"A swing at the ring would be nice. A berth in the NBA Finals would be a storybook ending.

Either way, Grant Hill already is at peace.

"Yeah, every year you want to win," Hill said. "But if the best it gets is what I experienced last year, then that's not bad."

For apprehensive fans, those words may sound fatalistic. They seem to confirm the fears we all have about the 2010-11 Suns, a vulnerable team that will struggle to make the playoffs. The decision to not pay Amar'e Stoudemire could haunt this franchise for years.

Still, that's not what Hill is talking about. The Suns forward simply has reached a level of professional contentment, mostly for what he's accomplished since joining the Suns as a 35-year old veteran.

He's missed one game in the past two seasons. He's played more games since arriving in Phoenix (233) in 2007 than he did over seven seasons in Orlando (200). Once, he almost died from a bacterial infection. Later, he resuscitated a career that had been stamped as injury prone, avoiding the question that would've followed him for the rest of his life:

Poor Grant Hill. What a shame. What if he hadn't broken down?"