Everything
in life has a transitional period and in the game of basketball it's
no different. Over the last few seasons fans like myself have seen
guys they grew up watching play retire from the game such as Shaq,
Rasheed Wallace and Baron Davis. In the last few days 2 players who I
grew up with and have been in the league for as long as I can
remember retired from pro basketball. I am speaking about Grant Hill
and Jason Kidd of course, who both shared rookie of the year honors
in 1994.
Both
of these talented players careers take on a different meaning. For
Grant Hill it was a bunch of “What if's” due to injuries
throughout the course of his career he was never ever able to hit his
peak as a basketball player. For Jason Kidd he was a game changer who
reinvented himself several times and took the perennial cellar
dwelling New Jersey Nets to new heights taking them to the finals
twice. Regardless of what happened though both had their fair share
of great moments on the basketball court.
Grant
Hill had all the hype coming in from Duke capturing 2 national
championships garnering hype from many of the biggest names in
basketball at that time. “He is simply a marvelous player who can do
it all” Larry Brown said. He at one point was heralded as “The
next Michael Jordan” and had the explosiveness to prove it just go
on youtube. In fact Michael Jordan back in an interview stated the
following about Grant Hill”I think Grant Hill's skills are
unbelievable, he is definitely the type of player that can take over
a game, he's probably top 4 players in the game today”. To actually
get that praise from the guy you are being compared is a big deal.
For
all the praise Grant received he also was unable to show the NBA
world what his ceiling was due to many injuries. From 1999- 2008
Grant had problems staying on the court and never played 75+ games in
that time frame. It makes you wonder what a healthy Grant Hill and
Tracy Mcgrady could have done in Orlando with the Magic. They most
likely wold of been contenders in the east year in year out.
There
are many ways we can look at the career of Grant Hill. We can say
“Here is Grant Hill who couldn't stay healthy, who let the fans
down, Fila down and never maximized his potential”. Or we can say
“Here is Grant Hill who didn't live up to the hype but was still a
7 time All-Star who fought his injuries to the very end to still
become a productive role player in the league". If you want to know
how great Grant Hill was at one point look at the tweet from ESPN's
stats twitter account down below and you will see how great Grant was.
Grant Hill retires. He's 1 of 6 players to average 20-5-5 in his first 6 NBA seasons.It's an impressive list twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/…
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 2, 2013
Jason
Kidd is different then Grant though he had hype but was more durable
to prove it to be true. He came into the league as a guy who could do
a little of everything Score,pass, rebound and was a bit bigger and
stronger then most point guards which allowed him to get 107
Triple-Doubles over the course of his career.
Jason
Kidd will always be known to most basketball fans as the guy who
elevated the then New Jersey Nets franchise to new heights taking
them to the finals 2 times. The only problem is the Nets ran into the
2 biggest dynasty’s of this era in the Lakers and Spurs but make no
mistake about it Kidd was a game changer. Whether with Vince Carter,
Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson or Kerry Kittles Kidd made the Nets
a must watch team in the NBA and played some of the most exciting
basketball of the 2000's leading the league in assists 5 times in his
tenure with the Nets. So to the Brooklyn Nets Organization retire #5
at the Barclay’s center.
Of
course all the accolades with Nets were great but the legacy of Kidd
was cemented in 2011 when as a member of the Dallas Mavericks where
he earned his 1st and only championship ring beating
Lebron James and the Miami Heat. From that part of his career to now
he had to transition his game from a guy who liked to get to the
basket to a guy who became a shooter and worked tirelessly to improve
his perimeter J. As he leaves the league he is the 3rd
greatest shooter in NBA History which is a testament to how hard he
worked as a player.
So
to the careers of Jason Kidd and Grant Hill I on behalf of many
basketball fans say so long, It was a joy to watch you play.
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