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Chapter 589 - 255. Jack, the bad boy in Hill’s eyes

Chapter 589: 255. Jack, the bad boy in Hill’s eyes

Within three days, the health check and tryout were completed. On September 16th, the Bobcats held a press conference to announce the signing of Grant Hill for a total of $4 million over two years, with the second year as a team option.

The press conference wasn’t very lively and didn’t have as many reporters as those high-profile player signings.

The ancients said flowers do not bloom for a hundred days, and also that one does not regain one’s youth. Hill was no longer the league’s top small forward he was when he joined the Magic seven years ago, but merely a veteran who had just completed a seven-year maximum salary, played only 200 games from the ages of 28 to 34, was about to turn 35, recognized as the biggest injury risk in the league, with graying temples.

In the eyes of the media, the Bobcats signing Hill seemed to be a result of failing to compete in the free market and an unwillingness to waste a contract slot on a less talented player, opting for a well-known player to save face. Otherwise, a summer without any gains would be too embarrassing.

One of the reporters, who initially thought that this press conference wouldn’t offer anything noteworthy, suddenly found a hook for his report — pitiful!

In January 2003, Hill was ruled out for the season. In March, after undergoing ankle surgery, he suffered a wound infection from improper precautions before bathing in less than two weeks. His fever spiked to 40 degrees and he was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. After the inflammation was controlled, his ankle condition worsened due to the infection, forcing a second surgery and extending his recovery time from 4-6 months to 8-12 months, effectively missing two consecutive seasons.

After this news broke, the sports brand Fila he endorsed announced they would not renew their contract with him, and other sponsorships he had ended their cooperation. At that time, he had hardly any endorsements left and consequently, he terminated the contract with his agent... keeping them around was pointless, and it only meant giving away hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary every year.

Hill, sitting at the central C position, also felt the cool atmosphere, but he did not show displeasure from being looked down upon by the media. Seven years of hardship and torment did not break him; rather, they forged an even more resilient heart, and he came to view the spotlight with more indifference.

Plus, he wasn’t alone. Zhang Yang, Felton, and Okafor, the three core players of the team, came to attend his press conference.

Jordan, impressed by Hill’s tryout performance from the day before, also attended the event, and Hill was quite satisfied.

The media are only concerned with newspaper sales, TV ratings, and online traffic. They don’t care if they hurt the people they interview.

Of course, the degree to which the media can be heartless varies. A young reporter, for instance, just planned to use Hill’s tragic experiences from the past few years as a selling point for his article.

A visibly older reporter from The Royal didn’t mince words, raising his hand to ask, "Grant, how many games do you think you can play this season? Do you have the confidence to avoid being ruled out for another season?"

Upon hearing this, Jordan, Zhang Yang, Felton, and the others felt inclined to grab the mic and retort, but Hill spoke first.

"I hope I can bring game experience to these talented youngsters. Even though I haven’t played many games myself, I have watched more games on the sidelines than they have, haha..."

Hearing this, Zhang Yang smacked his lips, Jordan straightened up, and only Felton still had a sour expression.

As Jordan personally handed over the Bobcats’ number 33 jersey to Hill, Hill became the first player to don the team’s number 33 jersey, bringing the press conference to a close.

...

After the press conference ended, Hill was planning to return to the hotel to grab his laptop and check out the residential areas he had researched, to find a place to live since his wife and son were moving over in a few days.

Not having an agent is sometimes inconvenient, as he had to deal with these miscellaneous tasks himself.

But there were more conveniences. The main reason he fired his agent in the summer of 2003 wasn’t the annual cut of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but rather the near-death experience from the infection made him unwilling to engage in pointless socializing just for endorsement contracts. His family wasn’t short on money; his parents were major shareholders of one of the top law firms in America, his mother a top lawyer who had collaborated with Hillary from the Democratic Party for many years, and his father a philanthropist.

Signing a bunch of endorsements was mainly for appearances. In competitive sports, one certainly competes for something: honors, face, etc.

Having climbed back from the brink of death, he had a change of perspective. Rather than engaging in tedious social events and business activities, he preferred to spend more time with his family.

As Hill was about to leave, Zhang Yang, Felton, and Okafor found him.

Zhang Yang: "Grant, do you have time at noon? Our boss, Raymond, wants to welcome you to the team. I didn’t think we could actually become teammates. It’s so cool. I’m going to hang our photo together in my study."

Seeing that Okafor showed no particular reaction to the mention of ’boss’, Hill got the sense that this was no ordinary team. No wonder they had won the championship in just the third year of their establishment.

Despite luck playing a part, and that they had a roster built to counter their two main rivals after prolonging the battles, it was still a remarkable achievement that was hard to replicate.

Looking at Felton, one of the main reasons for the Bobcats’ triumph could be cohesion, a group of young players who joined the NBA around the same time, someone stepping forward to unite the team... This young player wasn’t bad at all.

He said with a smile, "Of course, I’m available. It would be an honor... Jack, you must know, if I wanted to continue playing, I would definitely choose to join you guys."

Zhang Yang: Definitely join? Huh?

Two months before, prior to attending Jordan’s training camp, Zhang Yang had called Hill to recruit him. At that time, Hill did not reject his invitation but mentioned he needed to decide whether to retire or continue playing.

Back then, Zhang Yang’s response was full of question marks. He remembered that Hill played until he was 40, had a resurgence, and became an emblematic figure of an inspirational comeback player.

