People who wander through the desert hope to stumble upon an oasis.

Thirty-seven-year-old Grant Hill plays basketball in the Arizona desert and he’s found the fountain of youth.

Hill missed 374 games during his disastrous seven-season tenure with the Orlando Magic, but he has enjoyed a career resurgence with the Phoenix Suns. He played in all of the Suns’ games last season, and he’s played a significant role in his team’s strong start this fall.

“My daughter gave him the name ‘Benjamin Button’ last year,” Phoenix Coach Alvin Gentry said. “He seems to be going the other way.”

Hill looked relaxed in his visit to Orlando last week to face the Magic. Working with Phoenix’s renowned training staff has rejuvenated him. Aside from the specs of white that dot his dark goatee, he more closely resembles the player who started his NBA career in Detroit than the one who hobbled throughout most of his time with the Magic.

“There were times last year where I did things and I’m running down the court [and I say to myself], ‘Man, I haven’t done that since I was in Detroit,’” Hill said.

That has continued this season. Hill is averaging 13.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Best of all, Phoenix has started the season with a 7-1 record that includes an impressive road victory against the Boston Celtics.

Miami’s Dwyane Wade approached Hill during a recent game and asked, “What do you do, man? I want to do what you do when I’m 37.”

Hill smiled as he recounted the conversation with Wade. All the steps he’s taken to stay healthy are working. Hill started to monitor his diet carefully around 2001 or 2002 so he wouldn’t gain weight as he recovered from surgery on his left ankle.

Magic fans booed him relentlessly during Orlando’s 122-100 victory over Phoenix at Amway Arena. They booed him when his name came up during pregame introductions. They booed him sometimes when Hill merely touched the ball.

Hill said he isn’t bothered when he returns to the Am. He feels better about his game and about his role than he did the last two times he returned to the arena. A few Magic employees stopped by the Phoenix locker room before tipoff to say hello. Hill also maintains a home in Central Florida and stays in touch with some of his former Magic teammates.

“I’m at peace,” Hill said. “I know the team’s gone on and had great success.”

Missing all those games earlier this decade makes him appreciate his recent success even more. Gentry tries to give him time off, but Hill doesn’t want to even miss a minute of practice.

Hill’s current contract will run out after next season, when he’ll be 38.

He says he’d like to play at least through the 2011-12 season.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I’m going to play until they tell you, ‘You can’t play no more.’ Once it’s over, it’s over.”

Right now, Hill feels thankful just to feel young again.

Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter @JoshuaBRobbins. He can be reached at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com.

His agent, Lon Babby, said on Friday that Hill decided to remain in Phoenix rather than sign with the Boston Celtics or New York Knicks.

Babby said during a conference call that the deal is for two years, the second at Hill’s option, and he will be paid $3 million in the first year. Hill has played the last two years for the Suns and averaged 12 points in 2008-09 while playing in all 82 games for the first time in his 14-year career.

The offer was for one year and a portion of the Knicks’ mid-level exception. Hill is permitted to sign as soon as tomorrow, the first day free agents are allowed to sign contracts

We think we have a chance, but you never know,” a team source said last night. In a visit that blew Jason Kidd’s away, Hill arrived yesterday at the Garden at 11:30 a.m., got the arena tour and the jersey before being whisked to the Knicks’ practice facility in Westchester.

Last night, Hill, his agent Lon Babby, Walsh and D’Antoni headed out for dinner. The Knicks could blow the Celtics out of the water since Boston is using their $5.8 million mid-level exception on Rasheed Wallace and can offer Hill only the $1.9M lower exception.

With Kidd agreeing to terms with Dallas, the Knicks have their $5.8 million mid-level exception to use and can take half of it to top Boston on a one-year deal for Hill, who played 82 games last season, averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds.

“You want to have players who’ve had a lot of success before so they can show the other players how to do it,” Walsh told The Post. “That’s the kind of player we want to bring in.”

On the surface, small forward is not a positional need, but Walsh feels Hill, at 6-foot-8, also can play shooting guard — a void since Cuttino Mobley’s retirement.

Hill also is considering staying in Phoenix, but the Suns won’t outbid the Knicks. Hill told reporters yesterday at the Garden playing “at the mecca” has always been appealing to him and he has always loved New York. He claimed he would’ve heavily considered the Knicks when he was a free agent in 2000 had the Knicks not tried to move his buddy Patrick Ewing in a sign-and-trade. Hill would have to change his number as he wears 33, which the Knicks have retired.

“Hill’s a class act,” D’Antoni said. “”He knows how to play. I think he’s one of the best free agents out there.”

Hill was ubiquitous the entire game, but particularly so in the fourth period. Hill threw down an impressive flush on a fast break with 4:55 ticks left in the game and then followed it up on the next play with a crowd-pleasing block on Utah’s Carlos Boozer. After another block by Hill on Utah’s Paul Millsap with 2:46 left, Hill literally wrapped up the game in his hands with a huge defensive rebound with five seconds left.

