After a stellar four years at Duke Univ., where he was a member of two national championship teams and a unanimous All-America as a senior, GRANT HILL was chosen by the Pistons with the third overall pick in the ‘94 NBA Draft. He quickly made his mark in the pro game, sharing Rookie of the Year honors with JASON KIDD, becoming a member of the Gold Medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in ‘96 and earning all-NBA first-team honors the following season. He was traded in ‘00 to Orlando, where ankle injuries limited him to just 47 games in his first four seasons. Hill returned to the court a year ago, averaged nearly 20 points and was voted a starter in the All-Star game. He also was presented with the league’s Sportsmanship Award. Hill spoke with SportsBusiness Journal New York bureau chief Jerry Kavanagh.
PERSONAL
Date & Place of Birth: October 5, 1972, in Dallas, Texas
Education: B.A., History, Duke
FAVORITES
Vacation spot: Martha’s Vineyard
Piece of music: Anything my wife does (Hill is married to singer TAMIA)
Movie: “Coming to America”
Author: PAT CONROY
Last book read: “Is BILL COSBY Right?: or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?”
Best basketball movie: “Hoosiers”
Worst basketball movie: “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh” (Sorry, Dr. J)
Sportswriter: Surprisingly, I like PETER VECSEY, in a weird kind of way.
Greatest extravagance: Nice clothes and my artwork.
Smartest player: MICHAEL JORDAN
Most competitive: Michael Jordan
Most colorful trash talker: GARY PAYTON.
Quote: “Never wrestle with a pig because you both get dirty and the pig likes it.” My dad used to tell me that one. He has a lot of quotes. I can’t remember all of them.
Q: STENDHAL wrote, “Life is short, and the time we waste in yawning can never be gained.” How do you keep from being bored?
Hill: Oh, boy. There’s too much to do and too much to see and try to learn and conquer to be bored. Even when I was hurt and unable to play and sitting on the sidelines, I kept myself busy. I looked at it as an opportunity to learn and to expand my horizons. There’s still a lot of that I’d like to do: a lot of travel, a lot of growth as a human being, a lot in the business world I’d like to try to conquer. So, life, when one door closes, another one opens. I’ve never been the type to sit back and say, ‘I’m bored.’ I’m the busybody.
Q: Some famous people over the years have made dramatic career changes. For example, ALBERT EINSTEIN went from desk clerk to physicist. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE from detective novelist to doctor. And ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER from Mr. Universe to Governor of California. Do you have a career in mind for when you hang up the sneakers?
Hill: Yeah, but definitely not politics. I’m excited about and looking forward to that day, but I’m going to play basketball as long as I can. I have some goals and things I’d like to accomplish when my career is over. I’d like to be a real-estate developer, commercial and/or residential. I’ve done a little bit of both. I’m in a position now where I can slowly get into that whole world and learn and get involved in some deals on a small-time level. But definitely a business person in the world of real estate excites me very much
Q: You had a turn in the broadcast studio as a game analyst. Is there a future there behind the microphones and cameras?
Hill: Yeah, that could happen. I’d like to maybe try to do that. It’s something that I think if I were given more time I could improve at. It’s something that would keep you in and around the game, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.
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| Hill’s Art Collection Currently On
Display At Basketball HOF |
Q: The Hall of Fame dedicated a locker to you to honor your accomplishments and contributions to the game. The ceremony coincided with your art collection on display in the Hall. Tell me about your collection and how you got started.
Hill: That is another passion. I started collecting African-American art when I first entered the league in Detroit. My parents collected art, so I was in and around art, and African Art, my entire life. When I had my own home and I had the resources, I began slowly to put together a collection myself.
Q: You have always been considered a role model in the game. First, as a student-athlete at Duke and later as the “savior” of basketball, as GQ called you. Are athletes held to a higher standard? Has that been a blessing or a burden?
Hill: I look at it as a blessing. One of the things we’ve always done in this country, and really all over the world, is look at our athletes as heroes. And with that comes a certain responsibility. Some athletes embrace it and some don’t. But I feel that what we do is a privilege, not a birthright. Sometimes, maybe, we lose sight of that and forget the effect we have on people, not just with our performance but how we conduct ourselves off the field or the court. It’s not a burden. There are only a handful who are fortunate enough to be looked at in this way.
Q: Are there any athletes today whose style you particularly admire?
Hill: I guess maybe because I’m an old-school head, I tend to look back at athletes I grew up watching and admiring: Michael Jordan, MAGIC JOHNSON, SCOTTIE PIPPEN, ARTHUR ASHE. I admire LANCE ARMSTRONG. When you’re going through something that’s difficult, like an ankle injury, you look for examples of people who persevered. Reading his story and following his success was definitely inspiring for me. And hopefully in a small way I can be inspiring to others.
Q: You characterize yourself as “old school.” But nowadays you see a lot of posturing and showmanship. Is showtime an inextricable part of sports?
Hill: It is, and I like to think that at times I can have moves and make plays that excite my teammates and the fans. Sometimes we cross the line. That’s unfortunate. You still have to respect your opponent and respect the game. But that’s the way we can get on “SportsCenter” and the highlights and have people talk about us. It’s style over substance. We have a generation of people who have grown up with that mentality, so it reflects in the game; not just in basketball but in all games. People may say that San Antonio is a boring team, a team that doesn’t rank well in the ratings, but they do everything right. They may not have a lot of flash, but they get it done. They just win. Winning to me is not boring.
Q: I read where you said, “My father never talked to me about working hard. He just did it.” Was that an inspiration to you growing up?
Hill: Both my parents, whatever they were doing, they worked hard. To be successful, whether it’s on the football field or in business, I saw the work ethic day in and day out from an early age. To me, that was the natural thing to do. It’s what I saw.
Q: What’s the best thing about basketball?
Hill: It’s a team sport. I don’t care how good you are as an individual. Yeah, at times you can carry a team and score a bunch of points, but ultimately it’s five individuals coming together as one. When you look at the two teams in the Finals this year, they exemplified that. They might not have had the most talent from top to bottom, but they played together the best.
Q: Is there anything in the game you would not miss if it were eliminated? JERRY WEST singled out the dunk and the three-pointer.
Hill: That’s a good point. That baseball commercial a few years ago said, “Chicks dig the long ball.” The game has evolved into a lot of slam dunks and deep, long jump shots. You hope that the fundamentals aren’t lost in all of that: the mid-range game and high-percentage shots. At the same time, the dunk and the three-pointer make it exciting. I guess fans dig the dunk.
Q: You were on “The Big Idea” with DONNY DEUTSCH. What’s the best new big idea you’ve heard?
Hill: As it pertains to the NBA, I like the fact that there is a new age restriction. I don’t know if it’s going to have that much of a difference, but I know I enjoyed my four years in college and I would hope that other players — not that they’re not talented enough to come in and play right away — would grow off the court and experience what I was fortunate enough to experience in my four years. The fact that we have put in an age restriction, I think, is good. It sends the right message to young people, to 13-and 14-year-old kids who are thinking about the NBA and not thinking about college.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge facing the NBA?
Hill: We got the biggest challenge out of the way: the lockout. But I think we have to continue to put a good product on the court and be able to identify with the fans. We’re making millions of dollars and the average fan is the average American citizen. As athletes, sometimes we lose sight of that. Ultimately the fans are the ones who support us, who pay our salaries and make this league successful. So, just understanding and being able to connect with today’s fan is the most important thing. It’s on our shoulders to take some of that responsibility.
