http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/163999.html
He still has moves
Ex-King quiets critics who said he was done
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, May 1, 2007
This will not come as welcome news to anyone who blamed him in Oakland, who cheered his exit in Washington, who was so over him in Sacramento, who supported paying him $36 million in Philadelphia just to go away, and certainly not to anyone who never forgave him in Michigan. But.
But Chris Webber won.
He got the money, he got the leverage, he got the praise, and now, even if it is only the distant perception, he might even reach the unreachable redemption. Really running up the score, he also gets to keep the lamp and remaining wishes, potentially heading into summer on an open market that might chase him all over again.
Webber gets the reincarnation in his hometown, too, as if it wouldn't already have been the dream scenario come to life. Parachuting out of Philly, joining Detroit, the Pistons moving to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Chicago, getting another life as a hero, basking in success in a city where he was once a villain. He would have paid the 76ers for the chance, and instead they gave him $36 million.
That was the buyout finalized Jan. 11, with Webber surrendering $6 million due the final season and a half to leave "that city," as he calls Philadelphia to minimize direct contact to his darkest days as a pro. It closed the books on the seven-year, $123 million deal he signed with the Kings in 2001 and allowed him to choose the next team. He signed with Detroit on Jan. 16 and pocketed an additional $650,000 for the final three months of the regular season, with playoff money he otherwise would have missed.
He becomes a free agent again in July. He gets to choose his destination anew and negotiate a contract for the second time in 5 1/2 months. If it's not beating the system, it's at least hitting it back.
So who's the outdated 34-year-old with no mobility now?
"They threw him away and said he's done, he's washed up," said point guard Chauncey Billups, one of the Pistons who recruited Webber hardest. "You look at him now. He's having a lot of fun throwing it back in their face."
Detroit, 22-15 before Webber's arrival, is 35-14 since. In 43 regular-season games with the Pistons, he averaged 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds and shot 48.9 percent in 29.7 minutes. He doesn't sit for long stretches of the second half, the way he did in November and December as a 76er, steam billowing from his ears. He is playing more and playing better near the end of a season in which he gave every appearance of breaking down at the start.
It's like a road trip to Seattle late in the season, on the third stop of a five-game Western swing that would take the Pistons from Denver to Los Angeles and north again to Washington and Oregon and then south again to Phoenix. Webber exited the team bus that pulled into Key-Arena about 10:30 a.m. for shootaround and shuffled out of the tunnel and onto the court like, well, a creaking athlete whose physical state had been pelted with criticism for years. He eased into a seat along the front row of the baseline.
"Just the morning," Webber said, and then he smiled.
Proving it about eight hours later, he made 10 of 13 shots and had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists while playing 36 minutes in what was actually his worst showing on the boards in a four-game span. One night later in Portland, though struggling with his shot, he had eight assists while being limited to 30 minutes by foul trouble.
Even facing the fast-lane Suns, an opponent supposedly able to set a pace to burn the legs off a player of Webber's supposedly brittle state, didn't matter. He had 17 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes that night, while the defense constricted and the Pistons cruised to a 105-83 victory to sweep the trip.
"He looks energized," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I'm sure he's feeling great. He went from a place where you could get into a rut where you don't really think you have a chance to win, especially when he's been through the wars, and now he really thinks he can win a title."
Webber, naturally, said he never doubted his previous basketball life would return. Of course, he holds onto things hard anyway, noting he still thinks management in Sacramento broke up the Kings too soon.
In the 2007 issue, at least, he has supporting evidence to go with the supreme confidence most stars carry. He has moved from a role player trying to chase a memory on a lottery team to an integral part of the Eastern Conference's top-seeded team, all while taking on more minutes.
"That's because Philadelphia needed someone to carry the load," Nuggets assistant coach Doug Moe said. "He's not a load carrier anymore. He's like a fill-in guy. If you put him on a bad team, he couldn't do what you want him to do. Put him on a good team, where he can just fill in and do stuff, then he's really good. He's talented. His legs aren't great, but he is talented."
