Grant Hill was a seven-time All-Star who played from 1994 to 2013 in the NBA, which means he faced Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in the peak of their careers.
Hill recently appeared on the Dan Patrick Show during the 36th Annual American Century Championship for an interview.
While he was in conversation with Dan Patrick about his mentality during his playing days, Patrick asked him to compare his own mentality with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
“Those guys, I think, were assassins. You know, I remember, vividly, 2012, I’m in Las Vegas, and I’m a free agent, my last year, about to be 40 years old. I went to the USA basketball practice, and it was a 2012 team getting ready. The Lakers were sort of recruiting me, I ended up signing with the Clippers.”
“But I was talking to Kobe before practice, and the intensity in his face and talking about ‘I’m about to go out here and kill’ like he was, and I’m thinking this is the second practice on day two, and it was, but that was him.”
“Then you look at Michael, you know, Michael brought that, Michael would manufacture things. But, you know, I didn’t go that far, you know, but I still look, I went out there and, you know, I think if you ask the people who I played against, they would tell you I was coming at them and I didn’t really shoot a lot of jump shots. I’m coming right at you, going at, you know, and that was the mentality.”
Grant Hill had three wins and 12 losses against Michael Jordan throughout his career. He left a good impression, averaging 19.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 6.7 assists against probably the greatest player of all time.
Against Kobe Bryant, however, he faced a similar fate on a much higher volume. Bryant and Hill faced each other in 40 games, including the Playoffs. Bryant won that matchup 30 times while Hill only managed 10 wins. Hill averaged 14.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in those games.
It can be concluded that Hill faced these legends in the prime of their careers, got destroyed by them overall, but Hill cannot solely be blamed for this record. While he was putting up All-Star numbers, he was never on a serious championship-contending roster, and his team also often let him down. Nonetheless, Hill knew what he was going up against, and he still feels his mentality was somewhat comparable to their levels.