“I’m just amazed by him,” Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry said. “He’s a just a big-time competitor and such a smart player. He really is playing like he’s 25 years-old.

“He still has so much of his athleticism left that we went to him at the end of the game and he made a big shot for us. I’m happy for him because he’s played in every single game we’ve had this year.”

What did the 36 year-old Hill attribute his stellar play towards?

“I watched the movie ‘Cocoon’ last week,” he said.

Back in 1992, Hill was a key part of the Duke-Kentucky East Regional Championship Game that treated fans to one of the greatest shots in NCAA Tournament history. With under three seconds to play and Kentucky leading 103-102, Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout to draw up one final play for his Blue Devils. Among those sitting on the edge of their seats that evening, were Hill’s parents, Calvin and Janet. Hill’s parents recently discussed their memories of the game with William C. Rhoden of The New York Times, and As Calvin recalled, Kentucky definitely had momentum on its side following Sean Wood’s clutch shot for the Wildcats.

“The Kentucky side went ballistic,” Calvin Hill told the publication. “They’re high-fiving and hugging. People on the Duke side were crying.”

Those tears quickly turned to cheers, however, when Calvin and Janet’s son launched a 75-foot pass to teammate Christian Laettner who turned and sunk a 17-footer just before the buzzer.

“I remember when he hit the shot, I jumped down on the floor from two rows back and I hit my midsection on the back of a chair,” Hill recalls in the article. “Ordinarily I’d been rolling over on the ground, but I said the heck with that, I’m going to enjoy this moment.”

“Hey man, you’re playing great!”

And before Hill can smile or even respond, the caveat appears.

“I had your shoes when I was in seventh grade.” Or: “I didn’t know you had gray hair!”

“I don’t know if it’s an insult or if they’re being genuine,” Hill said. “But I know what I’m thinking when I hear that stuff: I’m going to beat them downcourt every time.”

Look hard enough, and you can find some great stories inside this turbulent basketball season. Hill is one of them. He will turn 37 in October. He was the team’s best defensive player during the Terry Porter train wreck, often guarding players 10-15 years younger.

“The perception when Grant Hill signed with the Suns was, ‘Can he keep up?’ ” Hill said.

Keep up? For the first 50 games of the 2008-09, he was one of the few Suns who actually were playing hard, running fast, trying to make it all work. Behind the scenes, he was the guy trying to get Porter to loosen the reins.

Now that the last gasp of an era has begun, Hill will have another platform on which to shine. His playing time had diminished under Porter, down almost three minutes a game. Hill is best in the open court, when the game becomes a sprint. The return to a “breakneck” style can only help. So will his relationship with new head man Alvin Gentry.

Hill was with the Pistons in 1998 when Gentry took over as interim coach for the fired Doug Collins. They’ve done this dance before.

“I’ve known Alvin my entire professional career,” Hill said. “He recruited me when he was at Kansas (as an assistant under Larry Brown). And he’s partly responsible for me being here in Phoniex, with the recruiting he did.”

When this season is over, Hill will have given the Suns two excellent years for less than $2 million annually. That’s a steal. After Wednesday’s game against the Clippers, he has played in 53 consecutive games; he and Amaré Stoudemire are the only Suns to play in every game this season.

Don’t look now, but who would have thought the brittle Hill would ever be an ironman?

“I think I played in 50 consecutive games during the lockout season in 1988-89, so I’m kind of scared to even talk about it,” Hill said. “But I’m proud. I had a period when I didn’t know whether I would ever play again, and I had to get through those years where you begin to doubt yourself. To get back has taken a lot of hard work. I’ve put my time in.”

Hill is the former Duke Blue Devil whose career is best symbolized by a blue cross. He’s had umpteen ankle surgeries, a sports hernia and a staph infection that nearly cost him his life. Last year, he played in 70 games for the first time in ages. He also had an emergency appendectomy in January 2008, which led to a recurring groin injury that ruined his playoffs. Alas, this whole mess on Planet Orange might never have occurred if Grant Hill had been healthy and ready for the Spurs, and here’s a telling anecdote:

Hill left US Airways Center on Tuesday with two Team USA jerseys he had signed at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game in Oakland. Hill was scheduled to play in the 2000 Olympics later that year and had chosen No. 15 because that’s the number Magic Johnson wore in Barcelona in 1992.

Those jerseys were supposed to be coveted memorabilia. They were returned to Hill over the weekend, when the All-Star Game came to Phoenix.

Now they are a reminder of what could have been.

But Hill is not a man consumed with regret. He’s all class and grace. Last season he won the NBA’s Joe Dumars Trophy for outstanding sportsmanship. When it comes to all-time great guys, few cities can match our trio of Hill, Kurt Warner and Shane Doan.

