``Man, there was a lot going on at the time,'' he said. ``I was trying to gather a lot of information, trying to sort out all of the teams I was looking at. I was certainly very interested, and it was very flattering to have their interest.

``I can tell you that I have a lot of respect for Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and ( Celtics owner) Steve Pagliuca, who's a fellow Dukie, of course,'' said Hill. ``But (Phoenix) was just the right place. Boston has put together a great team, and they have great guys, but (Phoenix) just felt like home to me.''

Rivers, who coached Hill in Orlando, where he mostly waited for this snake-bitten star to recover from injuries, believes Hill was close to becoming a Celtic.

He also believes Hill wasn't ready to come off the bench, ala Rasheed Wallace or Marquis Daniels.

``We were very close,'' said Rivers. ``He changed his mind and decided to stay put. He just knew who they were - it was that simple. But I think at the end of the day it came down to him not being ready to come off the bench. He wanted to play a lot of minutes.''

Working on Austin

Rivers' son, Austin, a talented senior from Winter Park, Fla., is reconsidering an early commitment he made to play Basketball at the University of Florida, and is now being recruited by an especially high level of Duke alumnus.

And we're not just talking about Celtics managing partner Pagliuca.

Sixers forward Elton Brand spent a significant amount of time talking to the young Rivers after the Celtics' win over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Hill admitted last night he has been working on Austin'scase for a while now.

``Doc and I have talked about it, just to ask questions,'' said Hill. ``But as much as I love Duke, and some might not like to hear this, not everyone will have the same experience that I had there.

``I just hope Austin makes the right choice,'' he said. ``But for us Dukies, we just hope he picks us. There's a reason that former players send their sons there - guys like Mike Dunleavy and Gerald Henderson.''

Though Austin may still follow up on his interest in Florida and the chance to play for coach Billy Donovan, his father admits that contact with Hill can be special.

``Well, it's like family with Grant,'' he said of his former player. ``He's come to a couple of (Austin's) AAU games. He went out on the court to see him. Obviously, it's a strong pitch when it comes from Grant Hill.''

Off the grid

Glen Davis, quoted in a recent ESPN The Magazine story as saying he wanted to play professional football at some point, backed off that dream last night.

``Everybody is upset about me saying I want to play football,'' he said. ``I mean, everybody wants to play football. But I play Basketball.

``Everybody has dreams of playing football,'' said Davis. ``But you know what? I was a better baseball player than I was at football or Basketball. But I became a power forward who plays football for the Celtics .'' . . .

Brian Scalabrine missed last night's game with back spasms, which caused Rivers to ask one question.

``How he got those spasms I don't know,'' said the coach. ``We had yesterday off.''

Read the Celtics Insider at bostonherald.com.