<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Orlando Magic sees signs that a new comeback by Grant Hill might not end up like the others. "We endeavored to build the team without him," said Orlando general manager John Weisbrod, referring to the on-again, off-again status of Hill the past four years. "We just got burned so many times by making him one of the focal points. The way we looked at it is that if he was healthy, that would be icing on the cake. And the way he looks now, we're excited." It's easy to forget Hill still is in the league and still in Orlando. Since signing with the Magic in the summer of 2000, he has played 47 games, none last season. He has had three major operations while with the Magic, the last on March 18, 2003, when his left ankle was realigned and his heel reshaped. His last NBA game was Jan. 16, 2003. Can it be Hill is now, once and for all, ready? "I'm doing great. I feel good and I am working hard," Hill told The Boston Globe. "It's been a long off-season, but I did keep myself busy. Even during last season, which was my off-season, I was in the gym every day working on my game, trying to get better. And I look forward to hopefully showing everyone what I worked on."</div> Link (Rocky Mountain News) This is great news, if we can have the old Grant Hill back we will be a top 5 playoff team (I know I douted that before in some other thread but with a heathly Hill we will go far) Comments? Hopefully he can prove some people that he still has a couple season's left in him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">This is great news, if we can have the old Grant Hill back we will be a top 5 playoff team (I know I douted that before in some other thread but with a heathly Hill we will go far)</div> Don't count on that. Whether Grant Hill is 100% or not, he is not the same player period. And let's say he is 100%, he's indicated before in his latest return that he's plays in a precautious state, which definitely puts a hold him from playing at his best. He knows that if he re-injures that ankle again, he may very well never play an NBA game again. However, I?m very happy to see that he?s attempting to make another comeback. It?s just sad, that he had to go through all of this with a very promising future ahead of him. At one point he averaged around 20 PPG, 9 RPG and 6 APG if I?m correct. Well anyways that was a pretty impressive stat line, and just think how good he could have been if he was never plagued by this injury.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">just think how good he could have been if he was never plagued by this injury.</div> Just think how good the magic could be if they had the money to spend that Hill is eating up while on the bench.
Wow Hill can't help being injured. God I know he didn't turn out well at all that he was invested in but couldn't perform. Anyways if he can stay somewhat healthy I still feel like he could give a solid contribution. Say he plays 70 games, I think he can give the Magic at least 13.5, 6, 5 a game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Just think how good the magic could be if they had the money to spend that Hill is eating up while on the bench.</div> As if you can blame players for getting injured!! just think how good the magic can/will be if/when Hill returns I remeber when grant was back in Detroit, he was awesome player, even lead his team in the majority of categories. How were the magic to know he wouuldn't play much the next 4 seasons? he is one of my top all time players! same with penny. why do all my favs get struct down with these injuries!! lets hope it doesn't happen to T-Mac
I've said it all summer long. From what I've heard, G.Hill finally looks healthy. This is it! Now whether he'll be the All-Star he once was is another question. Remember, Ilgaukus had major foot injuries and came back ok. I think he even made the All-Star game last year. (could be wrong)
I'm going to be very happy to see Grant have a sucessful comeback,Magic fans have been waiting for this season forever,and this time I think he will be able to complete his comeback. Even though he wont be the same player he once was,he still has fresh legs (he hasnt played in I dont no how many seasons) and I bealive he can produce 15ppg 3.5rpg,and 6 or 7apg.He will be a good player to lead this team and I want to see Grant Hill finish his carrer strong, because who knows how many more season he will be able to play. BTW Z was on the 2002-2003 All Star team.
This is possibly the best news I have heard through the offseason. Hill is a solid player, and this year he will be amazing. Steve Francis will NEVER be the leader of a NBA team. Francis won't lead the Magic in scoring, Grant will. No, Im not cracked. Grant managed to score 17+ points per game in his seasons with the Magic, and that was him far from 100%. 20ppg is not totally unrealistic. In the East, he will still be one of the better rebounders, and 7-8 rpg is not unrealistic either. On the Magic, with 2 SGs in the starting lineup (Francis is a SG with a PG body) Grant will be the one who sets up the offence, something like in Detroit, as Lindsey Hunter was never much of a playmaker...more defensive/3point role player; so 6-7 apg sounds pretty realistic. All-Star Starter this year. Vince, meet some somethinig we call the Bench. TMac will wish you never left Orlando.