Having just completed a relatively healthy season, why would he consider retiring?

But then he remembered an interview with Hill that he had read in his previous life. Hill mentioned that in the summer of 2007, he had received no offers from any team and had taken it upon himself to try out for the Suns during the ’07-’08 training camp, where he eventually secured a two-year veteran’s minimum salary.

Having not received offers and waiting until so late to try out for the Suns, he must have struggled for a long time with whether to retire or not. But in the end, his love for basketball was too great for him to let go, and he wanted to continue running on the court.

With that premise in mind, Zhang Yang reasonably inferred that Hill’s choice to try out for the Suns, and not any other team, was probably because he was aiming to reunite with Thomas Carter.

Zhang Yang immediately decided to make a casual move—inviting Thomas Carter to take a part-time job with their team as well.

As for how to get Thomas Carter back, he left that to management. If they managed to bring him back, and Hill had not yet gone to the Suns, they could then invite Hill. If it was too late and Hill had already joined the Suns, it wouldn’t matter; having one more miracle doctor on the team would still be a good thing. If they couldn’t bring him back, then so be it; it was just a casual move after all.

At the time, Zhang Yang had not realized how bleak their free agency was, and this casual move had become one of their few gains that summer.

To Hill, Zhang Yang’s casual move was a different story—it showed that the "Bad Boy" Jack was eager to work with him, had gathered his information, knew that his injuries were under control with the help of Thomas Carter, and guessed that if he wanted to continue playing, he would consider a team close to Thomas Carter. Thus, he used his family connections to invite Thomas Carter to the Bobcats as a team doctor, luring him to join...

Hill thought so because that was exactly what he would do if faced with the same situation.

And his belief that Zhang Yang would do the same stemmed from what he’d heard about Zhang Yang’s family wealth. Like him, Zhang Yang was one of the rare kinds of NBA players—the poorest in his family, the one who earned the least.

Not only did Hill come from a wealthy family, but his wife, Tamia, was also very well-off—a Canadian singer, six-time Grammy nominee, and known as the "Queen of Dance"—who earned even more than he did.

Hill, with most of his first 13 years of his career memories with the Pistons, already had a high opinion of the "New Bad Boys Legion."

The young players on the Bobcats had always shown him a great deal of respect when they played against him.

Adding that to Zhang Yang’s proactive invitation, and the lengths he had gone to attract him, once Hill decided not to retire and return to the court, his first call was to Zhang Yang. A few days later, Zhang Yang brought the team leader to his house to meet him... And with Zhang Yang’s positive attitude and actions that weren’t forcefully persuasive, Hill felt that it would be disrespectful not to join.

Seeing Zhang Yang getting lost in thought and not speaking, Hill didn’t continue the subject. It was enough to mention that he "knew." There was no need to spell it out...

...

During lunch, Felton learned that Hill was looking for a house and enthusiastically offered to handle it. Hill did not refuse; being new to the area, owing a favor could help to build rapport with his new teammates.

After the meal, Felton drove Hill around an area he knew with good living and educational environments.

On Zhang Yang’s end, he went home to watch the news.

As he had expected, their signing of Hill didn’t make much of a splash.

Even though Hill was in decent health last season and performed acceptably, most people thought it was just a last flash of brilliance like the ’04-’05 season.

Both the media and fans felt that the Bobcats had no choice but to sign Hill.

That worked out well, staying low-key and developing in the background.

However, it did elicit some nostalgia from old fans, lamenting what might have been—particularly, the missed opportunity for Duncan and McGrady to join forces in the year 2000.

Most of the discussion revolved around 2003, when McGrady alone almost managed to defeat the first-place Pistons, leading 3-1 at one point. If Duncan had been with him, the Pistons would have been an easy conquest.

With Duncan, who could easily handle the Nets, and 2003 after the Lakers’ three-peat was a period of weakness, getting to the finals would have been straightforward regardless of the teams from the West. The Eastern Conference was weak overall, and if McGrady had initially gone to the Magic to be the third option, with Duncan as the sidekick from 2000 onward, his playing style would have been different... Many fans believed Duncan would have achieved more with the Magic than with the Spurs.

While the Magic made a mess of renewing O’Neal’s contract, they never hesitated to spend on recruiting players. Just look at how much they spent recently to provide help for Howard—they signed Lewis to a 6-year, $110 million contract...

Having secured their starting small forward, Zhang Yang stopped paying attention to the team’s roster.

His concern with the position was because it truly was important; he counted on that position to alleviate defensive pressure from himself during this period.

Mike Miller’s team defense was not an issue, but due to his physical limitations, his one-on-one defense was especially bad. Lacking the most basic speed, he had been benched by Hubie Brown at the end of the ’04-’05 regular season. In the ’05-06 season, he was the sixth man, and only because the Grizzlies were tanking did he return to the starting lineup last season, which resulted in him being the worst defensive starting small forward in the league, with opponents scoring 114 points per 100 possessions against him.

Alan Anderson could start, but then there would be no one on the bench who could defend properly, and it was uncertain how much the senior, Afflalo, would show in his rookie season.

So, when there was a chance to pursue Hill, he naturally had to be proactive.

The rest was not his concern. Whether the team’s 15th spot should be signed or traded, that was up to team management and the coaching staff to decide.

With about 10 days left until the team’s training camp on the 25th, he immersed himself in shooting practice to push himself before the season start. He was less than 30,000 points away from 120,000 Shooting value and aimed to secure his next talent upgrade as soon as possible!