Grant Hill and Jason Kidd: In together, out together

The 1994 NBA Draft had many players picked that were projected to be future NBA superstars. Picked at number one by the Milwaukee Bucks was the NCAA star out of Purdue, Glenn “The Big Dog” Robinson, whom everyone thought would light up the league as he did in college. Picked second and third by the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, respectively, were two fellows who made stronger impacts than Robinson, not only in their first year in the NBA, but all throughout their careers. With no disrespect to Robinson, who is still a personal favorite of mine (and who retired “way back” in 2005), Jason Kidd and Grant Hill, who both just announced their retirement from the NBA, were the 1995 Co-Rookies of the Year, and legitimate NBA superstars with a ton of highlights for their grandchildren to watch.

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Kidd combined with other young, talented players on the Mavericks (Jamal Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson, among others) to add some flash and flair to what had become a boring franchise, showcasing his pass-first mentality and floor leadership that immediately drew comparisons to the greatest point guards in NBA history. Sure, his outside shot was suspect, but he could finish at the basket with either hand and made enough outside shots in his career to end up third on the all-time three-point field goals made list (behind Ray Allen and Reggie Miller). From Dallas, Kidd moved to Phoenix, where he had a bit of playoff success.

His best years, though, were with the New Jersey Nets, where he led his team to two straight NBA Finals (’02 and ’03), where they lost to the Lakers and the Spurs, respectively. I personally feel he deserved to be named league MVP in the 2001-2002 NBA season, which Tim Duncan, another great, ended up winning. After seven seasons with the Nets, Kidd found his way back to Dallas where, despite dwindling stats, he stayed around long enough to win an NBA Championship in 2011 alongside fellow veterans Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. A final go-around with the Knicks this season was more than adequate, but clearly, his best years had passed him by and he was spottily used in the Knicks’ playoff run. Perhaps spurred on by Hill’s announcement just a few days before, Kidd called it quits at the age of forty, with career per game averages of 12.6 points, 8.7 assists, and 1.9 steals. His playoff averages were just about the same.

Kidd provided highlights galore at All-Star games, where he was a perennial participant, had great success playing for USA Basketball, where a team he played on never lost a game, culminating in a 2008 Olympic Gold Medal in Beijing. He was a many-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection and is second all-time in career assists and steals (both behind John Stockton). Through it all, the impact of Kidd in each game he played cannot be measured by statistics. It was the little things he did that do not show up on the stat sheet, the leadership, competitiveness, and the crazily high basketball IQ that set him apart from most of his point guard contemporaries. Young point guards should study videos of Kidd in the hopes of approximating how accurately Kidd could run an offense and orchestrate a fastbreak.

While Kidd will be known for high quality basketball over a full nineteen years ( a couple shortened by injury), Hill, on the other hand, will probably be remembered in three ways: first as the spectacular highlight reel who made an immediate impact on the league with his charisma and basketball skills in his first few years, then as the oft-injured, never on the court and always in the doctor’s clinic, fragile player who made people wonder how he and Tracy McGrady would have been in Orlando if Hill was healthy, and, finally as the steady, veteran role player who could start or come off the bench and do so many things for his coach, particularly in Phoenix where he excelled, before his last, injury-riddled season with the LA Clippers.

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Grant Hill’s NBA basketball story is one of overcoming setbacks. His success at Duke University is well-documented, but not many predicted how strongly he would perform in his first few seasons in Detroit. He was scoring more than twenty points per game for five straight seasons, after averaging just below twenty in his first, and if one were to check the NBA DVDs showing highlights from the mid-to-late 1990s, Hill would be there time and again, with dunks in traffic, alley-oops, and spin moves that baffled defenders, never mind that ugly blue-greenish Pistons uniform. He won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996 with Team USA. He made the Fila basketball shoe famous. Aside from his on-court accomplishments, he was looked at as the NBA’s next ambassador, with his charming smile, his eloquence, his pro-athlete pedigree (his dad, Calvin, played in the NFL), and his showbiz ties (his wife is Tamia, a Canadian R&B singer). He even played the piano and sang.

Hill’s team-up with McGrady in Orlando was much anticipated, but never really happened due to Hill’s recurring ankle injuries. He did recover enough to be named an All-Star in 2005, after missing the All-Star Game for several years before that, but injuries struck again, and he moved on to Phoenix, where finally he was healthy again, this time for several years in a row, playing at least seventy games (out of eighty-two) in four straight seasons. His last season in Phoenix, he was injured again, then he moved to the Clippers this season, playing in only twenty-nine regular season games in limited action.

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Hill is not a career leader in major statistical categories, but averaged per game 16.7 points, 6 rebounds 4.1 assists, and 1.2 steals, and, like Kidd, scored more than seventeen thousand points. For many like me, who saw Hill play early in his career, then suffer through injuries and have to adjust his game to be “non-spectacular” but effective, thoughts of “what could have been” definitely come to mind. He was surely one of the best at one point in his career, and, I dare say it, could have perhaps been in the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) discussions had he remained healthy.

Similarly, Kidd and Hill were major contributors to their penultimate NBA teams, then played just one more season with a new team, before finally calling it quits. There are so many stories to tell about these two. Kidd’s life was, at times, quite colorful off the court as well, as he had a couple of run-ins with the authorities and a messy divorce with his first wife, Joumana. With their retirements, only Juwan Howard of the Miami Heat remains from the 1994 Draft class, and he could very well be gone after this season. Both Kidd’s and Hill’s contributions to basketball, at the collegiate level, in the NBA, and internationally, will forever be etched in stone.

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Kidd will surely be a Hall of Famer, and Hill might just make it, maybe more for his college basketball accomplishments than his injury-riddled NBA career. They were well-loved by the fans, respected and cherished by their teammates, and highly appreciated by their coaches. To me, they are examples of good characters in a basketball world full of bad ones. They went to work every night as long as their bodies allowed them, and now, they have the luxury of just sitting back and relaxing in retirement. I am almost certain, though, that both of these players will be on an NBA bench very soon, coaching the game in the league they called home for nineteen years. Jason and Grant, thanks for the lasting memories of basketball excellence.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.