Kirk Hinrich was one of the top players in KU history. And as so with the great ones, he was always surrounded by media during his four years at Kansas. I interviewed him countless times, asking him questions usually in-between other reporters’ queries after games or in breakout sessions before games. He wasn’t known as the best interview, but he was always direct and candid, and I appreciated that. A relentless player who knew the game as a coach’s son, I couldn’t help admire how hard he played.
I finally got the chance to do an extended one-on-one interview with Kirk when he came back to Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 as a member of the Chicago Bulls. His Bulls were playing an exhibition game with the Seattle SuperSonics, who featured Kirk’s good buddy and former Jayhawk Nick Collison.
About 90 minutes before tipoff, when the players were first made available to the media, I hurried into the Bulls’ locker room where I saw Kirk sitting alone. Seizing my opportunity, I asked him several questions, including how he felt about returning to Allen Fieldhouse, his thoughts on the current KU basketball team, realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, and others.
Soon, I got to ask him the question I truly wanted. I remembered Kirk’s and Nick’s final home game against Oklahoma State in 2003, and how coach Roy Williams offered his memories of his two favorite players in the postgame press conference. He recalled a story about Kirk’s freshman year after a game against Saint Louis in Kemper Arena. Kirk struggled that night, going scoreless with five turnovers in 13 minutes. He was feeling extremely down, so as he and Williams walked back to the bus after the game, Roy put his arm around Kirk and said, ”You’re the guard I wanted."
I had always wanted to ask Kirk about that moment, and now I did. The Bulls’ point guard said he was really struggling in school and on the court early in his freshman season while trying to adjust to major college basketball, and feeling at his lowest point after the Saint Louis game, the 12th contest of the year.
So when Williams put his arm around him like a father and told Kirk he was “the guard I wanted,” it was like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Kirk called it a defining moment and turning point in his career.
“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” Kirk told me.
Kirk rebounded from adversity, earned a starting spot later that freshman year and blossomed into one of the best guards in school history. He left his career ranked No. 8 all time at KU in scoring, No. 5 in free throw percentage, No. 3 in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage, No. 3 in assists and steals, and No. 2 in minutes played behind Jayhawk legend Danny Manning.
He was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the Bulls in 2003, and quickly made his name in Chicago. After three seasons, Captain Kirk was seen as the face of the franchise, something I mentioned to him in Allen Fieldhouse during our interview in 2006.
“I’m not the face of the franchise,” Kirk responded.
K.C. Johnson, the Bulls’ beat writer who had joined me by that that time in the locker room, just laughed.
The humble Hinrich had some very good years in Chicago, and was an extremely popular player among fans with his gritty work ethic and desire. While he was the subject of trade talk during his latter years in Chicago, it never seemed to affect his play too much. Kirk was all business, and this showed with the media and on the hardwood.
Finally, in the summer of 2010, Chicago traded Kirk to the woeful Washington Wizards to free up salary cap space in their pursuit of free agents Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. Well, the Bulls got neither of them. As for Kirk, he played in obscurity in Washington while grooming rookie John Wall as the Wizards’ point guard of the future.
The Wizards traded Kirk to the Atlanta Hawks for the stretch run in 2011. While Kirk showcased his defensive prowess, he wasn’t counted on too much offensively. I thought his talents weren’t used properly with all the Hawks’ isolation plays and teaming with ball stoppers like Joe Johnson. Kirk ended up getting injured in the first round of the playoffs, and never got the chance to play in the following series against the Bulls.
Kirk underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and missed the beginning of last season with the Hawks. He never seemed to find his groove, averaging a career-low 6.6 points per game. Now a free agent, Hinrich looked for a new start with a new team this past summer.
He found it in his old home of Chicago, signing a deal worth about $8 million for two years. With All-Star and former MVP Derrick Rose sidelined for most of next season recovering from a torn ACL, Hinrich will likely step right in and start at point guard just like old times in the Windy City. When Rose returns, Kirk should still see plenty of minutes as backup point guard and at shooting guard.
Kirk told the Chicago Tribune that he knew in his heart and gut that Chicago was the best place for him. He actually chose the Bulls after reportedly turning down more money from the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would have been reunited with former Bulls’ coach Scott Skiles.
"The stars kind of had to be aligned," Hinrich said of returning to the Bulls. "I didn't have any preconceived notions coming into free agency that this would be my decision. It just worked out that way, and I'm happy it did."
I’m happy it did, too, for this former Jayhawk standout. While there’s been plenty of speculation that his skills have declined and he’s not the same player, I still believe the 31-year-old Hinrich (NBA broadcaster Steve Kerr once said he had a chance to become the “next Steve Nash”) has plenty of game and that a return to the Windy City could indeed revitalize his career and bring crowds to their feet at the United Center once more.
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