About a week ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she asked me if I thought the career of Grant Hill was a sad one.  Initially when I sat and thought about it, I said to myself, she makes a very valid argument.

The first six years of Hill’s career with the Detroit Pistons included All-Star games, playoff appearances, endorsements galore and comparisons to Oscar Robertson.  The next seven years of his career with the Orlando Magic, were filled with injuries, premature comebacks, surgeries, a near-death staph infection, and concerns about whether he would ever play again.

Starting with the last year in Orlando, and continuing with now his third season in Phoenix, Grant Hill is finally healthy–but he’s no longer that dominant player who can average 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on any given night.  Now the 37-year-old Hill averages 12 points and seven rebounds, and although he still shows flashes of his younger days, he is mainly a consistent role player who defers to All-Stars Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire.

So the question remains, is the career of Grant Hill a tragic one?  Based on my brief conversation with him, my answer would be a resounding no.  Prior to our conversation, I watched Hill warm up in the locker room, joke around with teammates, give teammate Jason Richardson advice on how to guard the Wizards’ players, and he looked like a man who was at peace with himself.

During our conversation, Hill discussed what Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is going through as he recovers from knee surgery, he discussed the importance of his website, and he talked about working with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Rashad Mobley: Can you talk a little about what Gilbert Arenas may be going through?  You’ve come off a couple of major surgeries, and you have had to recover from them.  What do you think he’s going through as he tries to get his legs back?
Grant Hill: You gotta  find your rhythm and find your timing.  The key thing I guess is you’re not where you once were–and just from my own experience, I haven’t watched him enough to know–and not to get frustrated with where you are.  But also to not get satisfied.   There’s sort of that fine line not to be satisfied and just to continue to gather days, weeks, months of health.  And as you do that, you’ll start to do things that you did prior to the initial injury, and it’s just a feel.  He’s good enough that at 70-80 percent, he can still go out and play at a very high level and go out and score and all those things.  But it might be in March when he can all of a sudden make a move or defensively do something, and he’ll just think, wow I haven’t done that in three or four years, and you get that confidence.  They key though is to continue to stay healthy, continue to move up and just put together consecutive months of health.

RM: Is that something you continue to struggle with?
GH: For me last year was certainly a confidence boosting season.  There were times when I made a move and I was like wow I haven’t done that since I was in Detroit almost 10 years ago.  So it happens and hopefully he doesnt’ have–well my ordeal was a little more complicated than his–but he’s still young enough and talented enough to where he can still I think regain his game to the level he as was before he got hurt.

RM: Let me switch gears a little.  I looked at your website this morning, and I wondered what made you start that website.  And how much input do you have in terms of what goes on there, how much interaction do you have, and how important do you think that is?
GH: Wow.  We started that back in ‘95 during my first year in the league.  At the time, I didn’t really understand the whole concept of the World Wide Web.  It was new, and I wasn’t on the computer or using the Internet, but people I worked with were suggesting I do so.  And they actually set up a whole kind of scavenger hunt on the website, where every week, it had a trivial question of some sort.  And we ended up having a grand prize where the winner got a chance to go to the All-Star game.  GM supplied a truck and everything, and we just did a lot of things on the Internet back in the 90’s.  Certainly things have changed in that regard, but its a way to communicate with the fans.  And now I control everything, I want to talk about art, talk about some health tips and show some of the things off the court from a business standpoint.  You know I want to give the people a feel for what I’m doing on and off the basketball court.   A lot of guys do that, and its great, its a great vehicle.  If you want to join a mailing list or find out something about somebody, I’m sure you can go on their website and at least get some good information.  Its just a great vehicle whether its a website, guys have twitter and facebooks.  I don’t do ALL that, but certainly, there’s a way to have constant communication with the fans and really give the fans access.  That’s the most important thing.

RM: While I was on your website, I read about your involvement with Kareem’s project/documentary.  Can you talk a little about that experience?
GH: Kareem is a real interesting guy.  I had the opportunity to sit down with him and I have a fascination with African-American Art and this project that he’s involved with is really well put together and done.  You know I have a small involvement in the whole thing, but I certainly wanted to support him.  I think the story of the Harlem Rens is important and as someone who is a lover of that period of time in African-American history, I think its important to tell all different types of stories; especially stories people don’t know, like the historical significance of a team like that and what they were able to accomplish.  So you know, I’m honored I’m involved in a very small way and I look forward to the finished product.

Recent Headlines

• Scouting Report: Courtney Fortson
• Six Players To Watch In The NCAA Tournament
• In The Scrum With Shaun Livingston
• Selection Sunday Chat
• Catching Up With Jay Bilas