Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Retrospective: Where Does Tobias Harris Rank In All-Time Small Forwards?

By Brett David Roberts

Apr 8, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris (12) pushes back Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic (44) during an NBA basketball game at Amway Center. The Orlando Magic beat the Chicago Bulls 105-103. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris (12) pushes back Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic (44) during an NBA basketball game at Amway Center. The Orlando Magic beat the Chicago Bulls 105-103. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 11
Next

4. Grant Hill

47338730
47338730 /

It may pain some Magic fans to see Grant Hill placed this high in the all-time small forward rankings, but it is more a reflection of how weak the talent has been at the 3-spot in franchise history.

Even with Hill seemingly always injured while in Orlando, he was not a middling role player like the six talents that preceded him in this slide show.

So, try to set aside the disappointment of not having the future legend that he was with the Detroit Pistons. Try to let go of what Hill “should” have been, and just accept that fact that what he was still is far better than what the majority of Magic small forwards have been.

Hill played just four games in the 2001 season after being signed that summer. He followed that up with just 43 games in the two seasons following. Hill then appeared in 67 games (all starts) in the 2005 season, and he looked to be on his way back to stardom.

That season, he averaged nearly 20 points per game while dishing out three assists and grabbing four rebounds per game.

Hill then was hit by the injury bug again, playing just 21 games the next season. In 2007, he recovered to average 15 points and three rebounds per game in 65 appearances. And then he was gone.

In all, Hill spent five years in Orlando and really only exhibited about 120 games of quality ball, but to say that 20 points per game does not land him ahead of the other names to grace this list would be a bit absurd.

Hill’s tenure in Orlando may have been tinged mostly with disappointment, but he was not trying to sit out and get paid — he just had an extraordinary run of bad luck that even included a nearly fatal staph infection.

So, there will be the fans that sit back and act disgusted that Hill was not the Hall-of-Fame caliber talent he was on his way to being in Orlando, but his class and effort in trying to overcome the screws in his ankle, the rods in his leg, and the infections that came . . . that exhibited enough that we can look favorably on the fact Hill tried.

And when he did play, he was still pretty darn good.

Next: Hone the 'J,' become the All-Star