Would you have traded K.Malone or Drob in 98 for Grant Hill?

[iDefend10]

No way. I loved Grant Hill in Detroit, but I would of never given up Mailman or The Admiral for him.

[KnicksorBust]

Yeah but they traded him just 2 years later.

There's a difference between trading a young all-nba superstar approaching his prime vs. trading him because he was leaving in FA.

[JordansBulls]

There's a difference between trading a young all-nba superstar approaching his prime vs. trading him because he was leaving in FA.

Was he going to leave though?

[IndiansFan337]

Probably not if you could predict his injury issues.

[OaklandsFinest]

No way David Robinson is probably a top 25 player all time, while Grant Hill is a top 25 woulda shoulda coulda...

[netsgiantsyanks]

it's crazy how good grant hill actually used to be pre-injury.

[JordansBulls]

No way David Robinson is probably a top 25 player all time, while Grant Hill is a top 25 woulda shoulda coulda...

Yeah but we are not talking about DRob from 24-30 years old, we are talking 32 year old Robinson who just had a season injury.

[CavsYanksDuke]

^ Don't try and help those that aren't willing to bother with reading.

[Becks2307]

Grant hill by far...

[KaganRS]

Was he going to leave though?

One of the first moves in Joe Dumars tenure as president of operations was that sign and trade.

Because they were good friends from their playing days Grant let him know he had no intention of returning in order for Dumars to get something back.

Funny thing is ... The Pistons allowed him to - combined with Grant Hill's stupidity and heart - come back in the best of 5 Atlanta series with a nasty ankle injury. Unfortunately, he re-injured the ankle late in the series. He did all he could for those teal era Pistons - great respect for him.

We ended up getting Ben Wallace - nobody expected him to become so dominant defensively under Rick Carlisle.

[JordansBulls]

^ Don't try and help those that aren't willing to bother with reading.

That seems to be the case here most of the time.

[Trueblue2]

Robinson? Yea. You can move Duncan to center and have Hill and Duncan for years to come because they're around the same age when Robinson was on his last contract. It would be tough trading Robinson and giving up that Twin towers thing they had going, but Hill's game was unreal before injury. Everyone who watched the NBA knew Hill was something special, he was supposed to be a player of Lebron and Kobe's caliber, having a wing/big combo like Hill and Duncan would be on par with if not better than Shaq and Kobe. In hind sight this trade would have (probably) kept the spurs from winning it all in 98-99 and crippled the team when Hill got hurt, but at the time it would have been a no brainer. Of course you trade your aging center for a once in a decade talent and extend your current roster's championship window.

Malone? No. The Jazz had no front court depth and Stockton and Malone were getting up there in years. At that point you pretty much have to ride Malone and Stockton til the wheels fall off, they've done so much together for the franchise throughout their careers that they deserved to put the same team back out there and try again.

Had they made the trade they would have had nobody in the front court, they would have basically conceded the season and said 'this move's for the future.' basically slamming shut Stockton's championship window. That team had just made it to the finals, they were in win now mode and they had a legitimate shot at making the finals again and winning it. Had they made that trade they wouldn't have been able to make up for the lack of talented big men (especially in that era) and still make a title push. You just don't trade away your teams championship hopes to go into a rebuilding year no matter how good the trade looks for the future, especially in a small market like utah.

[futureman]

No way.

[todu82]

Nope.

[JordansBulls]

Robinson? Yea. You can move Duncan to center and have Hill and Duncan for years to come because they're around the same age when Robinson was on his last contract. It would be tough trading Robinson and giving up that Twin towers thing they had going, but Hill's game was unreal before injury. Everyone who watched the NBA knew Hill was something special, he was supposed to be a player of Lebron and Kobe's caliber, having a wing/big combo like Hill and Duncan would be on par with if not better than Shaq and Kobe. In hind sight this trade would have (probably) kept the spurs from winning it all in 98-99 and crippled the team when Hill got hurt, but at the time it would have been a no brainer. Of course you trade your aging center for a once in a decade talent and extend your current roster's championship window.

Malone? No. The Jazz had no front court depth and Stockton and Malone were getting up there in years. At that point you pretty much have to ride Malone and Stockton til the wheels fall off, they've done so much together for the franchise throughout their careers that they deserved to put the same team back out there and try again.

Had they made the trade they would have had nobody in the front court, they would have basically conceded the season and said 'this move's for the future.' basically slamming shut Stockton's championship window. That team had just made it to the finals, they were in win now mode and they had a legitimate shot at making the finals again and winning it. Had they made that trade they wouldn't have been able to make up for the lack of talented big men (especially in that era) and still make a title push. You just don't trade away your teams championship hopes to go into a rebuilding year no matter how good the trade looks for the future, especially in a small market like utah.

I honestly think the only reason why they wanted the Drob and Duncan duo was for Shaq.