Grant Hill and Bill Cosby can learn a lot from each other

by Steven Johnson

O4-05, 12; 99-00, 8; 00-01, 78; 01-02, 68; 02-03, 53; 03-04, 82; 04-05, 15; 05-06, 19.

When it comes to Grant Hill numbers mean a lot. Above are meaningful numbers when it comes to Grant Hill's career in the NBA. The first numbers represent the year of the season. The numbers in bold represent the number of games missed that season due to injury.

Since Grant Hill was the third player selected in the NBA's 1994 drafted he has missed, due to injury, 335 regular season games out of 984 scheduled, or 34%. So that means the former Duke golden boy on average misses a third of a NBA regular season.

Why won't Grant retire? The writing has been on the wall for quite some time, yet he continues to try again and again and again and again to return to the hardwood. Grant has yet to play a game for the Orlando Magic this season as well. But Grant's anti-iron man ways didn't stop the Magic from giving him a fat 93 million dollar guaranteed free agent contract. How many players in any team sport would be given that type of money after so many injuries, surgeries and missed games? Yet, Grant and his NBA career keep plodding along.

To be fair, Grant is a special player. When not injured, he can actually play. And don't forget about the squeaky clean image that has secured him several commercials and a host of humanitarian awards.

It's hard to explain Grant's great acumen for the injury. Some blame it on the "Duke Curse." Don't know about the curse plaguing former Blue Devils? Ask Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Danny Ferry, Bobby Hurley, and Jason "Jay" Williams, Cherokee Parks, Trajan Langdon, Roshown McLeod, William Avery, Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy. Of these former Duke standouts, all "guaranteed to make a big splash in the NBA," those still playing are average at best, some were forced to leave because of severe injury and a few retired with a less than stellar career.

Let me share my theory why Grant won't quit and can't quit.

To the NBA, the television networks and the Wall Street advertising execs, Grant Hill embodies Anti-Hip-Hop. With Grant around the powers-that-be have someone to point to when Hip-Hop goes awry. A player gets arrested; hold Grant up for the media to see. Hip-Hop is changing the attitudes of the players, point the media to Grant's polish. The NBA's new dress code wasn't conceived because of players like Grant.

Grant is the Ying reflection of the Me-First-Hip-Hop-Attitude Yang that has taken over more than sports arenas.

Grant has unknowingly taken on this pressure. That's why he keeps trying to come back. The NBA and the media need Grant. They unknowingly (or knowingly) put this pressure on him. In sports you're considered old after 30. But after major injuries and major surgeries Grant keeps going to the well. Grant is 33 years old now.

Grant's golden image started at Duke. Could you believe it? A player that good that comes from a rich family and not a ghetto somewhere in the U.S. Duke helped with this too. See, Duke only recruits a "certain" type of player. And, as a result, Duke players leave school with the world handed to them. Remember former Duke stand-out Jason "Jay" Williams? He was the second pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 2002 draft. Before his career got going he smashed his motorcycle into a pole and hasn't played since. Yet, the Bulls gave him the remainder of his whole contract when they weren't obligated to do so because of a clause in NBA contracts that prohibit dangerous activity, i.e., riding a motorcycle. Try to imagine a NBA team giving former NBA bad boy Isaiah "JR" Rider the remainder of his contract after a similar incident.

Like Grant, Jay Williams (he changed his name to "Jay" so not to be associated with former N.J. Nets player, Jason Williams who faced a murder charge) benefited from the Duke-good-boy mystique. In 2000 Grant received The Sporting News' "Good Guy in Sports Award." Isaiah Rider should be getting his real soon.

That brings us to Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby, like Grant suffers from the same "good guy" image. After Bill's ground-breaking "Cosby Show" where African Americans were actually seen as good, wholesome, professional people the world started coming to Bill for a sound bite any time a movie was to despicable or a comedian was proclaimed to racy. Bill needed to take lessons from Grant on how to keep his mouth shut. Now that it has been disclosed that Bill is an adulterer, a bad parent and a womanizer all his "good guy" banter makes him appear to be a fool not to be listened to. Grant, on the other had, through out all these years and all these chances and all that he has been given because of his good guy image has basically kept a very low profile.

Not so fast. Grant needs to take lessons from Bill on how to diversify. Bill Cosby has gone from being simply a comedian to being a television star, a movie star, an author, a corporate pitchman and now a public speaker. Grant needs to realize that he, very equipped with a immaculate pedigree and Duke mystique, can easily find something other to do rather than play in only a third of the NBA games being played year after year.

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