Hill opens up about injury treatment

“We could do a whole podcast on just my series of injuries and what I think was the mismanagement of those injuries,” said the 38-year-old Hill, who also talked about his recent “Uncle Tom” dustup with ESPN broadcaster Jalen Rose.

“I did not try to prove at any point how tough I was,” Hill said, dispelling the popular narrative that in his final season in Detroit (2000) he played in a first-round playoff series against Miami on an injured ankle in an effort to prove his toughness to critics. “At no time did I go against doctor’s orders or team orders to play in my time in Detroit or my time in Orlando. I followed the orders.

“Despite my New York Times article (Rose rebuttal), I’m not a rock-the-boat kind of guy.”

At age 27, it’s not an exaggeration to say Hill was LeBron James, the NBA’s most complete player.

“At the time I got hurt, I felt like the game was becoming very easy for me,” Hill said. “I was entering my prime. There was an understanding of the game. I felt the next four or five years would be an opportunity and a time to really make my mark and really go for it.”

Things fell apart for Hill as he approached free agency in 2000. He broke his ankle in the Miami playoff series. The injury dogged him the next four years. After signing a $92 million contract with the Magic, Hill played 57 games in four years, sitting out the entire 03-04 season. Labeled as injury-prone and the black Bill Walton, Hill’s prime years were stolen by complications resulting from ankle surgery.

“I don’t think anybody really knows I started to have ankle problems at the end of the 1999-2000 season, probably mid-March,” Hill said. “I was still able to go out and play. I still played well, but I was getting a lot of treatment. It was certainly bothering me. As we got closer to the end of the season, my ankle was really getting worse. I was missing practice. To the point where we had a nationally televised game against Philadelphia and I just pulled myself. My ankle was just killing me. We get back, we get an MRI. They say it’s a bone bruise.”

“It’s still bothering me,” Hill said. “I pull myself in the third quarter. They put me on some heavy medication and we had a long break between Game 1 and Game 2. While I was on this medication I felt great. Obviously it was masking the pain. Went out and played in Game 2 and I felt a pop in the second quarter, continued on in the third quarter and couldn’t go on. When we got back, we found out it was broken.

“I (had been) told everything was fine. I even found out that certain team doctors were questioning whether I was really hurt, thinking I was soft or whatever. This was after I had pulled myself from Game 2 against the Heat. At that time, when I found out I had broken my ankle, as crazy as this sounds, I was relieved. I finally had some confirmation, I finally had proof that I’m really not making it up.”

Hill said Isiah Thomas’ long shadow might have affected the way the Pistons dealt with his injury.

“There was a standard in Detroit and that standard was Isiah,” Hill said. “He grew up in Chicago. He was tough. He played hurt. He had that great game against the Lakers in the Finals (on a twisted ankle). He was the face of the franchise and I’m sort of the exact opposite. I’m sure there were Isiah supporters within the organization. Who knows? I can only speculate. But it was like no matter what I did, it wasn’t as good as Isiah....

“I wasn’t trying to prove how tough I am. I was just trying to win.”

Hill also revealed he was supposed to participate in Rose’s controversial Fab Five documentary.

“I was excited to see the story and see this documentary,” Hill said. “With the exception of one part, I thought it was well done.”

Rose described Duke’s African-American players as “Uncle Toms.” Hill was most bothered by the post-documentary discussion Rose participated in on ESPN and the impact the controversy had on Hill’s two daughters.

“When I was nine years old, you could get somewhat shielded from that, but now with the way kids receive information ... my 9-year-old knew about it,” Hill said. “I’m on the road and she’s calling me, ‘Why is someone calling you an Uncle Tom? What does that mean?’ That certainly played into me wanting to respond to that ... I get and understand sort of what he was trying to say. It wasn’t even so much the doc as it was the response the next day on ‘First and 10’ and the various platforms ESPN has to promote. And (Rose) was asked, ‘Do you still feel that way?’ And to not answer that, to me, said a lot. But like I said, we’ve talked. I don’t think he feels that way.”