Grant Hill is undoubtedly a standard American gentleman, he is well-born, highly educated, can play the piano, is philanthropic and has a happy family. In August of this year, he had his second daughter, and the birth of the child undoubtedly had an impact on Hill's choice, and in the negotiations with the Suns in August, Hill expressed his reluctance to play for Fox Leon and the idea of retiring.

The warmth of family contrasts sharply with the brutality of the court, and Hill has gained far more pain than accolades on the basketball court, and he himself has no idea how much passion he has left.

However, in the face of Cole and Leon's personal visit, Hill still warmly received the two at their home in Dallas, it is now November, Hill is wearing a warm gray sweater and cotton slippers at home, while Leon and Cole look a little dusty.

Leon glanced at Hill from head to toe and could see that Hill was in good shape, showing no signs of gaining weight, walking steadily and vigorously, in good spirits, he was thirty-five years old, and had experienced many injuries that could be fatal for some players, but he still maintained good habits and did not pull down training.

The three of them exchanged pleasantries for a while, because this time they came to visit in a private capacity, so Kerr did not bring any Suns staff members, and after the meeting, they did not rush to talk about basketball, but talked about personal topics.

Kerr and Hill were both born in high-level intellectual families, excelled in schoolwork and sports since childhood, played in the NCAA, and both played in prestigious schools, one in Duke and the other in Arizona, both of whom are NCAA powerhouses, for them, about college, about basketball, they have endless topics.

In this regard, Leon can't interject, when these two guys played in the NCAA, "Fox Leon" was still doing gangsters on the streets of Boston's South Side, fighting, drinking, and attracting fans, as for the memory of his other half, to be honest, if he had, he would have gone back to China to see it.

In fact, if you want to talk about the amount of knowledge, Leon can pretend to be three Cole and five Hill alone, but it is not the amount of knowledge that makes friends and chats with people, but the experience, background, conversation and impression of each other. The two have no intersection in personal experience, Leon watched them talk about college, and thought to himself that Lao Tzu also went to college, but he couldn't remember what college he went to.

Unable to interject, he chose to drink, on the wine rack in Hill's study, Leon saw Shirley, he asked for a glass, and drank it himself, and he also looked around, looking at Hill's various trophies and honorary titles from high school to college to the NBA - this study is an honor showroom.

Hill and Cole continued to sit on the couch and talk about the mountains, and Leon looked at the mess of accolades, and he really wanted to say to Hill, "Don't you think you're missing a championship ring here?" I have three, and I'll be able to send you one in a moment. ”

In Leon's honor showroom, there is only an NBA championship ring, and a title of best coach, but this is already the highest honor in the basketball world.

However, Leon still held back, he knew that such words would make people feel aggressive, if Hill had fancied Leon's championship qualifications, he would have joined the Suns a long time ago, and there was no need to exchange feelings with him now.

After looking around, none of these things piqued Leon's interest, but soon a photo caught his eye, and it was placed in a prominent position as a photo of Hill with his wife and newborn daughter, with the date on it, exactly August 9 of this year, and it was his second daughter, Lyle Rose Hill.

A warm group photo, Leon picked up the photo and looked at it, at which point Cole shouted to Leon: "Hey, come and talk, what are you looking at?" ”

Leon put the photo back and said, "A photo, a happy family, I think of my daughter, she was born in October, she is very small, she is a little angel. ”

Hill nodded, and he took the initiative to say, "That's right, is it your first child?" ”

Leon said: "That's right, the first one, her name is Mikel, which means miracle." Arnold gave it to her. ”

"Arnold, Cardinal? unimaginable. ”

"Yes, he's actually very gentle, at least for me."

Leon thought of Auerbach, and his heart was still mixed, that stubborn and proud stinky old man had slept in the ground, and he could no longer roar at him, nor would he teach himself earnestly.

Next, Hill chatted with Leon, starting with his daughter, talking about his views on basketball, his understanding of life, and his pursuit of championships.

Hill was surprised to find that this rude-looking Iron Fist coach, who had played in the NBA and had a unique history, turned out to be a sharp-talking, knowledgeable, and insightful person.

Perhaps it was because he had a bad relationship with the media - especially the local media in Boston, and the bad "background" that led to the inherent prejudice against him and affected Hill's perception of him, but after some contact, Hill could strongly feel that this is an excellent and trustworthy coach.

Moreover, the Suns also have a great attraction to Hill, and that is their excellent medical team and Arizona's dry climate, which is very important for his injury-ravaged body.

That's why, without signing with the Suns, Hill also turned down other teams because he was worried about whether he would be able to play on other teams.

"One thing I have to be honest with you, Grant, allow me to call you that, if you come to the Suns, your job is going to be mostly defense, and you're going to play off the bench. But at the same time, I can promise that the Suns will not become a meat grinder, and as you should have seen in the first two games, our style of play will be the least effort in the league. And, I suppose you still have a lot of gas in your tank, after all, you've been locked up in a parking lot for years. ”

Later, Leon was able to joke with Hill, and Hill certainly wouldn't mind such innocuous jokes, and he did have ambitions and unfinished basketball dreams in his heart.

Although he is thirty-five years old, although he is scarred, as long as there is still a chance to stand on the highest stage, who will give up?

When Cole and Leon had dinner at Hill's house that night and left with a full meal, Leon knew that the visit would not be empty-handed, and Hill had made it clear that he would contact his agent immediately and then start formal signing talks with the Suns.

Leon and Cole also immediately ordered a plane back to Phoenix, on the plane, Cole seemed very happy, he asked Leon: "Fox, I feel that you have indeed changed a lot from the past, although I didn't notice it when you first came, but now I gradually notice." ”

Through this conversation, not only Hill's impression of Leon has changed, but even Cole has found that maybe he underestimated this guy in the past. This cold megalomaniac, Auerbach's successor, was not a cold-blooded animal, as one might think.

Leon shrugged: "Everyone changes, so will you, you see you're a stupid team manager right now." ”

“Fu-ck-you，Leon.”

……………………

Meeting Hill was just a small episode of Leon's work with the Suns, and after returning to Phoenix, Leon was in full swing to prepare for the team's next game.

Leon is a very meticulous coach who takes his work seriously, he has a very high demand for details, but he is not the paranoid person who blindly pursues perfection in details.

On the morning of the game day, Leon convened all the players and coaches to have a video analysis meeting to analyze the situation of the first two games, and he used his super memory to pick out many details on the court, especially the second game against the Lakers, how to defend Kobe.

This is still the regular season, once it comes to the playoffs, if he meets the Lakers again, there is no doubt that he will definitely systematically contain Kobe, these thoughts and ideas, from now on, must be communicated with the players.

Finally, he moved on to the evening's game, where they will face guests from the East, last year's dark horse, the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James, at the American Airlines Center tonight.

"I'm here to remind you that tonight against the Clevelands, it's not the same as the Lakers, just stand farther away."