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Ahead of the 2019-2020 season, Vince Carter announced that it would be his record-setting 22nd and final NBA season; over the past two decades, it has been remarkable to watch Carter’s transformation from high-flying superstar with the Toronto Raptors to grizzled old veteran with the Atlanta Hawks. In many ways, his career evolution parallels that of Grant Hill, who likewise was a superstar in the late 1990s with the Detroit Pistons before injuries took their toll; Hill nevertheless persevered to carve out a valuable new role to match his physical reality and was eventually inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. In looking back at the long and remarkable careers of both players, let us ponder the question:
Who was better – Vince Carter or Grant Hill?
The Beginning
Though they did not overlap, Carter and Hill were on opposite ends of college basketball’s greatest rivalry (North Carolina vs. Duke) and parlayed All-American careers into not only becoming lottery draft picks, but eventually winning Rookie of the Year honors.
Born in Daytona Beach, Florida, Carter was a multi-sport athlete in high school, starring as a quarterback in football before an injury led him to take up volleyball, where he earned Player of the Year honors in the county. On the basketball court, he led his school to its first Class 6A state title in 56 years and was a 1995 McDonald’s All-American, ultimately choosing North Carolina over in-state Florida for college. During three years at North Carolina, Carter led the team to back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) titles and Final Four appearances, while also earning Second Team All-American and First Team All-ACC honors as a junior. Declaring early for the NBA after his junior year, Carter was selected fifth overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and immediately traded on draft night to the Toronto Raptors for fourth overall pick and former Tar Heels teammate Antawn Jamison. Due to a lockout, his rookie season did not start until January 1999 and in 50 games played, Carter averaged 18.3 points (on 45.0% shooting), 5.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game to win Rookie of the Year.
The son of former Pro Bowl and Super Bowl-winning running back Calvin Hill, Grant was born in Dallas (when his father played for the Cowboys), but later grew up in Virginia and would attend Duke, where he stayed for four years and cemented a legacy as one of the best college basketball players ever. Team-wise, Hill won back-to-back national titles in 1991 and 1992 and also led the team to the 1994 title game (losing to Arkansas); individually, he won the Henry Iba Corinthian Award in 1993 as the nation’s top defensive player, was 1994 ACC Player of the Year, and a 2x All-American. Moreover, he will forever be immortalized for his role in one of the most famous plays in college basketball history (“The Shot”) – down by one vs. Kentucky in a 1992 Elite Eight matchup, Hill inbounded the ball the length of the floor to Christian Laettner, who banked in the game-winning jumper. In the 1994 NBA Draft, Hill was selected third overall by the Detroit Pistons and would go on to share Rookie of the Year honors with second overall pick Jason Kidd by averaging 19.9 points (47.7% shooting), 6.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game; additionally, he was selected to the first of seven career All-Star Games, becoming the first rookie in NBA history to lead fan voting.
Career Comparison
In their early playing days, Carter and Hill each quickly became one of the league’s most electrifying and popular superstars; however, due to a mix of injuries and age, both would eventually evolve from a high-flying superstar into a savvy veteran with strong leadership skills
Playing with his cousin Tracy McGrady in Toronto, Carter emerged as a superstar in season two, averaging 25.7 points per game on 46.5% shooting to go with 5.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game; this resulted in the first of eight straight All-Star selections, a Third Team All-NBA nod, and one of the most memorable Slam Dunk Contest victories in NBA history. He would then have a career-best year in 2000-2001 with a career-high 27.6 points (46.0% shooting), 5.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game to earn Second Team All-NBA honors. However, knee injuries limited Carter to only 60 and 43 games played, respectively, over the following two seasons, but he bounced back in 2003-2004 to play in 73 games and average 22.5 points (though only 41.7% shooting), 4.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. In fact, after his rookie year, Carter averaged at least 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists each season for Toronto. With the Raptors entering rebuilding mode, though, he was traded 20 games into the 2004-2005 season after more than six years in Canada to the New Jersey Nets for Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams, Eric Williams, and two first-round draft picks.
In New Jersey, Carter teamed up with point guard Jason Kidd and continued to be a bonafide superstar. Post the trade to the Nets, over the remaining 57 games with his new team in 2004-2005, Carter nearly matched his career-best scoring mark with 27.5 points per game (46.2% shooting) while adding 5.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. In each of his five full seasons with the Nets, he averaged at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, with his highest-scoring year coming in 2006-2007: 25.2 points (on 45.4% shooting), 6.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. After Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks the next season, Carter assumed the reins as team captain and while his scoring dipped to 21.3 points per game, he matched his career-high of 6.0 rebounds per game and established a career-high mark of 5.1 assists per game. Nevertheless, following the 2008-2009 season, he was once again traded, this time with Ryan Anderson to the Orlando Magic for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee. As he entered his mid-30s, Carter’s numbers began to wane – in his lone full season with Orlando, he averaged a then-career-low 16.6 points (on 42.8% shooting), 3.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game, though it would actually be the highest-scoring season for the rest of his career. Halfway through his second season with the Magic, Carter was dealt to the Phoenix Suns in a six-player deal, where he would reach 20,000 career points scored.
