What's Your Worth: Grant Hill

http://suns.realgm.com/articles/122/20090709/how_much_is_grant_hill_worth/

There is no question that, despite the economy, the NBA’s market is inflated.

Even if there aren’t as many teams spending this offseason, you can be rest assured it’s because teams are preparing for the much awaited 2010 free agency, where they will certainly have to overpay to acquire talent.

With inflation of the market comes a new standard for what the available talent is worth. Setting the standards are second-tier reserves, like Jerome James and Jared Jeffries, who were given $30 million contracts over the last few seasons.

Even a clutch player like Hedo Turkoglu has seemed to take advantage of the new standard as he cashed in on a contract worth $53 million with the Toronto Raptors.

While Turkolou is certainly a talented player, since when did a player with his talents and statistics become worth so much?

That type of contract should be reserved for the all-stars and MVPs around which a team can center a supporting cast (see the models of the Celtics and Lakers, the champions of the last two seasons).

With the Raptors giving Turkoglu that much money, the team’s hands are going to be tied as they look to bring in even better talent under this recently inflated standard.

Which leads us to Grant Hill.

In this inflated market, one would think a six-time all star and 14-year veteran would at least warrant a team’s mid-level exception, which is an estimated $5.6-5.8 million this offseason.

Think again.

Various teams, such as the Suns, Celtics, and the Knicks, have veteran Grant Hill chomping at the bit for a contract worth a team’s biannual exception, about $1.9 million.

Hill was an MVP-type figure when he hit the free agent market in 2000 after spending the first six seasons of his promising career with the Pistons. He signed a contract with the Magic that summer, only to experience a whirlwind of problems, appearing in only 200 out of a possible 492 games in six seasons due to injuries.

Over the past two seasons, Hill has bounced back with the Suns after signing for the team’s smaller salary exception, playing a supporting role to the team’s stars, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash.

He also has fought through minimal injuries, even playing in 82 games for the first time in his career last season.

Granted, Hill has reinvented himself as, simply put, a nice complementary starter, nowhere near what he once was.

But come on, where is the respect?

He is widely regarded as one of the league’s most intelligent players and is coming off one of the most consistent seasons of his career. Hill averaged 12 points per game on a career high 52.3 percent from the field, also contributing 4.9 rebounds per game and 1.1 steals per game in just 29.8 minutes.

According to RealGM, Hill "deserved" to make $9,028,575 last season, while maintaining a "Reina Value" of 357 percent (a statistic that measures a player’s efficiency in regards to his salary).

Turkoglu, who received that massive extension, deserved to make $10,126,984 last season, just over $1 million more than Hill, on a Reina Value of only 40 percent.

Hill has many things to offer to any given team, both tangible and not. As he enters the twilight of his career, he is still in search of his first championship ring, but that should not be an excuse for teams to lowball him.

All three teams interested in Hill hold players on each respective roster making more than is being offered to him, and certainly provide their teams with a lot less than Hill could.

After playing for cheap the last two seasons, Hill may want to take advantage of this market, just as so many already have. That type of response would undeniably be a wake-up call to many teams.

Only time will tell what kind of decision Hill will make. During free agency, there are many things that weigh on a player’s mind.

It is uncertain whether Hill feels he has a few more years left, will opt for a bigger payday, or decide to chase that championship ring that so many players crave their entire career.