http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14035200p-14867144c.html
The trade that had to be made
The deal that sent Chris Webber to Philly still stings the forward
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Time heals all wounds, right?
Sometimes. But sometimes recovering from a wound of the heart is like tending to a ravaged knee. A little love, and plenty of patience.
Chris Webber still stings, still chafes over his last relocation. He was traded, discarded for other parts that didn't have near his pedigree, in a move last season that forever reshaped the Kings. The Philadelphia 76ers forward is content with his new surroundings, that his troublesome left knee hasn't bothered him as much as it once did, that he's performing like the old C-Webb again, not like an old C-Webb.
But rejection still lingers in his heart.
And taking on his old colors, Webber confessed the other day in Portland on a road trip, is like taking on family in a pickup game and having to take a charge from your mother.
The Kings host the 76ers today, and Webber might expect another rousing ovation from fans who never forget their players and who have grown to appreciate the man's skills all the more while the Kings scramble to reach .500 again.
"That ovation last year," Webber said, recalling when Kings fans stood for several moments and saluted his 6 1/2 Sacramento seasons, choking him up, "it was very cool. It was hard to take in. It was overwhelming. I didn't want to play those two games against the Kings. How weird was that, to play against the team that traded you?
"It hurts not being there in Sacramento now," Webber continued. "It hurts not being wanted by a team that you helped create. I knew the Western Conference would be wide open. I couldn't believe the organization would give up on all that and make the trade. All that talk of love and family ... it just hurts."
Hurts even now, with Webber posting some of the best numbers in the league with averages of 19.6 points and 10.2 rebounds and 40.2 minutes. Hurts when he's on a playoff contender while the team he left behind is lounging in last place.
Webber said the trade was worse than "the timeout," his infamous timeout call in an NCAA championship game when his Michigan Wolverines didn't have one.
"It'll always hurt," Webber said. "I loved Sacramento. It'll never not hurt, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I made great friends, great relationships. I can't tell you how much I miss people like Mike Bibby. Talk to him all the time. Or the coaches. Elston Turner. Coach (Pete) Carril. Rick Adelman, who is getting a bum rap and doesn't deserve it. I miss all those guys.
"You reach a Game 7 like we did (against the Lakers in 2002), and it means something. You build something together - something that was probably taken for granted - like you can re-create it overnight. It'll always be something special."
Special even when initially Webber was sour on the very notion of having any association with Sacramento.
This was a player who thumbed his nose at the 1998 trade that brought him to the Kings in the first place. He didn't want to play here, when the Kings were marked by losing seasons and lottery drafts. It wasn't until Webber's dad, Mayce, tracked him down on the phone and talked of being a man, a professional, and threatened to report for him and take his paychecks that Webber finally reported to camp.
Once he did, Webber exhaled and let his game take over. In time, he rebuilt his image. He rehabbed his legacy. He played the best ball of his career. The Kings were never better, either. Kings fans melted at his charm, the smile. Even when some booed him for firing up jumpers and not attacking the rim after his return from that devastating knee injury in the 2003 playoffs against Dallas, there proved more love than grief.
Webber knows that now more than ever. He's appreciated in Philadelphia, but not beloved as he was here.
"Once you get traded, you can see how Webb's been motivated to do well, to play well," said Philadelphia backup center Steven Hunter.
Said Matt Barnes, the Sacramento product and Webber's Sixers teammate and close friend: "That ovation he got, he deserved it. He put the Kings on the map, but it'll always bother him that he got traded."
Said Bibby: "I knew he would get back his old game, but I'm still not used to seeing him in a different uniform."
And Webber, sizing it all up in general: "Everyone in Sacramento knew I didn't want to be there at first. They didn't blame me for it because they were great die-hard fans, crazy, loyal fans who had cheered a team that hadn't won. They embraced me, and I embraced them right back. I love those fans more than extended family. They let me re-create myself, and for that, I'll forever be grateful."
Webber said years ago that he would remain loyal to the Sacramento community. He's still standing by his word. Webber will announce today in a news conference that he's opening a restaurant in Natomas sometime next spring. It will be called "Center Court with C-Webb." He'll also be a partner in nine other restaurants to open around the country.
Soul food menus for all, sir?
"No, no, not the soul food," Webber said, laughing, recalling the irony of how he wondered why there weren't more soul-food joints in Sacramento several years ago. "This will be a burger and fries joint, a sports setting."