After the relatively brief 2011 NBA lockout, Carter transitioned from starter to reserve/role player and began the third and final phase of his career as a nomadic veteran leader. For the 2011-2012 season, he signed with the Mavericks and was reunited with Kidd, averaging double-digit points in each of his three seasons with the team. Then, he joined the Memphis Grizzlies for two seasons, spent one year with the Sacramento Kings, and finally joined the Atlanta Hawks as a 42-year-old in 2018-2019, where he surpassed 25,000 career points scored and broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record as the oldest player in NBA history with a 20-point game. Announcing his intention to retire after the 2019-2020 season, Carter became the first player to ever play 22 NBA seasons and to have played in four different decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s); moreover, he is one of only five players in history to have played more than 1,500 regular season games (along with Robert Parish, Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki, and John Stockton), ranking third all-time behind Parish and Abdul-Jabbar.
Similarly, Hill quickly became one of the best all-around players in basketball with the Pistons, earning All-Star selections in every one of his full seasons in Detroit (the exception was the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season, when there was no All-Star Game). In just his second season in 1995-1996, he put up 20.2 points (on 46.2% shooting), a career-high 9.8 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game to earn Second Team All-NBA honors. This was followed by a First Team All-NBA nod the next year: 21.4 points (49.6% shooting), 9.0 rebounds, and a career-best 7.3 assists per game, becoming the first player since Larry Bird to average at least 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists per game; moreover, Hill led the league in triple-doubles for the second straight year and finished third in the MVP voting to Karl Malone and Michael Jordan. Overall, starting with the 1995-1996 season, Hill posted at least 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists each year with the Pistons, and was either First Team (1x) or Second Team (4x) All-NBA; moreover, he joined Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor as the only players to ever lead their teams in points, rebounds, and assists more than once (with he and Chamberlain being the only ones to do it 3x). In his last season with the Pistons in 1999-2000, Hill averaged a career-high 25.8 points per game (48.9% shooting) and added 6.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game; then, as an unrestricted free agent, he joined the Orlando Magic in a sign-and-trade deal for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins.
While Hill was expected to team up with Tracy McGrady to form a potent duo in Orlando, he would instead be plagued by injuries and never again averaged 20+ points per game in his career. During his first three years with the Magic, Hill only played a grand total of 47 games before sitting out the entire 2003-2004 season; his best season came in 2004-2005, when he managed to play 67 games and averaged 19.7 points (50.9% shooting), 4.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game to make his final All-Star team. However, he then only played 21 games the next season due to injuries before rebounding back to 65 games played the following year. All in all, over the length of his seven-year deal with the Magic, Hill played a total of 200 games, which averages out to less than 30 games a season.
Entering phase three of his career as a team leader and veteran role player, Hill joined the Phoenix Suns for the 2007-2008 season and immediately became a team captain alongside MVP Steve Nash. There, while remaining a starter, he reinvented himself as a valuable complementary player in the Suns’ uptempo system; perhaps more interestingly, Hill became a model of health, playing at least 70 games in each of his first four seasons in Phoenix and 3x reaching the 80-game mark. This included a full 82-game slate for the first and only time in his career in 2008-2009, when he put up a respectable 12.0 points (on a career-high 52.3% shooting), 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. For the 2012-2013 season, Hill signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Clippers, though he only played in 29 games before retiring at age 40.
While Carter “only” played four more seasons than Hill (22 vs. 18), this resulted in roughly 50% more games played due to Hill’s injury-plagued years in Orlando. Per-game-wise, the two actually have identical scoring averages (16.7 points per game), though Hill was the more efficient shooter and better all-around player, i.e. more rebounds and assists per game. Both were Rookies of the Year and due to his longer prime, Carter was more frequently an All-Star (8x to 7x), but Hill has more All-NBA selections (5x vs. 2x). They are likewise very similar from an advanced metrics perspective – Hill has a marginally higher Player Efficiency Rating, but Carter’s longevity results in significantly more Win-Shares. Across 23 regular season matchups against each other, Carter possesses the advantage individually, averaging 20.6 points (on 43.4% shooting), 5.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game to Hill’s 16.0 points (on 48.0% shooting), 4.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game; however, Hill’s teams eked out a 12-11 winning record. On the strength of both his NCAA and NBA careers, Hill was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018; while it remains to be seen, I think there is a strong chance that Carter will likewise receive the call when his time comes.