You guys all need to get off of Grant Hill's <font color="DarkRed">(edited)</font> and realize that he will never be anything more than a role player. Tmac is not going to regret leaving orlando, because Yao is better than Grant Hill anyday. Grant cant help injuries, but he can stop giving fans false hope. Saying how good he feels and stuff, it's all talk until he produces. He is killing an organization, and getting a courtside seat to every game while he does it.
I hate being pessimistic, but haven't they said this the last couple of years? At best he will be a 13 5 5 player. We are loaded at SG/SF so HOPEFULLY we won't rush him in and we only give him about 20-25 mins the 1st month or 2 of the season. I'm not gonna get my hopes up about him, because I've been let down a couple of times already.
I wish him the best of luck with this comeback, but I'm honestly not expecting that much from him at this point. I had hopes the last comeback and he went down pretty quickly. Best of luck Grant.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">You guys all need to get off of Grant Hill's <font color="DarkRed">(edited)</font> and realize that he will never be anything more than a role player. Tmac is not going to regret leaving orlando, because Yao is better than Grant Hill anyday. .</div> Where in this thread did anyone even suggest that this was the case? We're not saying that Grant Hill is going to be the Magic's messiah and resurrect the team all by himself, nor are we saying that T-Mac will wish he was still here. I suggest you not post on this board if you're going to approach threads like this with that kind of attitude, because in all honesty, it's not really appreciated. I think we all realize here that Grant Hill is not going to be the player he once was, ever. We're just looking for him to come back and give us something. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Grant cant help injuries, but he can stop giving fans false hope. Saying how good he feels and stuff, it's all talk until he produces. He is killing an organization, and getting a courtside seat to every game while he does it.</div> I can't argue this point though, but the truth is that this problem is just as much John Gabriel's fault as it is Grant's. He can't help being injured, but I think that he at least owes it to the whole team to not push himself way too early like he has in his previous comebacks. But at the same time, Gabriel allowed it to happen. A lot of people don't know this, but Weisbrod made making sure Grant Hill was ready to play a full season a top priority of his this summer. The reason behind it all boils down to the Magic being able to find out whether he is done for good or ready to play in the right amount of time. Believe it or not, if Hill gets injured again and is deemed to be out forever, he'll come off the cap after next season as long as he has played a certain number of games or less (I believe it's 15). However, if he were to get through that many games or more, he wouldn't come off the cap for quite some time. It's now understandable why Weisbrod made such a big deal out of making Grant Hill work hard in the offseason and make him attend Training Camp and play through the pre-season to make sure that his ankle can withstand some wear and tear. It's all coming to an end sooner than later though, even if he is healthy, I doubt that he is going to demand a bigger contract when his current one is up and I have a feeling that as soon as the Magic can dump him off on another team that they'll do so. I myself was hoping that they'd leave him unprotected in the expansion draft and that he'd get picked up by the Bobcats.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting explosive:</div><div class="quote_post">Where in this thread did anyone even suggest that this was the case? We're not saying that Grant Hill is going to be the Magic's messiah and resurrect the team all by himself, nor are we saying that T-Mac will wish he was still here.</div> Go back and read post #8 in this thread. Whoever made that post thinks that Grant will score more than Francis. And in the last line he clearly stated that Tmac will wish he never left Orlando. Next time please read before you accuse someone of making false accusations.
