Creating the perfect Detroit Pistons player

Shoulders: Grant Hill

I don’t like to say that NBA players ever get “carried.” But during Grant Hill’s six-year stint with the Pistons, he shouldered quite the load as he … well, carried some Detroit teams to the playoffs that probably had no business being there.

In Hill’s second pro season (1995-96), he not only led the Pistons in points, rebounds, assists and steals, but he also led Detroit to an 18-win improvement from his rookie year and a return to the playoffs after a three-year drought.

The next year, Hill led the Pistons to 54 wins — their first 50-win season since the end of the “Bad Boys” era — and again he topped the squad in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Hill’s best teammates during that season were a 33-year-old Joe Dumars and a 34-year-old Otis Thorpe.

Hill went on to carry (there’s that word again) the Pistons to the playoffs two more times before he went off to the Orlando Magic as a free agent, and the whole time he never had anything better than an above-average supporting cast.

Hill was basically an earlier version of LeBron James in terms of versatility and responsibility.