Webber said he'll be a hands-on owner once his playing days are over. He wants the place to be a haven for families and athletes.
"I think when a player leaves a city, that's when your character is proven," Webber said. "I always said I'd be a part of Sacramento."
Webber still has a house in the area (he sold another last year). And his two Rottweilers, Zora and Zeek, still live here. He planned to bear-hug them both, with a dish rag in tow.
"I visited them this summer, and I'm going to take them back with me soon," Webber said. "I miss them, too. My girl - Zora - is going to pee on the floor right in front of me when I see her. She did that all the time when I went on road trips before, just to show me. Just like a woman, she'll get mad at you and let you know it."
Webber resisted any temptation to take the Kings to task for making the trade. He was dealt for Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner in a move that was an emotional grinder for players, coaches and front-office folks. The trade was consummated in effect to move one big salary and one bad knee for three smaller salaries and six healthy knees.
But the results, for now, favor Philly and Webber. The three Sixers imports have averaged career lows virtually across the board, in points, rebounds and minutes. Combined, they average 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists, totals dwarfed by Webber's.
Did it work?
"I can't really say," Webber said. "I can't speak, really, on the players in the deal (in Sacramento). They didn't create the deal."
Webber may never fully recover all his mobility, but he's had some amazing moments this season. He repeatedly took it to Minnesota's Kevin Garnett on Dec. 12, finishing with 27 points and 21 rebounds. Last week against Denver, Webber had a season-high-tying 32 points on 15-of-22 shooting, 15 rebounds and seven assists. On Wednesday in Portland, he went scoreless in the second half of the second game of a back-to-back, but coach Maurice Cheeks took as much blame as anyone, saying Webber needed to rest and that "I'll live and learn."
Scouts say Webber is still very much a factor on offense, though he can be had on defense, particularly when he's tired.
"Overall, he's been great," Cheeks said. "He can't move the way he always used to move, and sometimes that's a challenge for him with the knee. I know I'm glad to have him. He's burned me a few times when I coached against him. I know how good he is."
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at (916) 321-1280 or jdavidson@sacbee.com.
The trade that had to be made
The deal that sent Chris Webber to Philly still stings the forward
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Time heals all wounds, right?
Sometimes. But sometimes recovering from a wound of the heart is like tending to a ravaged knee. A little love, and plenty of patience.
Chris Webber still stings, still chafes over his last relocation. He was traded, discarded for other parts that didn't have near his pedigree, in a move last season that forever reshaped the Kings. The Philadelphia 76ers forward is content with his new surroundings, that his troublesome left knee hasn't bothered him as much as it once did, that he's performing like the old C-Webb again, not like an old C-Webb.
But rejection still lingers in his heart.
And taking on his old colors, Webber confessed the other day in Portland on a road trip, is like taking on family in a pickup game and having to take a charge from your mother.
The Kings host the 76ers today, and Webber might expect another rousing ovation from fans who never forget their players and who have grown to appreciate the man's skills all the more while the Kings scramble to reach .500 again.
"That ovation last year," Webber said, recalling when Kings fans stood for several moments and saluted his 6 1/2 Sacramento seasons, choking him up, "it was very cool. It was hard to take in. It was overwhelming. I didn't want to play those two games against the Kings. How weird was that, to play against the team that traded you?
"It hurts not being there in Sacramento now," Webber continued. "It hurts not being wanted by a team that you helped create. I knew the Western Conference would be wide open. I couldn't believe the organization would give up on all that and make the trade. All that talk of love and family ... it just hurts."
Hurts even now, with Webber posting some of the best numbers in the league with averages of 19.6 points and 10.2 rebounds and 40.2 minutes. Hurts when he's on a playoff contender while the team he left behind is lounging in last place.
Webber said the trade was worse than "the timeout," his infamous timeout call in an NCAA championship game when his Michigan Wolverines didn't have one.
"It'll always hurt," Webber said. "I loved Sacramento. It'll never not hurt, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I made great friends, great relationships. I can't tell you how much I miss people like Mike Bibby. Talk to him all the time. Or the coaches. Elston Turner. Coach (Pete) Carril. Rick Adelman, who is getting a bum rap and doesn't deserve it. I miss all those guys.