post #8 <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Francis won't lead the Magic in scoring, Grant will.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">TMac will wish you never left Orlando.</div> Jurassic is absolutely correct. Then again TheMegaGreg has his av set at and his favorite player listed as Grant Hill, so overrating Grant Hills potential contributions this season shouldn't be viewed as that big of a surprise. Many posters do it for thier favorite player(s), for right or wrong. It's probably due in part to thier faith in that players abilities. I like Grant Hill and if healthy, he'll likely be a decent player. However, <font color="DarkRed">IF HEALTHY </font> is probably the most profound part of that last statement. Predicting 20+ a game out of a guy who hasn't played for a large majority of 3 seasons due to injury, has attempted to come back once already and re-succumbed to that same injury, seems like going out on quite a ledge, IMO.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/stor...eter&id=1890708 If I was a Magic fan, I'd be pretty damn excited right now. I think it'll be a totally different team, and will likely be the most improved team next year (if Grant Hill doesn't reinjure himself). Last year, all the Magic had was a grumbling superstar, an above-average post scorer, and a bunch of scrubs. Now they have the old Rockets backcourt of Francis and Mobley, who I expect will play much better next year rid of Van Gundy's stultifying system. You have the number 1 draft pick and ROY contender (if not a favorite) Dwight Howard, who should be a star after a few years. Your center position is better with Cato, though not admittedly not drastically so. That alone makes your team significantly better, IMO. Add to that a returning Grant Hill who could potentially return to All-star form if he is indeed healthy. Playing at around 60% the past few years he put up "decent" numbers; I expect him to be more than decent this year. I think this Magic team is playoff bound, which is a huge turnaround.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hagrid:</div><div class="quote_post">post #8 Predicting 20+ a game out of a guy who hasn't played for a large majority of 3 seasons due to injury, has attempted to come back once already and re-succumbed to that same injury, seems like going out on quite a ledge, IMO.</div> Hill purposely took a year off in order to heal completely. Now, he's apparently confident that he will be at 100% next year. Most players who are unsure of themselves wouldn't say that publicly, because they wouldn't want to put too much pressure on themselves. But Hill is saying it. In my mind, that suggests some pretty good things will happen for Hill and the Magic next year.
No offense, but Hill was confident the last time he tried to come back. He played well for a very short while (in relation to the whole season) and then went down again. Besides, what else would you expect Hill to say? "I'm already wasting millions of Orlando's money, so I'm going to give it a go again and maybe it'll work out?" Of course he's going to be confident that this time he's going to overcome the injury problems. IMO, he can't approach the season in any other manner. If he plays like he's worried about the injury, it's going to be a hinderance to his performance. I'm not here to knock Hill and I've made that clear since my first post in this thread. I hope he succeeds this time. I just don't expect it to happen and the odds are severely against him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hagrid:</div><div class="quote_post">No offense, but Hill was confident the last time he tried to come back. He played well for a very short while (in relation to the whole season) and then went down again. Besides, what else would you expect Hill to say? "I'm already wasting millions of Orlando's money, so I'm going to give it a go again and maybe it'll work out?" Of course he's going to be confident that this time he's going to overcome the injury problems. IMO, he can't approach the season in any other manner. If he plays like he's worried about the injury, it's going to be a hinderance to his performance. I'm not here to knock Hill and I've made that clear since my first post in this thread. I hope he succeeds this time. I just don't expect it to happen and the odds are severely against him.</div> Ok. I'm optimistic that this year will be different for him. We'll see.
The way I see it, we have 3 possible scenarios... and only those 3. You can subscribe to whatever point of view you may have on it, but it all boils down to these 3 possibilities. 1) Grant blows out his ankle again after only playing a handful of games, and we finally get some closure with the situation (not to mention cap relief). 2) Grant blows out his ankle after say, 25 games and we lose cap relief. We'd still have closure, but nonetheless this is the worst scenario. 3) Grant makes a comeback and puts in some quality work. Nobody knows exactly what's going to happen. (period)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Go back and read post #8 in this thread. Whoever made that post thinks that Grant will score more than Francis. And in the last line he clearly stated that Tmac will wish he never left Orlando. Next time please read before you accuse someone of making false accusations.</div> That's ONE person. And the guy is big a Grant Hill. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">You guys all need to get off of Grant Hill's (edited) and realize that he will never be anything more than a role player. </div> guys. That's plural. As in, more than one. I think most of us don't expect G.Hill to be the All-Star he once was. But if he does, it's an added bonus.
