Although Grant Hill still had a very successful NBA career, we will always ask what would he have been if it wasn’t for the injuries. Hill lost lots of playing time during his prime but he was able to hang around long enough to play against many elite players. Hill has defended LeBron, MJ, Kevin Durant, James Harden and even Carmelo Anthony but Hill shared with Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Kobe Bryant was his toughest cover.
“In Phoenix, why the hell I was guarding him at 36, 37, I don’t know. It was one of those things where, of all the guys I had to guard at that time, he was by far the toughest.”
“Certain guys, even All-Stars, you can guard and you have a game plan […] But with Kobe, he was so good, you could throw all the analytics out the window, you could forget trying to play against his tendencies and all of that. Because you could do everything right. You could be on him, you could guess right on what he was going to do, you could time it perfectly, everything. And you turn around, and the ball goes in. And you go, ‘Well, OK.’ ”
Kobe’s game did have it all, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. The best defense against him was probably a hand and a prayer, put a hand up and pray he doesn’t make the shot.