The Pistons already had a set core: Billups and Richard Hamilton at guard, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace at forward -- the same group that won a title in 2004. A fifth veteran, Antonio McDyess, was getting about 20 minutes a game off the bench in the frontcourt. Webber wasn't brought in to star, just replace Nazr Mohammed at center.
Anything would have been better to him than staying in Philadelphia, where he had been disenchanted with his role since the opening weeks, long before the 76ers officially turned to the future by trading Allen Iverson. Webber weighed joining the Los Angeles Lakers, who have always interested him, and also considered the Miami Heat.
Immediacy was a paramount consideration. With retirement having already entered his mind, Webber decided he would choose the team that packaged the best chance to play with the best chance to win his first championship. Detroit offered both.
"I've helped them, but they've definitely helped me just as much," he said. "Every day, I'm excited to go to work again, hanging with some good people. It's probably one of the teams that's had the best chemistry I've ever been on. So it feels good."
That the Pistons also offered Detroit merely added to the subplot. It wasn't just home, after all. It's where he starred at Michigan, where he helped the Wolverines to consecutive appearances in the NCAA finals, where he joined Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson to form the legendary Fab Five.
Where the program eventually crashed to the floor.
A federal investigation into the alleged gambling and money-laundering operations of a Michigan booster evolved into an additional NCAA matter when authorities found evidence showing that Ed Martin gave Webber and three other players $616,000 while in college. The school imposed sanctions in 2002 that included removing the two banners that commemorated the trips to the title game. Among the NCAA penalties was a decree that the Wolverines disassociate themselves from Webber and the three others for 10 years.
Webber pleaded guilty to a criminal contempt charge in July 2003 for lying to investigators, one day before jury selection was to begin in the perjury trial, and, in a conviction in the court of public opinion, was routinely booed in suburban Auburn Hills as an opponent. He acknowledged at the introductory news conference upon joining the Pistons that "I would like to reconnect with any fans that may not be supportive."
The concerns quickly faded as he made an immediate contribution. If Webber trying to win back his hometown was an intriguing storyline around the NBA, the supposed internal drama may have lasted two weeks at the most in Detroit itself, before everyone moved forward along with the Pistons. By mid-March, as they worked through the West in statement fashion, it was a non-issue at home.
"The best thing about being in Detroit is that I get to see my mom," he said. "She gets to cook for me. And that we're winning. But besides that, it's not like, Oh, you're trying to rebuild your image, or anything like that. I don't really know how to explain it. I could understand how people not from Detroit would think that, but it's almost bigger outside of Detroit, the whole Michigan thing and everything else. It's really not like that there. I haven't had any encounters or one problem or people saying anything."
Said Pistons coach Flip Saunders: "I don't think he talks about it. But anyone in his situation understands. Let's put it this way: He came here because he said he thought he could win a championship.
"I think what he understands is that he can really create another part of his legacy by what our team does. If he continues to have an impact and we are a team that can win a championship, he's going to be a guy, when people are going to look back, and say that was the piece. That can be another part of his legacy."
From the Fab Five to the Fad One.
"You've got to understand," said Rose, still a close friend and now a Suns reserve. "What he accomplished as a player and what we accomplished as the Fab Five in particular, when you look back at it now 15 years later people always talk about how loved we were because everybody embraced some of the styles that we brought to the game. But really, it was a love-hate relationship. Either you loved us or you hated us.
"But a couple of things have been good for him to become a Piston. Not only the opportunity to play for a winning team and his hometown team, but it was also the opportunity to give the people that were booing him twice a year a chance to cheer him 41 times a year because he's a Detroit Piston now. And that's a good thing for him. He deserves that."
He gets that, too.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard- cooper@sacbee.com.
