LONG TIME GONE
By Jerry Brewer and Sentinel Staff Writer
Darrell Armstrong gazed upon hope.
Grant Hill was attacking the basket with abandon.
"He looks like his old self again," Armstrong said after some five-on-five games last week. "He's quick. I'll tell you what -- he's quicker than the last two years watching him when he first came back. He's really quick. He's still got that first step. He got his first step back."
In small doses, the word spreads with caution. Hill's third attempt to come back from left ankle surgery is going better than the previous two. Behind closed doors at RDV Sportsplex, members of the Orlando Magic are having visions of Hill, circa 1999, before the ankle problems, before the three surgeries, before the two lost seasons.
Is it a September mirage that again will fade by December? Or is it -- finally -- a certainty that will become clearer and more real as each month passes this season?
"It's going to get even better," Armstrong said. "He looks good."
Hill better look good. His basketball career -- and, certainly, his Magic career -- may very well be at a breaking point. Either he stays healthy and this Hill-Tracy McGrady duo goes about dominating the Eastern Conference, or his ankle fails him again and the dream is over.
Fifteen days before training camp, the unassuming presence of Hill looms over another Magic season. And he looms larger than ever now.
"I have a lot to prove," Hill says. "I want to show that I can still play at a high level. I don't think I've lost my skills. I think I can be even better than I was before."
While other Eastern Conference teams have shuffled and traded and acquired, making themselves look better on paper this summer, the Magic's most significant move was growing deeper in their faith in Hill. General Manager John Gabriel has tweaked and rearranged the roster without leaving room for a Plan B, without keeping if-Grant-gets-hurt-again insurance.
It's hard enough to build one good team in the NBA, the Magic figure, so it doesn't do them much good trying to build two.
BIG GAMBLE
This is a considerable gamble for an organization desperate to advance past being merely playoff contenders.
"It's a big risk," Magic Coach Doc Rivers said. "That's the risk that I, along with Gabe, felt we had to take. We were always worried about, 'What if Grant didn't come back?'
"If it explodes on us, it explodes. But it explodes for the right reasons, and that is we're trying to be a better basketball team."
The way the team is set up this season, it can conceivably win the East with Hill and McGrady both playing at an all-star level, with Mike Miller improving, with Armstrong's energy and with better frontcourt production.
"No one has forgotten about the kind of player Grant Hill can be when he's healthy," Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal said. "Everything in the East gets even more interesting if he's there."
The way the team is set up this season, the Magic would suffer more than the last two seasons if Hill cannot play the bulk of an 82-game season.
There's a lot of hope weighing on his left ankle.
"As much as it has appeared to be a wait-and-see situation, we must -- and don't have much of a choice -- believe we will have Grant back this season -- and build accordingly," Gabriel said.
Because of concerns about the luxury tax, the Magic focused on keeping their core together and adding pieces that seemed to fit with the team. Instead of going after big-time impact players -- of which there were few this summer -- they signed guard Jacques Vaughn, forward/center Shawn Kemp and forward/center Olumide Oyedeji to minimum contracts. They also drafted aggressive but undersized power forward Ryan Humphrey. All of these four new additions have something to prove, and the Magic took the risk, hoping to capitalize on the players' intent to better their reputations.
The Magic also lost guard Troy Hudson (signed with Minnesota) and forward Monty Williams (Philadelphia), two veterans who helped them do patchwork after Hill missed the final 68 games of last season.
Then they traded steady, hardworking forward/center Don Reid and bought out the contracts of Patrick Ewing and Jud Buechler. Those three moves were made to create space under the luxury tax.
MAGIC MORE ATHLETIC
So the Magic may have a little more athleticism and hunger this season, but they lost a lot of experience, too. Having Hill for an entire season masks that problem. Losing Hill again means there is no Williams to help fill in at small forward, and there is no Hudson to get hot and win a few games with his scoring ability.
Losing Hill means depending even more heavily on McGrady, as well as Armstrong, Mike Miller and Pat Garrity. And then the Magic would ask younger players to fill in where veterans once helped.
As good as Rivers has been at winning by cunning and deception, he needs Hill this time. Otherwise, the bottom may fall out.
"I know the responsibility, the challenge," says Hill, whose methodical, conservative rehabilitation has sped up to playing five-on-five fullcourt with teammates the past few weeks. "I'm ready. I have faith in myself. I think if I can stay healthy, I can help this team. Part of winning a championship is being lucky, not having to go through injuries. You figure some luck has to go our way. I feel good."
Of course, since he signed a seven-year, $93 million deal to join the Magic in 2000, Hill has always said he feels good in September. And he has never made it to the all-star break feeling the same way.
This time, the signs of recovery are better, but he still has so far to come. In late June, Baltimore-based Dr. Mark Myerson told Hill he didn't need to see him regularly anymore, which further encouraged Hill.
Last summer, Hill was running himself back to injury, working out seven-hours a day trying to get back a lost season and prove he still had it.
This time, he understands that he has to be easier on his ankle.
"One day at a time -- that's how I approach it," he said. "One day at a time."
He says his ankle feels "freer" now and that gives him more confidence. The bone spurs that inhibited his movement last season have been removed. X-rays of the fracture that has given him so much trouble show that he is healed.
He doesn't go home and apply ice all night. He has consecutive workouts without feeling stiffness or pain. All signs are positive.
But it's all talk until April, until Hill is in the playoffs, playing well and the Magic are meeting expectations.
"In terms of rehab, I've had a lot of practice," Hill said. "I know what to do and what not to do. I keep telling myself, 'Take your time. Don't be critical.' I'm not trying to kill myself. So far, so good."
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