Chapter 256 255. Jack, the Bad Boy in Hill's Eyes
The physical examination and tryout were completed in three days. On September 9, the Bobcats held a press conference and announced that Grant Hill had joined the team for a total of US$16 million over two years, with a team option for the second year.

The press conference was not very lively, as there were not as many reporters as when those popular players signed contracts.

古人云花无百日红，古人又云人无再少年，希尔早已不是7年前加盟魔术队时那个联盟第一小前锋，只是一个刚拿完7年顶薪、28岁到34岁7年时间加起来只打了200场比赛、马上35岁、公认伤病隐患联盟最高、两鬓斑白的老将罢了。

In the eyes of the media, the Bobcats failed in the free market competition and were unwilling to give contracts to weaker players, so they signed Hill, a famous player, to save face. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing to get nothing in a summer.

A reporter noticed that Hill didn't even have an agent at the press conference for the signing. He originally thought that there was nothing to report in this interview, but suddenly he thought of the direction of the report - miserable!

In January 2003, Hill was out for the season. In March, he underwent ankle surgery. Less than two weeks later, due to improper protective measures before bathing, the wound became infected and he had a fever of 1 degrees. He was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. After the inflammation was brought under control, his ankle injury worsened due to the infection and he was forced to undergo a second surgery. The postoperative recovery time was extended from 3-40 months to 4 to 6 months, which basically meant that he was out for two consecutive seasons.

After the news came out, Fila, the sports brand endorsed by Hill, announced that it would not renew his contract, and other endorsement brands also ended their cooperation with him one after another. He no longer had any endorsements at the time, so he immediately terminated his cooperation with his agent... There was no point in keeping him, and he was giving away hundreds of thousands of salary to his agent every year for nothing.

Hill, who was sitting in the C position, also felt the coldness of the scene, but he did not look down on himself because of the media's contempt. Seven years of hardship and torture did not break him down, but made him more resilient. At the same time, he also took the spotlight less seriously.

And he is not alone. The three core players of the team, Zhang Yang, Felton and Okafor, all came to attend his press conference.

Jordan also came to the scene because of his tryout performance yesterday, and Hill was very satisfied.

The media only care about newspaper sales, TV ratings, and Internet traffic. They don't care whether it will hurt the people being interviewed.

Of course, there are different degrees of how vicious the media are. Like the young reporter, he was just planning to use Hill's tragic experiences over the past few years as a selling point to write a report.

The Royals reporter, who looked quite old, was very direct. He raised his hand and asked, "Grant, how many games do you think you can play in the new season? Are you confident that you will not be out for the season again?"

After hearing this, Jordan, Zhang Yang, Felton and others on the side wanted to grab the microphone and start scolding, but Hill spoke first.

"I hope I can bring some game experience to some young talents. Although I haven't played many games, I have watched more games live than them, haha..."

Zhang Yang smacked his lips when he heard that. Jordan straightened his body, but Felton still had a sullen expression.

The press conference ended as Jordan personally handed the Bobcats No. 33 jersey to Hill, who became the first player to wear the Bobcats No. 33 jersey.

...

After the press conference, Hill prepared to go back to the hotel to get his notebook and go around looking for a place to live according to the residential area information he had collected. His wife and son would move in in a few days.

There are always inconveniences without an agent, and you have to handle these chores yourself.

But there are more convenient places. The main reason why he fired his agent in the summer of 03 was not because he had to give out hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary every year, but because he almost died from the infection at that time and did not want to attend those useless social events just to get endorsement contracts. His family is not short of money. His parents are major shareholders of the leading law firms in the United States. His mother is a famous lawyer who has worked with Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party for many years, and his father is a philanthropist.

He signed a bunch of endorsements before mainly for face. In competitive sports, it is definitely to win something, honor, face, etc.

After crawling back from the brink of death, he became more open-minded and decided that instead of engaging in boring business social activities, he would rather spend more time with his family.

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

Zhang Yang: "Grant, are you free at noon? Our boss Raymond wants to host a welcoming party for you. You are welcome to join us. I didn't expect that we could become teammates. It's so cool. I'm going to hang our photo in my study."

Hill saw that Okafor didn't show any strange expression because of the "boss" thing, and felt that this team was quite special. No wonder they won the championship in the third year of the team's establishment.

Although there was an element of luck and the lineup conditions of restraining two main opponents after stretching the battle line, it is still very amazing and difficult to replicate.

Hill looked at Felton. One of the main reasons why the Bobcats were able to win the championship might have something to do with cohesion. A group of young players entered the NBA at about the same time, and someone was able to stand up and bring the whole team together... This young player is pretty good.

He smiled and said, "Of course I have time. It's my honor...Jack, you must know that if I still want to play, I will definitely choose to join you."

Zhang Yang: You will definitely join? Huh?

Two months ago, before Zhang Yang attended Jordan's training camp, he called Hill to recruit him. At that time, Hill did not reject his recruitment, but said that he wanted to consider whether to retire or continue playing.

When Zhang Yang heard Hill's answer, he was full of questions. He remembered that Hill played until he was 40 years old, had a second spring, and became a representative of inspirational players.

How could you think about retiring after just finishing a relatively healthy season?
But then he remembered an interview report of Hill that he had read in his previous life. Hill said that he did not receive any offer from any team in the summer of 07. It was Hill himself who took the initiative to try out with the Suns in the 07-08 training camp, and then got two years of veteran minimum salary.

