<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">This is what you'd expect from most any NBA player. Forget about loyalty. Forget about commitment. Go to the best team. Go to a place where you have the best chance to get a ring. Yep, this is what you'd expect from most any NBA player. Just not Grant Hill. That's why my first reaction Thursday when I heard Hill would be leaving the Magic to go to the title-contending Phoenix Suns was not anger or animosity or even annoyance. It was just disappointment. And sadness. I thought Grant Hill was different. I thought he would do the classy thing. The noble thing. The right thing. Silly me. Somehow, I thought Grant was above being a mercenary. I thought he would make the difficult and decent choice, not the easy selfish one. This is, after all, Grant Hill we're talking about, not Kobe or T-Mac or any of the NBA's other self-centered divas. He is supposed to represent more than simply doing what's best for himself. See, "Grant Hill" isn't just a name; it's an ideal. He's supposed to be altruistic, not egotistic. He's supposed to stand tall for what's right, not cut and run and coattail his way to a ring. After the Magic stuck by him for all these years, didn't you think he'd at least stick by them for one more season? The Magic paid him $93 million for seven years of misery and medical maladies and never once publicly complained. Couldn't he have given them just one more season at the bargain-basement salary of $1.8 million, which reportedly is what the Suns will pay him next season? This further cements Hill's Orlando legacy as the worst free-agent signing in the history of sports. Not only does he leave after playing only 200 regular-season games (out of a possible 574) in seven years, but he's leaving on his own two feet. After five ankle surgeries, he finally finished the season healthy last year -- and now he can't get out of town fast enough. He showed up in Orlando with a broken ankle; he leaves Orlando with broken dreams. I know, I know, logically you can't blame him. Come on, who would you rather play for -- one of the most exciting high-scoring teams in the league or one of the most tedious low-scoring teams in the league? There's no comparison between the Suns and the Magic. This is like choosing between a hot fudge sundae and an asparagus-rutabaga casserole. But we're not talking logically; we're talking loyalty. We're talking about a team and a town that have put forth an enormous financial and emotional investment in Hill. We loved him despite the crippling effect his massive contract had on the franchise. He never was booed by the fans or savaged by the media. Hill said Thursday it was just time to move on. No, Grant, it was time to step up. Step up and say, "Hey, Orlando, you stood by me. Now I'm going to stand by you."</div> Source: Orlando Sentinel
I don't really care. He doesn't owe us anything. If he wants to go try to win a ring in Phoenix in a very limited role then so be it. He won't be starting next year in Phoenix and likely won't even be the first person off the bench(Diaw), so I wish him well.
The NBA is different now a days. Loyalty and Honor means nothing when you wanna win. Staying with one team your whole career is not a common thing anymore. Iverson, Hill, maybe Kobe, Shaq it's a common occurrence for a player to leave their team to win, which is fine by all means. When you have gone as long as Hill has without a ring, he deserves to win one, and now is the time.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">he deserves to win one</div> Does he really? He had 5-6 great seasons, but he just fell apart with injuries, hitting him more often than a common cold. That isn't exactly his fault, but that doesn't warrant a ring either. Think about the players who have went 10+ seasons without a ring, such as Stockton, Malone etc, does he deserve it more than them?
<div class="quote_poster">Kidd Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Does he really? He had 5-6 great seasons, but he just fell apart with injuries, hitting him more often than a common cold. That isn't exactly his fault, but that doesn't warrant a ring either. Think about the players who have went 10+ seasons without a ring, such as Stockton, Malone etc, does he deserve it more than them?</div> I never said he deserves one more or less then Stockton or Malone, he deserves one, so does Stockton, Malone, Iverson and other vets who are nearing the end of their career. KG and Nash too. I'm just saying he deserves one.
I certainly wouldn't say he deserves a ring. No one deserves a ring, you have to earn a ring and if he would rather take the easier approach of jumping on with a powerhouse for the minimum, so be it. The whole injury thing was partially the Magic's fault. We could have eased him back, but we always rushed him back into starters minutes and being on eof the most important players on our team.
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I certainly wouldn't say he deserves a ring. No one deserves a ring, you have to earn a ring and if he would rather take the easier approach of jumping on with a powerhouse for the minimum, so be it. The whole injury thing was partially the Magic's fault. We could have eased him back, but we always rushed him back into starters minutes and being on eof the most important players on our team.</div> He was injured before the Magic did the trade. They thought he was going to recover though. We should've kept Atkins and Big Ben. We could have done so good. Also, we would have been able to get McGrady and we tried for Duncan but his stupid ass wife didn't wanna come here.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After the Magic stuck by him for all these years, didn't you think he'd at least stick by them for one more season? The Magic paid him $93 million for seven years of misery and medical maladies and never once publicly complained. Couldn't he have given them just one more season at the bargain-basement salary of $1.8 million, which reportedly is what the Suns will pay him next season? This further cements Hill's Orlando legacy as the worst free-agent signing in the history of sports. Not only does he leave after playing only 200 regular-season games (out of a possible 574) in seven years, but he's leaving on his own two feet. After five ankle surgeries, he finally finished the season healthy last year -- and now he can't get out of town fast enough.</div> I couldn't agree more. This was a very interesting part of the article to me: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Hill said Thursday it was just time to move on. No, Grant, it was time to step up. Step up and say, "Hey, Orlando, you stood by me. Now I'm going to stand by you."</div> Like Shake said, loyalty means nothing in the NBA. When you want to win, you go for the win, no matter what.