“There have been a lot of good times and bad times over the past year and a half, but at least I’m living it,” Hill said. “A lot of guys who came in with me would love to be in the position I’m in. I may have a different attitude and approach to things, but I understand it’s a privilege to do what we do. And I’ve been fortunate enough to have a second chance.”

These Suns have a second chance, too. Hopefully there’s a happy ending for everyone.

As Hill posted 11 points in the Suns’ 114-86 road victory of the Nets, he paid close attention during timeouts as the in-arena PA announcer provided updates of the presidential race. But it wasn’t until he was on the bus to the airport that he finally heard that Barack Obama had won his bid for the White House.

“It’s like, wow, I can’t believe it,” Hill said. “Even until the last minute, even though he was up in the polls and projected to win, there was still a nervous energy there on my part that it was almost too good to be true.”

It was on the bus, via cell phone, that he and his wife, Tamia, were able to soak in the historical significance of the first African-American to be named President of the United States. But to the Hills, the election was more personal than that.

Hill’s mother, Janet, who acts as a vice president of a D.C. corporate consulting firm, first took notice of Obama some years ago, when she was mentoring his wife, Michelle. Janet would actually help Michelle get appointed to her first corporate board.

Besides Janet’s relationship with Michelle, Janet’s business partner had a son serve as a chief consultant on Obama’s campaign. And although the Suns forward had heard rumblings about Obama for some time, Obama registerd his first real imprint on Hill’s consciousness when he delivered a sizzling keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, a speech that would eventually thrust him into the national spotlight.

In May of 2007, when Obama was far from the frontrunner as the nominee for the Democratic Party, Hill decided to co-host a fundraiser for him in Washington D.C. At that moment in time, the crowd was filled with supporters of Hillary Clinton and undecided Democrats that wanted to hear what Obama’s ideas were. It was there that he became more familiar with Obama on a personal level.

“He just had the ability to connect,” Hill said. “Amidst all of that chaos (of his campaign), when you’re shaking his hand and talking to him, he made us feel like we were the most important people in the world.

“We were just really stunned and we were in awe of him and how he just made us feel very important. He had that ‘it’ thing and it certainly came across in my first meeting.”

That quality would be reiterated a few months later when Hill and his wife were driving in Arizona and he received a phone call from the Illinois Senator, who had called him to thank him for the fundraiser and his support. As Hill was talking on the phone, he attempted to whisper to his curious wife that it was Obama on the phone.

“He’s got my cell phone number,” Hill recalls whispering to his wife. “That was the kid and fan in all of us that certainly came out at that point in time.”

As the campaign marched on, Hill became more and more attracted to his message, and although Janet was friends with Hillary Clinton back in college, the entire Hill family threw their support behind Obama.

For the former Rookie of the Year, it was his similarities to Obama’s views on health care and the war in Iraq that earned his vote. He also admired his intelligence and judgment, believing that Obama will provide a refreshing voice that will lead the country in the right direction.

“Just to see the momentum slowly develop and get to a point to where he is now, what he has been able to accomplish, how he has run an unbelievable campaign while refraining from going dirty in the process,” Hill said. “He handles himself with class and respect. It just has been a long process, but it certainly has been a fun one to follow and to witness something truly special.”

Hill, who won the 2007-08 NBA Sportsmanship Award and is known as one of the more respected and eloquent players in the league, seems primed for a career in public service once his playing days are over. But the former Duke graduate is reluctant to commit himself to such a path.

“As an adult and taxpayer, I’ve enjoyed following and participating in the whole political process,” he said. “But I’ll have to wait and see.”

To Hill, the desire to hold office seems to have skipped a generation.

“My first-grader wants to be President and that’s all she talks about,” the seven-time All-Star said.

His daughter, Myla, can often be found asking fellow classmates whether or not they are Republican or Democrat, most likely in preparation for her presidential bid in 2048. For Hill, he believes much of his daughter’s enthusiasm should be credited to none other than Obama.

“Fortunately for her, she now has that example,” Hill said. “Here’s a 6-year old that is surprisingly pretty passionate about politics. But, I think maybe she talks to her grandmother too much. Who knows?”

Larry, who’s battling multiple sclerosis, got his wish of attending a Suns game and introducing his son to Hill, whom he feels is the epitome of a positive role model.
“You don’t have to be an athlete, a celebrity or any other high-profile person to be a role model,” Hill said. “We all can do that. We all can find people to look up to and strive to be like. I had role models, people who I looked up to as a kid and people I look up to now. I’m always trying to do better in life – as a parent and a human being. It’s important to have role models and it’s important to those of us who are role models to do the best we can.”

Hill presented young Gibson with a Suns backpack, a handshake and a few inspirational words.

“I was just trying to bring a smile to his face,” Hill continued, “and have it be something he’ll remember as he gets older and navigates through life.
“Like any other athlete, I’m just trying to do my part.”