"You reach a Game 7 like we did (against the Lakers in 2002), and it means something. You build something together - something that was probably taken for granted - like you can re-create it overnight. It'll always be something special."
Special even when initially Webber was sour on the very notion of having any association with Sacramento.
This was a player who thumbed his nose at the 1998 trade that brought him to the Kings in the first place. He didn't want to play here, when the Kings were marked by losing seasons and lottery drafts. It wasn't until Webber's dad, Mayce, tracked him down on the phone and talked of being a man, a professional, and threatened to report for him and take his paychecks that Webber finally reported to camp.
Once he did, Webber exhaled and let his game take over. In time, he rebuilt his image. He rehabbed his legacy. He played the best ball of his career. The Kings were never better, either. Kings fans melted at his charm, the smile. Even when some booed him for firing up jumpers and not attacking the rim after his return from that devastating knee injury in the 2003 playoffs against Dallas, there proved more love than grief.
Webber knows that now more than ever. He's appreciated in Philadelphia, but not beloved as he was here.
"Once you get traded, you can see how Webb's been motivated to do well, to play well," said Philadelphia backup center Steven Hunter.
Said Matt Barnes, the Sacramento product and Webber's Sixers teammate and close friend: "That ovation he got, he deserved it. He put the Kings on the map, but it'll always bother him that he got traded."
Said Bibby: "I knew he would get back his old game, but I'm still not used to seeing him in a different uniform."
And Webber, sizing it all up in general: "Everyone in Sacramento knew I didn't want to be there at first. They didn't blame me for it because they were great die-hard fans, crazy, loyal fans who had cheered a team that hadn't won. They embraced me, and I embraced them right back. I love those fans more than extended family. They let me re-create myself, and for that, I'll forever be grateful."
Webber said years ago that he would remain loyal to the Sacramento community. He's still standing by his word. Webber will announce today in a news conference that he's opening a restaurant in Natomas sometime next spring. It will be called "Center Court with C-Webb." He'll also be a partner in nine other restaurants to open around the country.
Soul food menus for all, sir?
"No, no, not the soul food," Webber said, laughing, recalling the irony of how he wondered why there weren't more soul-food joints in Sacramento several years ago. "This will be a burger and fries joint, a sports setting."
Webber said he'll be a hands-on owner once his playing days are over. He wants the place to be a haven for families and athletes.
"I think when a player leaves a city, that's when your character is proven," Webber said. "I always said I'd be a part of Sacramento."
Webber still has a house in the area (he sold another last year). And his two Rottweilers, Zora and Zeek, still live here. He planned to bear-hug them both, with a dish rag in tow.
"I visited them this summer, and I'm going to take them back with me soon," Webber said. "I miss them, too. My girl - Zora - is going to pee on the floor right in front of me when I see her. She did that all the time when I went on road trips before, just to show me. Just like a woman, she'll get mad at you and let you know it."
Webber resisted any temptation to take the Kings to task for making the trade. He was dealt for Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner in a move that was an emotional grinder for players, coaches and front-office folks. The trade was consummated in effect to move one big salary and one bad knee for three smaller salaries and six healthy knees.
But the results, for now, favor Philly and Webber. The three Sixers imports have averaged career lows virtually across the board, in points, rebounds and minutes. Combined, they average 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists, totals dwarfed by Webber's.
Did it work?
"I can't really say," Webber said. "I can't speak, really, on the players in the deal (in Sacramento). They didn't create the deal."
Webber may never fully recover all his mobility, but he's had some amazing moments this season. He repeatedly took it to Minnesota's Kevin Garnett on Dec. 12, finishing with 27 points and 21 rebounds. Last week against Denver, Webber had a season-high-tying 32 points on 15-of-22 shooting, 15 rebounds and seven assists. On Wednesday in Portland, he went scoreless in the second half of the second game of a back-to-back, but coach Maurice Cheeks took as much blame as anyone, saying Webber needed to rest and that "I'll live and learn."
Scouts say Webber is still very much a factor on offense, though he can be had on defense, particularly when he's tired.
"Overall, he's been great," Cheeks said. "He can't move the way he always used to move, and sometimes that's a challenge for him with the knee. I know I'm glad to have him. He's burned me a few times when I coached against him. I know how good he is."
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at (916) 321-1280 or jdavidson@sacbee.com.
