Not Taken For Grant(Ed) Detroit Pistons’ Grant Hill Appreciates His Success

With the world at his feet, an ordinary sports star might be expected to stumble. Grant Hill tries hard to remain ordinary, but he never seems to stumble.

He is only 23 years old and has played fewer than two seasons in the NBA. In a short time, he’s accomplished what many players work years to achieve:

- He got more All-Star votes than Michael Jordan, leading the balloting for the second year in a row.

- He leads the Detroit Pistons in scoring, rebounding and assists.

- He has been named to Dream Team III, which will represent the United States at Atlanta this summer in the Olympics.

- He recently completed a book, “Change the Game,” to go along with a video that came out last season.

“It’s been a frantic pace,” Hill said. “I expected a lot of things, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations.”

Nothing comes without a price, however. Hill finds he now has to make adjustments to routines he once took for granted.

Because of his popularity and distinctive good looks, it is difficult for Hill to go unrecognized. Yet he insists upon living a normal life. As normal as possible, anyway.

He goes out in public. He doesn’t wear a disguise. But he has learned it’s easier to go to a movie or to a restaurant on slow nights.

“Monday or Tuesday is usually good,” he said. “I still manage to live my life. It’s not that bad.”

At last week’s All-Star Game, Hill was everywhere, leading the NBA’s Youth Celebration in which kids are encouraged to study hard and stay in school, signing autographs and cheering on players in the slam-dunk competition.

Juggling a busy schedule is just one of the many adjustments he’s had to make to life in the pros.

Food is another.

“Ribs,” he said. “I like ribs. I love ribs.”

Hill, like a lot of people, loves junk food. He lived on it through high school and through four years at Duke. But nothing he ever did was as demanding as a season in the NBA. Not even winning back-to-back NCAA titles.

“Last year, I lived on junk food. Last year it was Burger King and McDonald’s. It affected my play, the energy level,” he said.

There was only one thing to do. After building himself a home in Bloomfield Hills in suburban Detroit, he hired himself a cook.

“This year, I’ve been more consistent with that because I’ve been eating better,” Hill said, laughing. “But it seems like all I eat now is pasta.”

Still, it’s a daily battle. Hill’s public image may be nearly perfect, but his tummy still craves life on the wild side.

“Egg McMuffin,” he said, wistfully. “It kills me every day to drive by Mickey D’s and see the Egg McMuffin sign. I would stop and eat them, but I just can’t have anything in my stomach before practice.”

Making his own decisions has always been important for Hill, even though he values the advice of his parents.

His father, Calvin, gained NFL fame as a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. His mother, Janet, partner in a Washington consulting firm, once shared a Wellesley dorm room with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Growing up, his parents had season tickets to Georgetown basketball games. It would have been natural for Hill to attend college there. He liked the school, but he valued his independence. He went to Duke.

“It’s funny, when I go home, my parents still think I’m in high school,” he said. “It happened again last summer. If I go out, it’s like, ‘Where you going, Grant?’

‘Out.’

‘Well, where are you going?’

‘I’m going out.’

‘Well, when will you be back?’

‘I don’t know.’

“My dad gets upset. He says to my mom, ‘I can’t really say anything to him, because if he doesn’t like it, he can go stay in a hotel and come and go anytime he chooses.’

“They’re still adjusting to me being independent.”

But those are just minor adjustments. Hill and his parents are close. He credits them with giving him the discipline to handle the crush of success.

“I think they had expectations for me, but not in sports,” he says. “I think if anything, my parents tried to avoid that. They know how hard it can be for kids of famous parents.”

This season, Hill also is adjusting to the coaching methods of Doug Collins. Collins’ son, Chris, was Hill’s teammate at Duke. But the routine under Mike Krzyzewski was nothing like the grind under Collins.

“I think Doug is someone who, while we’re together, will get the most out of me,” Hill said. “He’ll push me to become the best that I can become. I never really had a coach who pushed me like that. But I think I’ll appreciate him more in 10 years than I do now.”

Collins agrees.

“Grant is so much better now than he was at the start of the season,” Collins said. “He has a sense that he can handle any player in the league now. He’s got that kind of confidence.”

It figures. Hill is already too good to be true. And now Collins is saying he’s only going to get better.

“You know, sometimes it’s embarrassing,” Hill said.

It’s not easy with the world at your feet.