WTFchris
04-24-2007, 12:05 PM
Grant Hill's comments about injury don't reveal whole story
By Chris McCosky
AUBURN HILLS -- Grant Hill has every right to be bitter and resentful about losing the better part of four of the most prime years of his career to a bum left ankle. He has every right to go all Nancy Kerrigan and ask, "Why?"
He can even be a little frustrated at how the Pistons' medical staff handled the original injury back in 2000.
But what he shouldn't do is re-write history. What he shouldn't do is blame the Pistons' medical staff for the missed years, which he has sort of done in the past, and sort of did again in a column in the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
Although he colored his statements with a qualifier -- "I am not going to blame anybody or point fingers" -- he talked at length about how he regretted playing on the obviously injured ankle in the 2000 playoffs and how he was told playing on it wouldn't cause further injury.
"That's the great unknown," Hill told columnist Mike Bianchi. "How much worse did I make it by playing on it?"
The truth is, that is mostly irrelevant. Did he make the ankle worse by playing on it? Most likely. But what made it infinitely worse, and what ultimately cost him the additional years, was the fact that the first surgery didn't work. Subsequent surgeries were needed to correct what the first surgery didn't.
Pistons physical therapist Arnie Kander accompanied Hill to that first surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, which was performed by the same surgeon that once repaired the knee of Hill's father, Calvin. Hill doesn't want to criticize that surgery publicly because it was arranged by his father. To criticize the surgery would be akin to criticizing his father and he won't do that.
Kander tried to get Hill to delay the surgery, preferring to wait and try some therapy on it first. The therapy, Kander reasoned, might have given the surgeons a better read on the break and would have helped determine the right size and strength of the screws that were inserted to re-attach the broken bones.
Hill didn't follow that advice and rushed ahead with the surgery. It took another four surgeries to get the ankle back to playable condition.
Here's another piece of revisionism from Hill. He told Bianchi, "I had no business being out on the court (in the 2000 playoffs). I was heavily medicated and went out there and played until the wheels fell off."
Yes, he did. He was medicated. He was given a very common mixture of steroids and pain killers. Rasheed Wallace was given the same package last season when he sprained his ankle against Cleveland. It doesn't completely hide the pain or the injury. You know you are still hurt. It just makes the pain more tolerable. Nobody told him, "OK, Grant, you're as good as new, go get 'em."
More significantly, though, nobody forced Hill to play in that series. He was desperate to play. George Irvine, the coach at the time, nearly begged Hill not to play. Irvine told him it wasn't worth risking a career for one playoff series.
But Hill had grown weary of people in Detroit perceiving him as a silver-spoon softie. He had grown weary of not getting his team out of the first round of the playoffs. He was determined to play.
So, for him to say, "You're assuming the medical advice you're getting is the right advice. When they say you can do no further damage, let me tell you, you can always do further damage," he's being a little disingenuous.
It is also disingenuous for Bianchi to assert that the Pistons somehow swindled the Magic into doing the sign-and-trade in 2000. Hill had the surgery before he signed. He showed up to meet with Magic officials on crutches.
That's an odd way to hide an injury.
Personally, I don't blame Hill for any bitterness he might feel. He went from being a sure-bet Hall-of-Famer to one of the league's most courageous comeback stories because of a bad ankle. Who among us wouldn't harbor some bitterness? Who among us wouldn't feel like lashing out at the circumstances surrounding the injury?
That said -- facts are facts. Twisting and revising them won't bring those lost years back.
By Chris McCosky
AUBURN HILLS -- Grant Hill has every right to be bitter and resentful about losing the better part of four of the most prime years of his career to a bum left ankle. He has every right to go all Nancy Kerrigan and ask, "Why?"
He can even be a little frustrated at how the Pistons' medical staff handled the original injury back in 2000.
But what he shouldn't do is re-write history. What he shouldn't do is blame the Pistons' medical staff for the missed years, which he has sort of done in the past, and sort of did again in a column in the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
Although he colored his statements with a qualifier -- "I am not going to blame anybody or point fingers" -- he talked at length about how he regretted playing on the obviously injured ankle in the 2000 playoffs and how he was told playing on it wouldn't cause further injury.
"That's the great unknown," Hill told columnist Mike Bianchi. "How much worse did I make it by playing on it?"
The truth is, that is mostly irrelevant. Did he make the ankle worse by playing on it? Most likely. But what made it infinitely worse, and what ultimately cost him the additional years, was the fact that the first surgery didn't work. Subsequent surgeries were needed to correct what the first surgery didn't.
Pistons physical therapist Arnie Kander accompanied Hill to that first surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, which was performed by the same surgeon that once repaired the knee of Hill's father, Calvin. Hill doesn't want to criticize that surgery publicly because it was arranged by his father. To criticize the surgery would be akin to criticizing his father and he won't do that.
Kander tried to get Hill to delay the surgery, preferring to wait and try some therapy on it first. The therapy, Kander reasoned, might have given the surgeons a better read on the break and would have helped determine the right size and strength of the screws that were inserted to re-attach the broken bones.
Hill didn't follow that advice and rushed ahead with the surgery. It took another four surgeries to get the ankle back to playable condition.
Here's another piece of revisionism from Hill. He told Bianchi, "I had no business being out on the court (in the 2000 playoffs). I was heavily medicated and went out there and played until the wheels fell off."
Yes, he did. He was medicated. He was given a very common mixture of steroids and pain killers. Rasheed Wallace was given the same package last season when he sprained his ankle against Cleveland. It doesn't completely hide the pain or the injury. You know you are still hurt. It just makes the pain more tolerable. Nobody told him, "OK, Grant, you're as good as new, go get 'em."
More significantly, though, nobody forced Hill to play in that series. He was desperate to play. George Irvine, the coach at the time, nearly begged Hill not to play. Irvine told him it wasn't worth risking a career for one playoff series.
But Hill had grown weary of people in Detroit perceiving him as a silver-spoon softie. He had grown weary of not getting his team out of the first round of the playoffs. He was determined to play.
So, for him to say, "You're assuming the medical advice you're getting is the right advice. When they say you can do no further damage, let me tell you, you can always do further damage," he's being a little disingenuous.
It is also disingenuous for Bianchi to assert that the Pistons somehow swindled the Magic into doing the sign-and-trade in 2000. Hill had the surgery before he signed. He showed up to meet with Magic officials on crutches.
That's an odd way to hide an injury.
Personally, I don't blame Hill for any bitterness he might feel. He went from being a sure-bet Hall-of-Famer to one of the league's most courageous comeback stories because of a bad ankle. Who among us wouldn't harbor some bitterness? Who among us wouldn't feel like lashing out at the circumstances surrounding the injury?
That said -- facts are facts. Twisting and revising them won't bring those lost years back.