Grant Hill helped the United States win Olympic gold in 1996. He would have been on the team again in 2000 if he had not been injured. He was also one of the college kids who famously defeated the first “Dream Team” in a fight before the 1992 Olympics.
Now US Basketball is bringing him back.
Hill will become the general manager of the men’s national team after the Tokyo Olympics, USA Basketball said on Saturday. He will replace Jerry Colangelo, who is retiring, in a move in which a Basketball Hall of Famer takes over for another in the critical role of gathering teams that will compete for gold.
“It’s just an incredible opportunity, also an incredible challenge,” Hill said Saturday. “I was lucky enough to participate in the international games – the Pan American Games, of course the Olympic team – and I was a fan of the US team that was returning to the Olympic team in 1984 when I started falling in love with basketball. The more I thought about it, the more intrigued, excited, and willing I was to roll up my sleeves and move on with this extraordinary responsibility. “
Hill’s resume is elite. He played 19 NBA seasons, was an All-Star seven times – which would probably have been more if not for the ankle problems that derailed his career – and formed five All-NBA teams. At Duke, he helped the Blue Devils win national championships in 1991 and 1992.
Hill entered the Hall of Fame in 2018 and worked as an NBA and college basketball analyst for Turner Sports for nearly a decade. And he’s part of the broadcast team for the men’s final four this weekend in Indianapolis, the sixth year in a row he’s been on that crew.
He will remain in the broadcast after assuming the basketball position in the USA.
“Grant is a proven leader in consequences and character, who will continue to help us achieve our twin goals of winning international competitions and representing our country with honor,” said Martin Dempsey, chairman of the basketball board in USA and a retired general. “In making this announcement, I also want to emphasize how much everyone associated with US Basketball appreciates Jerry Colangelo for everything he has done for US Basketball over the past 15 years.”
And Colangelo did plenty.
His role as general manager was created in 2005, after the Americans lost three games at the 2004 Athens Olympics and returned with an extremely disappointing bronze medal. Since then, Colangelo has overseen the player and coach selection process, bringing in Mike Krzyzewski of Duke – who led the U.S. to Olympic gold in 2008, 2012 and 2016 – and now Gregg Popovich of San Antonio to serve as head coaches.
In the major competitions with Colangelo as general manager, the American men went 97-4. Colangelo’s departure was not unexpected; The 80-year-old did not hide his plans to retire after the Tokyo Games, which were delayed by a year until this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I plan to spend an incredible amount of time with Jerry, overshadow him this summer, and I think the experience will definitely help as we move forward,” Hill said. “It’s just an invaluable resource and it’s done a remarkable job, so you can’t help but learn from someone like Jerry.”
No matter what happens in Tokyo, Hill will take over in a hectic moment. The delay of these Olympics compresses everything; the next Basketball World Cup is just two years away, and the Paris Games are just three years away.
Hill knows the rest of the world catches – or has caught – US basketball. He predicted that this would happen in 1996, when he was part of the Dream Team II that won gold in Atlanta and is not the only one in the belief that the game has found a new stage internationally due to the success of the first Dream Team four years ago. before this.
Hill was a 19-year-old student when he was brought with Bobby Hurley, Chris Webber and others to scrutinize his US team featuring Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing and more. . The college kids won 62-54 in that first fight; Debates have been raging since American coach Chuck Daly threw the game to show that no team is unbeatable, but there is no debate about how that day in California helped NBA stars unite.
“We had a good time,” Hill said. “This experience – having the chance to practice, to learn from, to spend time with the greatest team that ever came together – was not a formal event with a medal ceremony and the like, but it certainly was an essential moment for me and my development and my growth as a player. “
Hill’s job that day was to beat the best basketball players in the United States. His job in the future will be to make sure this doesn’t happen.
I’m already starting to plan.
“The brain works,” Hill said.