If it wasn't for injuries how big could Grant Hill have been???

Well, if he were contagious, he would stand alone... master of the basketball universe.

 

the next jordan? no. their games were markedly different. jordan was much more of a dominant, game controlling scorer. grant was the better rebounder and distributor, though. more of the "complete player". i guess you could call him the "rich man's pippen".

so how good could grant hill have been? well, i think he had the ability to someday post a 15'ppg/10rpg/10apg season. he was that talented.

 

Grant Hill, healthy, is one of the 5 best players in the league...and that's even with such dominant big men as Shaq, Dunc, and Garnett.

Hopefully he'll be back. I hate to see anyone with so much talent fade away like that. (And all because he played on a broken ankle in order to prove to detractors before bolting for Orlando [let's not pretend he hadn't made up his mind about that well in advance] that he could take Detroit out of the first round.)

 

I think he could have been a more well rounded or "complete player" as verse said, but I don't think he would ever have been as dominant as Jordan. I think Hill would be better compared to a Jason Kidd.

 

I remember there was an argument here about a year ago about how good Danny Manning could've been if he never has injured, an argument in which Grant Hill was brought up. That was fun

Anyway - when healthy, Hill is the best small forward in the league and one of the best playmakers in the league, solidly placing him among the league's elite among all players, including the dominant big men.

Even last year, he averaged 17ppg and 9rpg on a 75% ankle. Many players would kill to put up those numbers, yet for Hill, those are subpar. If he's healthy, there's no reason why he shouldn't return to the level that he was at before the injury and continue on his path to the Hall of Fame.

That's how good he could've been, how good he is, and how good he can be, all wrapped up into one. And heck, I've only seen him in a Magic jersey for 20 out of 152 games (2 seasons + 8 playoff contests)!

 

Grant seemed like he would have been the perfect #2 player on a great team (like Pip, Dumars, or Kobe to some extent)

Don't get me wrong he was a great player but he did so many little things well that he could easily defer to another player and still be effective. He played hard defensively, passed extremely well (point forward), rebounded and had some nice offensive moves. No he was not a dominant player but he was/is nice.

Be interesting how well he and T Mac can do if they are both healthy.

 

I agree with Verse. Rich man's Pippen, and that's not too bad. NOt sure if he was the same one-on-one defender as Scotty though.

 

He was capable of being the main man, more so than Pippen. I would rank him pretty far ahead of pippen. I don't think he'll ever be the same though. I don't remember anybody coming back from that kind of a layoff and being the same. The chances of him physically working himself back to where he used to be and his body holding up for 80 games a year are low IMO.

 

Grant Hill = Ernie Banks