SAN ANTONIO — For someone who recently survived nearly being crushed by Michigan’s Moe Wagner during the closing minutes of the Wolverines’ Final Four win over Loyola-Chicago, Grant Hill is in great spirits on Monday morning. Nothing could bring down the shine that this weekend had brought.
On Saturday, he was announced as a member of the 2018 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class. Later that day, his shocked face while Wagner barreled straight at him turned into a meme. Let’s be honest, though: we would have had the exact same reaction.
I met up with Hill in his hotel on Monday to discuss that, his Hall of Fame induction, and which NFL player really is his dad. Hill has also been a spokesperson for the Choices Matter Campaign, a venture by the American Society for Enhanced Recovery that is promoting awareness for our national problem with opioid overprescription and painkiller alternatives.
This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Let’s start with the important news of the weekend: you almost got ran over by Mo Wagner. You became a meme!
GH: [laughing] It did become a meme. Yeah, it was an incredible moment, and I got to share that with Bill Raftery and Jim Nance. I am a meme and I’ve seen some funny ones. You know you’ve officially arrived in life when you become a meme, but the moment was crazy.
First of all, Mo Wagner comes towards us, and we’re all in shock. Bill’s in shock. I’m very in shock and in fear, as you can see from my facial expressions. He steps on the table and he steps on Bill’s reading glasses when they were on the table, and then he’s heading right towards me. As I’m expressing myself, I’m also sliding back in my chair, which has wheels on the bottom of it. If I had stayed in there and taken the charge, it would’ve got real ugly.
I saw some people suggest that on Twitter. That would have been bad.
GH: Oh yeah. And then after, Jim Nantz describes it, and he says, “Grant, you’re a mee-mee now.” And so, all three of us, it was just ... [laughs]
But the thing that was surprising, was that the table that was there was very flimsy. He stepped right on it and jumped down, and obviously, the court is up high, almost like a stage. It looks that way, presents itself that way. He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt. If that thing had given, it would have been ugly. It was funny, and I think it’s hilarious. Some of the memes that had been sent to me have been really, really funny.
Yeah, I’ve seen those tables. It’s not wooden or anything.
GH: Yeah. What can you really do?
But OK, seriously, congratulations on your Hall of Fame induction. That’s amazing. Who’s the first person you thought of when you got that news, someone who was that important to your basketball career.
GH: You know, I was with my wife so I told my wife first. I thought of my dad. Your parents, they’re with you from day one on the journey. So obviously there’s been a lot of important coaches, and important figures, and important inspirations, heroes, that have left a mark and an impression. But from the first time you start playing and you get on a team and it’s your parents who drive you to practice, who take you to games, and you just share this journey with them from the start. From seven years of age to the announcement of the Hall of Fame, where it officially ends. I thought of my dad and I certainly called him, and shared that moment with him.
I wasn’t going to mention this, but since you brought up dads, I told my dad I’d be talking to you today, and he told me, “Yeah, his dad played for the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Hill.” I had to tell him he had the wrong Hill. (Grant’s dad is Calvin Hill, a Cowboys running back in the 70s, not Tony Hill, a Cowboys wide receiver in the 80s.)
GH: [laughs] Oh! I’ve had that happen before. They knew he was a Cowboy. Tony Hill was a little bit after my dad, and so that’s funny. I’ve never met Tony Hill before.
You’re in this Hall of Fame class with Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, and they’re obviously both legendary passers. You were also a great passer, and one of just six players to average seven or more assists while being at least 6’8. Does it seem fitting to you?
GH: It is an honor, first, to share with those guys, because I know them. I played with them. I have a different sort of relationship with each one of them, but I feel like even outside of the Hall of Fame, I’m forever linked to those guys for different reasons. Really, they’re friends. Guys that I’ve known and respected.
But yeah, it’s weird. So for me and my career, it’s been a little weird. You had the four years in college, which were really, really good. You had six or seven years in the NBA that were special. Then I had some really dark moments and I wasn’t sure if I would play again. At some point, I wasn’t sure if I would walk again. You can see the scars. [Hill points to his ankle.]
