Western Conference Insider: Remembering MLK's contributions

During his 14-year career, Phoenix forward Grant Hill has seen plenty of change with how his teams played, starting with the brooding, half-court style he played in the Eastern Conference with the Pistons, to the open-court frenzy of Mike D'Antoni's Suns in the Western Conference, to the hybrid that Terry Porter is running in the desert today.

Just as Hill, a history buff, wouldn't suggest that D'Antoni was the first to change the game by employing a run-and-gun offense -- Paul Westhead, the "guru of go," ran a similar system with the Los Angeles Lakers and Loyola Marymount University in the early '80s -- Hill doesn't identify Monday, Jan. 19, 2009 as the eve of the inauguration of the United States' first African-American president.

To Hill, Jan. 19 is still Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Any change that Barack Obama brings to America cannot be any more significant than the change that King brought in the past.

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"It's understanding the contributions he's made and sort of as a result of his efforts and efforts of others, the changes that our country has gone through and how better things are now for people of my era as opposed to my parents and grandparents," Hill said. "It's just a great day, a great day to celebrate what he's done and celebrate where this country has come from, how far we've come in a short period of time."

Hill expressed his interest in how far African-Americans have come with "Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection," a two-year, seven-city tour of his African-American art collection.

"[King] was somebody I enjoyed studying and learning about, primarily because he was one of the few African-American figures who were talked about in the history books," Hill said. "The more you investigate and the more you research about him and what he did, just the more impressed I became. It's not just because I'm of color, but a lot of people regardless of their walks of life, regardless of whatever your race may be, the way he went about it, the way he went about making change ... there is really something to be said for that."

Hill has ties to Obama as well. He organized a fundraiser for the then-senator from Illinois in May of 2007, when Hill says the future president-elect was "behind Hillary [Clinton] big time." Hill may get his interest in politics from his mother, Janet Hill. She works as a consultant in Washington D.C., shared a suite with Clinton at Wellesley College and, according to Grant, acts as a "mentor" to the future First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Of course, there is a basketball angle to Hill's link with Obama, too. Fellow Mike Krzyzewski charge Reggie Love has moved on from Duke to serve as Obama's personal aide.

"Reggie, man, 27-, 28-years-old, about to be the assistant to the president, hopefully for two terms," Hill said. "When he's 35, just the experiences he'll have hopefully over the next eight years, he can write his own ticket. I'm proud of him."

Hill said he would like to be in D.C. for the inauguration, but the Suns will be in New York preparing for a game against the Knicks. So he'll watch it on TV and will "take it all in and digest the moment."

"This is something that you're thankful for and appreciative of and it just makes you sort of remember all that we've gone through as a country."

With a 9-30 start to the season, only the Washington Wizards and the Oklahoma City Thunder have worse records than the Los Angeles Clippers. That doesn't mean that head coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy is planning on blowing up the team.

When asked about rumors that L.A. was looking to trade one or more of its three-headed wounded monster -- Chris Kaman, Zach Randolph and Marcus Camby -- Dunleavy said that once Kaman (foot) and Randolph (knee) return from their injuries, the Clippers can "have the best frontline in basketball."

"If you look at the way Kaman was playing before he got hurt, he and Marcus, their chemistry was great," Dunleavy said. "Kaman goes down -- Zach comes in. Zach was playing great for us, putting up terrific numbers and the chemistry between Marcus and Zach was terrific. I think that Chris and Zach's chemistry will also be very, very good and very similar to the chemistry that he had with Elton Brand."

When the three have played this season, the production has been good. They combine to average 49.3 points, 33.1 rebounds and 4.8 blocks this season -- roughly Wilt Chamberlain at his peak. But the trio has combined to miss more than 30 games and hasn't yet played together in the same game.

"For us to be able to have that rotation all the time and then have other players to be able to fill in some minutes as needed ...," Dunleavy said. "I just think from our standpoint, we need to wait and take a look at that and I think that it's going to be very positive for us."

Since his return to the lineup on Dec. 30, the Kings are 0-6 when Kevin Martin scores 24 points or more and 3-1 when he scores 23 or less ... Because of early season injuries and some new faces, the Spurs dabbled with Manu Ginobili in the starting lineup, but it looks like Gregg Popovich is returning Ginobili to his sixth man role: "I think we've just come to the conclusion that Manu off the bench really makes us deeper, and adds an explosiveness offensively that we need when Timmy [Duncan] and Tony [Parker] are off the court" ... The Lakers dropped back-to-back heartbreakers against the Spurs and Magic, but still have a 6-4 record in games decided by five points or less ... The Warriors' Monta Ellis on his desire to stay with Golden State after recovering from a freak moped accident: "Listen, whatever it is about me leaving, wanting to go, 'I don't want to play for Nellie ... that never came from my mouth."