding phase some time around 2012, and the losses start piling up? Will the city that so loves its winning franchise also stand by a losing one? I hope so, and I have a feeling that SA and the Spurs are wedded for life, but what is your opinion?
I know it won't change a thing for me - I'm a Spursfan4life!
So is Orlando.
having 20/20 hindsight helps.
I wonder how many teams could even compete with one of the top 3 out West without their starting Point Guard?
Parker isn't just a scorer. He gives us another option on defense, and most importantly, he WEARS OUT the other team's defense, because they have to be back and set on EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY. Or Parker burns them for a layup. There are so many threats Tony presents on the court that will never, ever show up on a stat-sheet, but they are there all the same. As it has been said, he also frees Manu up by forcing the defense to divide it's attention 3 ways.
Anytime you lose either your best player (esp. a big) or your PG, you have no business winning a large number of games.
The Spurs without Parker a are a damn sight less scary in execution.
Hill is a fine player but he has never won squat and one game in reg season does not show he is ready to step up on the big stage of playoffs. Spurs with Parker and the way Duncan dominated inside will sweep or take the Suns in five - book it.
One would think Suns fans of all people would take that into account.
Oh, the drama of it all!!
Hill chose the right place to play, he doesn't have to play much defense and can chuck shots at an amazing pace. He'll never say so, but he doesn't want a ring bad enough to put up with Pop being up his ass for missed defensive rotations. He'd rather have it easy and lose than tough and win. I like Hill, but that assertion is fairly obvious. If he wanted a ring bad enough, he would have gone to the team with the championship moxy to win and not to the team who always comes up short for reasoning that's not coincidental.
im glad Hill chose Pheonix.
It makes for a more interesting rivalry
Now, if we could only raise the IQ of the average SUNS fan.
That's an issue I prefer not to think about. I think there's some reason to wonder how Spurs fans will handle a team that might be rebuilding. If you stop to consider it, San Antonio has had a fairly legitimate le contender every year since 1989-90. If you go back a little way, the Spurs were in the mix for championships from about 1978-79 through 1982-83. Other than a brief hiatus between 1983-84 and 1988-89, the Spurs have essentially been legitimate le contenders for most of about 30 seasons. We're undoubtedly spoiled by having had an elite team for such a long time.On a tangent, how will the Spurs go when they enter their next rebuilding phase some time around 2012, and the losses start piling up? Will the city that so loves its winning franchise also stand by a losing one? I hope so, and I have a feeling that SA and the Spurs are wedded for life, but what is your opinion?
I know it won't change a thing for me - I'm a Spursfan4life!
The one year the Spurs struggled during their recent reign, however, attendance dipped fairly significantly. In 1995-96, while still playing in the Alamodome, the Spurs averaged 19,791 for home games. The following season -- the injury-riddled 1996-97 campaign -- attendance dipped to 17,235 per game. It doesn't sound like much -- and I suck at math -- but that's a drop of somewhere around 13% in attendance, by my calculations. That's with a fairly strong base of season tickets having been sold the prior summer to fans of a 59-win team. In 1997-98, attendance rose back to 19,109 and the following 4 seasons, was over 21,000 per game. Getting fannies into the seats is, based on those figures, at least, a function of winning games. I wonder sometimes what will happen with the Spurs when the good times come to an end. We'll see where the bandwagon stops.
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