I was able to come back and fight to get back, and once I got back, it was fighting to just stay in the league. You’re older now. You’ve got one ankle and you’re fighting. You don’t look back. You’re fighting, you’re fighting, you get to the finish line, and you’re done. And something like this announcement forces you to reflect, and you start thinking about what you’ve done. And I guess you just didn’t appreciate it when you were doing it. And that was the good stuff. You keep looking ahead: “How can I get better?” So these last few days, it has been good to think back and realize, yeah, there were some special moments. I had some cool times and was fortunate to do some amazing things. And some of it, I didn’t get to have a full body of work that I would have wanted.
But that 11-year block, college and the NBA, it was pretty darn good. So I guess I can pat myself on the back, which I don’t necessarily do a whole lot. Just thinking about reflecting on and appreciating those wonderful times.
You had “The Next Michael Jordan,” and very high expectations thrown at you a lot. It sounds like this helps you come to peace with what wasn’t in your career?
GH: Yeah, you know, I think so. The injury, the timing right when you’re in your prime, or about to go into your prime. Just feeling like, you know, it was just cut short in a way. When I got hurt, I was at a point where the game was really easy. I could see things. I could slow things down. I could really control and dominate the game, and still had a level of athleticism, had a great intellect. And then had a four year period where it almost broke me. When I came back, there were restrictions from a health standpoint, range of motion, just various things I couldn’t do.
And you know. You’re just happy to be playing now. You’re not thinking, “I want to be the best. I want to dominate. When I step on the court, I’m the best player.” That sort of athletic confidence or swagger you have when you’re really, really good, it was just, like, I’m just happy to be back. Which is a good thing, too! And there were really good things that can be taken from that. But never really being able to see it totally through, and see what could have possibly been. I think it has bothered me, and I think, in some ways, it’s why I haven’t reflected a lot. But this almost validates that it’s OK. You did alright. You were accepted. You’re in this rarified air, and in the company of greats. So I don’t want to say that I needed that, but yeah, it’s something that you carry with you that was an incomplete. I didn’t get a chance [to finish]. But to those who voted, it was complete. And that’s something that I’m thankful for.
So it’s that history of injuries that led here, where you’re an advocate for safe opioid use and promoting awareness for painkiller alternates for the Choices Matter Campaign, correct?
GH: Yeah, during my career, including college, I had 11 surgeries. When I started having the ankle problems, I would have these surgeries and the pain management process was taking opioids. And I just never liked how I felt, and couldn’t wait to get off the pain meds. And that was just what you did. You had surgeries, and you’d get pain medication to stay ahead of the pain. I started to investigate, like, “What exactly am I taking? Why am I feeling so bad?”
It’s a little scary what you’re putting into your body. Even before it became an epidemic, I realized the addicting nature of a lot of these things that we were taking. I never experienced that or had any issues in that regard, but as you fast forward, and you got to the end of my career, I had an actual procedure done that didn’t have to have pain meds. It was more sort of a numbing block that they put into my body, lasted for three or four days. I remember my doctor was explaining it to me, it seemed so foreign, the idea of not taking medication. I was probably a little apprehensive, just understanding what had been ingrained in me about surgery and recovery from surgery. We went through it, and as the block wore off, the pain was not there. It was a pleasant experience, probably the most pleasant in terms of post-surgery. So I think that, combined with this epidemic that exists, plus the fact that they’re overprescribed.
And that’s what happens. You take them for too many days, and then they’re sitting around your house, and either you become addicted, or a family member gets access to them, and that has contributed in large part to why we are where we are today. For my own experience and perspective, just trying to bring some awareness and understanding that choices do matter. When people are considering surgery, understanding what your options are, understanding whatever concerns they may have going into surgery, concerns about pain management process, that they should talk to their doctor and know what’s available. Because it is a problem, and it’s a problem that’s not going anywhere unless we make some radical changes.
OK, to close this out, I have to ask. I was watching the Final Four games all weekend, and I saw a commercial featuring you and some Pizza Hut “Pie Tops.” You’re not wearing them right now, so I assume they’re way too valued to wear them around casually.
GH: I actually have a pair upstairs. [laughs] I would have brought them if I had known you were going to ask about them. No, they gave them to me here. I had some last year — they did the campaign — and they actually order pizza. So you hook it up to an app, and you preprogram your order, and what you like, and I did it. I actually ordered last year. And then you got the Pie Tops 2, and so yeah. And they’re kind of like collector’s items.
I’ll say it, since I’m not sure you can as a Pizza Hut sponsor: technology has gone too far.
GH: [laughs] It’s the world we live in.
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