What do you want him to do? Watch the Howard/Lewis show for 2 years? Most Magic fans dont even want him here, now everyone is all pissed that he is leaving. Hill gave everything he could to the Magic and people dont relize that, he could have retired and still gotten paid but he still tried to comeback
<div class="quote_poster">TwinTowers Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What do you want him to do? Watch the Howard/Lewis show for 2 years? Most Magic fans dont even want him here, now everyone is all pissed that he is leaving. Hill gave everything he could to the Magic and people dont relize that, he could have retired and still gotten paid but he still tried to comeback</div> I couldn't hav said it better, let him go to a contender we just aren't there yet and he realizes that. he doesn't owe anything.
Tmac self-centered? this writer obviously knows nothing about NBA basketball, what an idiot! tmac is a great guy and isnt self centered in the slightest god what a crap writer. Hill is a veteran, i beleive veterans should be able to dedide where they go without flack from fukin dumbshits like this guy.
<div class="quote_poster">TwinTowers Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What do you want him to do? Watch the Howard/Lewis show for 2 years? Most Magic fans dont even want him here, now everyone is all pissed that he is leaving. Hill gave everything he could to the Magic and people dont relize that, he could have retired and still gotten paid but he still tried to comeback</div> Good post. I personally didn't even want him on this team. He did try to come back and avg. solid #s for us. He doesn't deserve a championship, but I still wishes he gets one. Karl Malone and Gary Payton did the same thing. They both are HOFs for sure and they tried to get a championship. Gary actually accomplished that but people were criticizing him. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AKIRA:</div><div class="quote_post">Tmac self-centered? this writer obviously knows nothing about NBA basketball, what an idiot! tmac is a great guy and isnt self centered in the slightest god what a crap writer. Hill is a veteran, i beleive veterans should be able to dedide where they go without flack from fukin dumbshits like this guy.</div> I honestly agree with most of what you're saying. I think T-Mac didn't want to leave the Magic initially. That dumbass GM of ours not named Otis Smith but hockeyhead wanted him gone. McGrady did want us to trade the pick for an All-Star vet though.
<div class="quote_poster">CLos Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> I honestly agree with most of what you're saying. I think T-Mac didn't want to leave the Magic initially. That dumbass GM of ours not named Otis Smith but hockeyhead wanted him gone. McGrady did want us to trade the pick for an All-Star vet though.</div> Weisbrod didn't want Tmac gone. Not sure where you got that. He asked Tmac to sign the extension so that he can't opt out after the next year and Tmac refused. Weisbrod did jump the gun a little bit, but with what happened with Shaq can you blame him? Not to mention that was as high as his stock was going to go. We would have had to have a firesale at the trading deadline and got much less back for him. I don't blame Weisbrod too much for the handling of Tmac. It was more John Gabriel's lack of being able to put people around Tmac that got him angry, not hockey boy. Hockey boy pissed off Francis with the Mobley trade.
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Weisbrod didn't want Tmac gone. Not sure where you got that. He asked Tmac to sign the extension so that he can't opt out after the next year and Tmac refused. Weisbrod did jump the gun a little bit, but with what happened with Shaq can you blame him? Not to mention that was as high as his stock was going to go. We would have had to have a firesale at the trading deadline and got much less back for him. I don't blame Weisbrod too much for the handling of Tmac. It was more John Gabriel's lack of being able to put people around Tmac that got him angry, not hockey boy. Hockey boy pissed off Francis with the Mobley trade.</div> I probably got that confused a bit with Gabriel. I definitely know that T-Mac got pissed off with someone and I think it was Gabriel. I was thinking of Francis getting mad at HockeyBoy for getting rid of his BF for fashion designer.
Well Tmac did make a bad comment directed at hockeyboy, because he basically forced Tmac into making a decision. But with the way the Magic lose great players for nothing, I don't blame Weisbrod for getting as high compensation as he possibly could have and that was when we traded him.
<div class="quote_poster">CLos Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Couldn't we have gotten Shawn Marion though?</div> If I remember correctly, he didn't want to play in Orlando. I think the real rumor was Joe Johnson and pick #7(could have gotten Luol Deng ), but Joe Johnson wasn't proven yet and was asking for a huge contract and we already had the #1 pick. Then the draft passed, so we couldn't get a better offer than the one we took. Don't forget, Steve Francis was a perennial all-star at the time, Cuttino Mobley was one of the most underrated players in the league, and Cato was a servicable big man(something we didn't have since Shaq). Also don't forget we started that season off 13-4 or something similar before Mobley got hurt, then eventually got dealt. I don't think either party can complain though. Tmac has a much better situation of a GM that actually cares about him and builds around him and Yao and I can't complain with the Magic's current situation(assuming we do something else this offseason).
Well I'm surprised T-Mac isn't complaining. He still has gotten out of the 1st round. Hopefully the Magic make more moves either with a S&T or FA signing.
at the end of the day, its all BS... when you're with a team, you have to act fake, you have to act loyal so other teams see that and sign you... meanwhile you put all this BS out to the media and they eat it up like dog food
Yeah honestly, what do you expect him to do? He's not going to play much longer. It would be a waste for him to stay in Orlando because they aren't going to contend. Does this writer expect him to go sign with the Hawks or Pacers? Plus, he's going to Phoenix, where he is going to have a chance to play. His role will be limited in comparison to here in Orlando, but that's the way it should be as a team shouldn't rely on a player with an injury past like Hill's. He also will have a chance to start, because Diaw had trouble being effective this year as Amare dominated the ball down low most of the time. His competition would be Kurt Thomas. Even if he isn't the 6th man, he's the second swing off the bench and he'll be contributing too.