He still has moves
Ex-King quiets critics who said he was done
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, May 1, 2007
This will not come as welcome news to anyone who blamed him in Oakland, who cheered his exit in Washington, who was so over him in Sacramento, who supported paying him $36 million in Philadelphia just to go away, and certainly not to anyone who never forgave him in Michigan. But.
But Chris Webber won.
He got the money, he got the leverage, he got the praise, and now, even if it is only the distant perception, he might even reach the unreachable redemption. Really running up the score, he also gets to keep the lamp and remaining wishes, potentially heading into summer on an open market that might chase him all over again.
Webber gets the reincarnation in his hometown, too, as if it wouldn't already have been the dream scenario come to life. Parachuting out of Philly, joining Detroit, the Pistons moving to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Chicago, getting another life as a hero, basking in success in a city where he was once a villain. He would have paid the 76ers for the chance, and instead they gave him $36 million.
That was the buyout finalized Jan. 11, with Webber surrendering $6 million due the final season and a half to leave "that city," as he calls Philadelphia to minimize direct contact to his darkest days as a pro. It closed the books on the seven-year, $123 million deal he signed with the Kings in 2001 and allowed him to choose the next team. He signed with Detroit on Jan. 16 and pocketed an additional $650,000 for the final three months of the regular season, with playoff money he otherwise would have missed.
He becomes a free agent again in July. He gets to choose his destination anew and negotiate a contract for the second time in 5 1/2 months. If it's not beating the system, it's at least hitting it back.
So who's the outdated 34-year-old with no mobility now?
"They threw him away and said he's done, he's washed up," said point guard Chauncey Billups, one of the Pistons who recruited Webber hardest. "You look at him now. He's having a lot of fun throwing it back in their face."
Detroit, 22-15 before Webber's arrival, is 35-14 since. In 43 regular-season games with the Pistons, he averaged 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds and shot 48.9 percent in 29.7 minutes. He doesn't sit for long stretches of the second half, the way he did in November and December as a 76er, steam billowing from his ears. He is playing more and playing better near the end of a season in which he gave every appearance of breaking down at the start.
It's like a road trip to Seattle late in the season, on the third stop of a five-game Western swing that would take the Pistons from Denver to Los Angeles and north again to Washington and Oregon and then south again to Phoenix. Webber exited the team bus that pulled into Key-Arena about 10:30 a.m. for shootaround and shuffled out of the tunnel and onto the court like, well, a creaking athlete whose physical state had been pelted with criticism for years. He eased into a seat along the front row of the baseline.
"Just the morning," Webber said, and then he smiled.
Proving it about eight hours later, he made 10 of 13 shots and had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists while playing 36 minutes in what was actually his worst showing on the boards in a four-game span. One night later in Portland, though struggling with his shot, he had eight assists while being limited to 30 minutes by foul trouble.
Even facing the fast-lane Suns, an opponent supposedly able to set a pace to burn the legs off a player of Webber's supposedly brittle state, didn't matter. He had 17 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes that night, while the defense constricted and the Pistons cruised to a 105-83 victory to sweep the trip.
"He looks energized," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I'm sure he's feeling great. He went from a place where you could get into a rut where you don't really think you have a chance to win, especially when he's been through the wars, and now he really thinks he can win a title."
Webber, naturally, said he never doubted his previous basketball life would return. Of course, he holds onto things hard anyway, noting he still thinks management in Sacramento broke up the Kings too soon.
In the 2007 issue, at least, he has supporting evidence to go with the supreme confidence most stars carry. He has moved from a role player trying to chase a memory on a lottery team to an integral part of the Eastern Conference's top-seeded team, all while taking on more minutes.
"That's because Philadelphia needed someone to carry the load," Nuggets assistant coach Doug Moe said. "He's not a load carrier anymore. He's like a fill-in guy. If you put him on a bad team, he couldn't do what you want him to do. Put him on a good team, where he can just fill in and do stuff, then he's really good. He's talented. His legs aren't great, but he is talented."
