Who will be the Orlando Magic’s next Basketball Hall of Fame inductee?
Grant Hill
Although he is not yet eligible, Grant Hill should be a Basketball Hall of Fame shoe-in. He might not make it on his first ballot, but it should not take more than a few years of eligibility for him to get inducted.
Despite injuries hampering Hill’s tenure with the Magic (and much of his career in general), he still managed to carve out an extremely long and successful career spanning nearly 20 years.
It is important to remember that this is not the NBA Hall of Fame, it is the Basketball Hall of Fame. Achievements at all levels of the sport deserve consideration, and Grant Hill’s years at Duke were nothing short of legendary.
His teams in 1991 and 1992 were the first to win consecutive National Championships in Division I since UCLA did in 1973. Along the way, he also picked up two All-American placements, a Defensive Player of the Year award, and an ACC player of the year award, eventually leading Duke to retire his No. 33 — just the eighth retired number in the program’s history.
His best pro years came at the beginning with the Detroit Pistons, where he earned a Rookie of the Year award and five All-Star appearances. During his prime, Hill was one of the most lethal and well-rounded offensive players the league had ever seen, earning himself six All-NBA berths and six MVP award shares.
While Magic fans never got to see the Grant Hill they hoped for when he first arrived — he played fewer than 50 games in his first four seasons combined — he managed to continue his career despite horrible injuries and became a valuable role player for a series of successful Phoenix Suns teams.
Not many players in the game’s history have come back from, or even experienced injuries at the life-threatening magnitude of what Hill endured. Fewer, if any at all, have been able to come back and play for as long as he did, let alone crank out an All-Star appearance.
While many point to how impressive his 1996 campaign was (20 points per game, 10 rebounds per game and seven assists per game), his final seasons deserve equal repute. Despite everything he went through, he became a 40 percent 3-point shooter (a massive leap from the 26 percent mark he posted in his Pistons years) and managed to average double-digit scoring until he was 40.
Many wonder about how good he could have been. But, in reality, we do not need to wonder at all about how remarkable his career was.
Hill’s impact on the game as an unprecedented, all-around offensive dynamo is indisputable. His perseverance and toughness were superhuman. Although to many Magic fans he is synonymous with disappointment, Grant Hill’s full body of work is Hall of Fame caliber.