Regular Season Statistics
| Vince Carter | Player | Grant Hill |
| 22 (1998-2020) | Seasons | 18 (1994-2003, 2004-2013) |
| 1,541 | Games Played | 1,026 |
| 16.7 | Points | 16.7 |
| 4.3 | Rebounds | 6.0 |
| 3.1 | Assists | 4.1 |
| 43.5% | Field Goal % | 48.3% |
| 79.8% | Free Throw % | 76.9% |
| 18.6 | PER | 19.0 |
| 125.3 | Win Shares | 99.9 |
| 8x | All-Star Games | 7x |
| 2x | All-NBA | 5x |
| – | MVP | – |
| – | NBA Titles | – |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | – |
| Rookie of the Year | Other Awards | Rookie of the Year |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | 2018 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Despite their long careers and playoff appearances with multiple teams in both starring and reserve roles, neither Carter nor Hill was able to win an NBA title (or even make it to the Finals for that matter).
In his 22-year career, Carter appeared in the postseason in half of those seasons across five different teams (Raptors, Nets, Magic, Mavericks, and Grizzlies), with his biggest successes coming in the mid-to-late 2000s. This included one Eastern Conference Semifinals trip with the Raptors and back-to-back appearances with the Nets; his best individual performance came in 2005-2006, when New Jersey lost to Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat, as Carter averaged 29.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game for the playoffs. Team-wise, his only trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was with the Magic in 2009-2010, where they would fall to the Boston Celtics and their “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
Likewise, Hill played in the postseason 8x in his career across the Pistons, Magic, Suns, and Clippers; during four playoff trips in his prime with Detroit, he was never able to carry the Pistons past the first round and the injury he suffered in the 1999-2000 playoffs was the start of his persistent injuries in Orlando. Finally, in 2009-2010, Hill would win his first career playoff series, though Phoenix would eventually lose in the Western Conference Finals to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, marking the first and only time he would make it past the first round.
In contrast, both players did win gold medals for Team USA at the Olympics – Hill was part of the Dream Team III at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, while Carter represented his country at the 2000 Games in Sydney and made one of the most famous dunks ever over Frederic Weis of France; Hill was also slated to play in Sydney, but missed the tournament due to his aforementioned injury in the playoffs.
Playoff Statistics
| Vince Carter | Player | Grant Hill |
| 88 | Games Played | 39 |
| 18.1 | Points | 13.4 |
| 5.4 | Rebounds | 6.1 |
| 3.4 | Assists | 3.6 |
| 41.6% | Field Goal % | 46.9% |
| 79.6% | Free Throw % | 78.1% |
| 18.0 | PER | 18.1 |
| 7.4 | Win Shares | 2.6 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; as mentioned, due to injuries and age, both Carter and Hill evolved from young superstars to team leaders and valuable role players as their careers progressed. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Vince Carter | Player | Grant Hill |
| 1999-2009 | Decade of Dominance | 1994-2000, 2004-2005, 2006-2009 |
| 727 | Games Played | 719 |
| 23.9 | Points | 18.8 |
| 5.4 | Rebounds | 6.6 |
| 4.4 | Assists | 4.8 |
| 44.6% | Field Goal % | 48.7% |
| 79.9% | Free Throw % | 76.2% |
| 21.5 | PER | 20.2 |
| 86.3 | Win Shares | 82.8 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
In looking at their decades of dominance, Carter was the more prolific scorer, but Hill was more efficient and a better rebounder and passer; encapsulating everything into a couple of numbers, Carter had both a slightly higher PER and total Win-Shares. However, one thing to caveat is that Hill really only had six or seven truly great years (i.e. his time in Detroit plus one healthy season in Orlando), so even his decade of dominance is slightly diluted by a couple of relatively average seasons in Phoenix.
My Thoughts
First of all, I think that both Vince Carter and Grant Hill deserve recognition for their perseverance – Carter’s ability to accept a different role later in his career and set longevity records, and Hill’s fortitude in battling back from so many injuries to reinvent himself as a still useful player. From a pure scoring perspective, I would say that Carter was more explosive and arguably the best dunker in NBA history; however, in terms of all-around play, I believe peak Hill was superior – whereas Carter was an All-Star-caliber player for nearly a decade with the Raptors and Nets, he was never quite the All-NBA stud that Hill was in his prime (e.g. even though Carter earned one more All-Star Game, Hill had three additional All-NBA selections). In fact, in the late 1990s, Hill was viewed by many fans as a potential heir apparent to Michael Jordan as the best player in basketball and so the persistent injuries in Orlando leave a lot of “what could have been?” to his storied career. Nevertheless, for Carter, given Hill’s Hall of Fame selection, I likewise believe that “Vinsanity” will one day be a member of the Hall of Fame as well.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Grant Hill
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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