The Pistons already had a set core: Billups and Richard Hamilton at guard, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace at forward -- the same group that won a title in 2004. A fifth veteran, Antonio McDyess, was getting about 20 minutes a game off the bench in the frontcourt. Webber wasn't brought in to star, just replace Nazr Mohammed at center.
Anything would have been better to him than staying in Philadelphia, where he had been disenchanted with his role since the opening weeks, long before the 76ers officially turned to the future by trading Allen Iverson. Webber weighed joining the Los Angeles Lakers, who have always interested him, and also considered the Miami Heat.
Immediacy was a paramount consideration. With retirement having already entered his mind, Webber decided he would choose the team that packaged the best chance to play with the best chance to win his first championship. Detroit offered both.
"I've helped them, but they've definitely helped me just as much," he said. "Every day, I'm excited to go to work again, hanging with some good people. It's probably one of the teams that's had the best chemistry I've ever been on. So it feels good."
That the Pistons also offered Detroit merely added to the subplot. It wasn't just home, after all. It's where he starred at Michigan, where he helped the Wolverines to consecutive appearances in the NCAA finals, where he joined Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson to form the legendary Fab Five.
Where the program eventually crashed to the floor.
A federal investigation into the alleged gambling and money-laundering operations of a Michigan booster evolved into an additional NCAA matter when authorities found evidence showing that Ed Martin gave Webber and three other players $616,000 while in college. The school imposed sanctions in 2002 that included removing the two banners that commemorated the trips to the title game. Among the NCAA penalties was a decree that the Wolverines disassociate themselves from Webber and the three others for 10 years.
Webber pleaded guilty to a criminal contempt charge in July 2003 for lying to investigators, one day before jury selection was to begin in the perjury trial, and, in a conviction in the court of public opinion, was routinely booed in suburban Auburn Hills as an opponent. He acknowledged at the introductory news conference upon joining the Pistons that "I would like to reconnect with any fans that may not be supportive."
The concerns quickly faded as he made an immediate contribution. If Webber trying to win back his hometown was an intriguing storyline around the NBA, the supposed internal drama may have lasted two weeks at the most in Detroit itself, before everyone moved forward along with the Pistons. By mid-March, as they worked through the West in statement fashion, it was a non-issue at home.
"The best thing about being in Detroit is that I get to see my mom," he said. "She gets to cook for me. And that we're winning. But besides that, it's not like, Oh, you're trying to rebuild your image, or anything like that. I don't really know how to explain it. I could understand how people not from Detroit would think that, but it's almost bigger outside of Detroit, the whole Michigan thing and everything else. It's really not like that there. I haven't had any encounters or one problem or people saying anything."
Said Pistons coach Flip Saunders: "I don't think he talks about it. But anyone in his situation understands. Let's put it this way: He came here because he said he thought he could win a championship.
"I think what he understands is that he can really create another part of his legacy by what our team does. If he continues to have an impact and we are a team that can win a championship, he's going to be a guy, when people are going to look back, and say that was the piece. That can be another part of his legacy."
From the Fab Five to the Fad One.
"You've got to understand," said Rose, still a close friend and now a Suns reserve. "What he accomplished as a player and what we accomplished as the Fab Five in particular, when you look back at it now 15 years later people always talk about how loved we were because everybody embraced some of the styles that we brought to the game. But really, it was a love-hate relationship. Either you loved us or you hated us.
"But a couple of things have been good for him to become a Piston. Not only the opportunity to play for a winning team and his hometown team, but it was also the opportunity to give the people that were booing him twice a year a chance to cheer him 41 times a year because he's a Detroit Piston now. And that's a good thing for him. He deserves that."
He gets that, too.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard- cooper@sacbee.com.
Don't kidd yourselves, folks, Webb's happy in Detroit, but that man really wanted to retire a King.