Without receiving an offer and waiting so late to try out with the Suns, he must have been struggling for a long time whether to retire, but in the end he couldn't let go of his love for basketball and wanted to continue running on the court. Based on such a premise, Zhang Yang reasonably speculated that Hill chose the Suns for a tryout, not other teams, and should have gone for Thomas Carter.

Zhang Yang immediately decided to make a move - to invite Thomas Carter to work part-time in their team.

He didn't care how to invite Thomas Carter back and left the job to the management. If Hill hasn't joined the Suns yet after he comes back, then they will invite Hill; if it's too late and Hill has already joined the Suns, that doesn't matter either, as it's a good thing for the team to have one more miracle doctor; if he hasn't been invited back, then forget it, it's just a sideshow.

At that time, Zhang Yang did not expect that they would be so miserable in the free market. This idle chess piece actually became one of their few gains this summer.

In Hill's eyes, Zhang Yang's move was another story - Bad Boy Jack was eager to partner with him, collected intelligence about him, and knew that his injury was controlled with the help of Thomas Carter. He guessed that if Zhang Yang wanted to continue playing, he would consider a team closer to Thomas Carter, so he used his family connections to invite Thomas Carter to the Bobcats as a team doctor to attract him to join...

Hill thought this way because that's what he would do if he encountered the same thing.

He thought Zhang Yang did this because he heard that Zhang Yang's family was very rich, and like him, he was a rare type of NBA player - the poorest in the family and the one who earned the least.

Not only are Hill's parents rich, his wife Tamia is also rich. She is a Canadian singer who has been nominated for the Grammy Award six times so far. She is nicknamed the Queen of Dance Music and earns more than him.

Hill, whose memories of the first 13 years of his career were mostly with the Detroit Pistons, has always had a favorable impression of the "New Bad Boys."

When they played against each other before, several young players on the Bobcats also respected him very much.

In addition, Zhang Yang took the initiative to invite him and "did so many things" to attract him to join. After he decided not to retire and return to the court, the first call he made was to Zhang Yang. A few days later, Zhang Yang brought the team leader to his home to find him... The key point is that Zhang Yang's attitude is positive but his words and actions are not fierce, and there is no sense of strength at all, which made Hill feel that he would be ungrateful if he didn't join.

Seeing that Zhang Yang was lost in thought and didn't say anything, Hill didn't continue talking about this matter. He just mentioned that he 'knew' it, there was no need to speak out...

...

During lunch, Felton learned that Hill was looking for a house, and enthusiastically offered to take over the matter. Hill did not refuse, as he had just arrived and owed him a favor, which would help improve his relationship with his new teammates.

After dinner, Felton drove Hill to an area he knew had good living and educational environments.

As for Zhang Yang, he went home and watched the news.

Just as he expected, their signing of Hill didn't make much of a splash.

Although Hill was in good health and performed well last season, people thought it was just a flash in the pan like the 04-05 season.

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

This is quite good, low-key and unpretentious.

However, it still caused sadness among some old fans. The regrettable thing had little to do with the Bobcats, or even Hill himself - Duncan and McGrady failed to join forces in 00.

The topic mainly focused on 2003, when McGrady was on a roll and almost broke through the Detroit Pistons, the top team in the Eastern Conference, and led 3-1 at one point. If there was more Duncan at the time, it would not have been easy to defeat the Pistons.

Duncan had a good chance against the Nets. 03 was a weak period for the Lakers after they won three consecutive championships. Whether they made it to the finals or not, no team in the West was Duncan's opponent. The Eastern Conference was weak as a whole. In addition, McGrady initially joined the Magic team aiming to be the third in command. If McGrady had been Duncan's younger brother since 00, his playing style would definitely not be like this... Many fans believe that Duncan's achievements with the Magic would definitely be higher than those with the Spurs.

Although the Magic lost their minds in renewing O'Neal's contract, they have never been vague about spending money to recruit players. Just look at how much they are willing to spend to find helpers for Howard recently, signing Lewis for 6 million for 1.1 years...

After securing the starting small forward, Zhang Yang no longer paid attention to the team's lineup.

He cares about the small forward issue because the small forward is really important. He relies on the small forward to bear the defensive pressure for him at this stage.

Mike Miller has no problem cooperating with the team's defense, but due to his physical limitations, his one-on-one defense is particularly bad and he lacks the most basic speed. He was relegated to the bench by Hubie Brown at the end of the 04-05 regular season. He has been playing as the sixth man in the 05-06 season. Last season, the Grizzlies put him in the starting lineup in order to get into a bad situation. Then he played the worst defensive performance among the starting small forwards of the league's 30 teams, allowing his opponents to score 100 points per 114 possessions.

Alan Anderson can play as a starter, but in that case, no one in the bench can defend, and I don’t know how well senior Afflalo will perform in his rookie season.

Under such circumstances, if he has the conditions to compete for Hill, he will naturally be more active.

He won't worry about what happens next. Who to sign as the 15th man or who to trade is the responsibility of the team management and coaching staff.

There are still 25 days left before the team training camp on the 10th. He has been engaged in shooting training and will make another effort before the start of the season. He is only less than 12 away from a shooting value of 3. He will try to get the next bit of talent as soon as possible!
(End of this chapter)