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Kings 2004 preview: Can the Kings overcome the Arco injury jinx?
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Chris Webber reeled off the names of the wounded, going through an imaginary medical chart as if holding open the doors to the ER ward for waves of teammates.
He tried to make sense of it, to come up with some logical reason as to why injuries continue to plague the Kings - two years ago, last season, even today - with Webber the appropriate spokesman as a one-man triage case study over the years.
All told, Sacramento's ailments would make for one sobering X-ray or MRI - from the underside of feet, to ankles, to knees, to thighs, to hands, to backs, to shoulders.
And they have come from everywhere, like two years ago when Bobby Jackson had his hand injured as Shaquille O'Neal swiped at it. Then Jackson suffered a severely strained abdominal muscle last season and missed the last third of the season. And then there was Webber's knee injury in the 2003 playoffs that forced him to miss most of the 2003-04 regular season.
The bug - or curse, if you believe in such things - has even latched on to the team's seemingly immune iron man, Doug Christie.
A guard who has started 324 of a possible 328 games since his arrival in Sacramento before the 2000-01 season, Christie missed training camp and the preseason this fall because of tender foot tissue. He hoped to be uniform for tonight's season opener at Dallas.
And now add Greg Ostertag to the list. Talk about fluky, the new Kings reserve center fits into Ripley's Believe it or Not. He tripped at home, breaking his hand when he landed.
These aren't out-of-shape ailments, Kings players and coaches agree. It's bad luck, bad breaks and bad karma. And Webber wonders if there's something a little more spooky to it.
"I mean, how do you explain it?" he said. "I think someone put a voodoo hex on us when Arco Arena was built, or there's a body down under there - Jimmy Hoffa or someone."
Webber and Jackson said their most current injuries were the most serious and troubling of their careers. Combined, they missed 74 games because of injuries last season. Both wondered if they would return to their old form. At their lowest, when watching games in street clothes wore on them, they even wondered if they would play again.
"I wondered that a lot," Webber said. "There were a lot of days when I didn't know if I could keep going, no doubt. It was very emotional.
"I had doctors tell me I would be healthier if I shut it down for a long time. I had players from other teams tell me to shut it down. But I didn't want to shut it down. I want to shut it down when I'm 37 or 38, not now. I've got six more years before that."
So why come back last season, then?
"What was my incentive? To win," Webber said. "I needed to play."
Webber's microfracture surgery required drilling into the knee to help induce bleeding in an effort to form scar tissue as a replacement for damaged or missing cartilage. It affects different players in different ways, with Webber so far emerging as the most mobile of some of his contemporaries.
Microfracture surgery has sidelined Jamal Mashburn of the New Orleans Hornets for most of last season and all of this season, maybe for good. It had Allan Houston of the New York Knicks out all of last season's playoffs and this training camp and perhaps well into the season. It has Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets out until late December, maybe even later. It has Karl Malone, last of the Los Angeles Lakers, pondering retirement after a career mostly devoid of injury.
Webber hired a personal chef for better eating. He conditioned throughout the summer, including 6 a.m. workouts, and was impressive in camp.
"I think he's looked really good," center Brad Miller said. "When this sort of thing happens to Karl Malone, you know it can happen to anyone. But Webber made it back, and he looks good to me."
Added Webber: "I didn't really want to talk to some of the players who have the same knee problem I had, because they have a lot of bad stories. ... I know I survived it, because it ruins some guys."
Jackson is similarly relieved. The energizer off the Kings' bench missed the last one-third of last season with his abdominal problem.
He kept alive the hope of playing again by shooting hundreds of jumpers in practice, but every time he tried to sprint, a la Action Jackson, he felt a tug deep inside.
To really push it, he said, was to risk a severe tear and perhaps end his career. He's back now, showing no ill signs.
"It's as if he was never gone," guard Mike Bibby said. "He looks great."
Said Jackson: "I know it's nice to come back because I haven't really played since last February. I was really concerned that if I ripped it, I'd never come back at all. I tried to come back last year, but it just didn't feel right, and that was hard to go through. The old me, years ago, I would have pushed it and ruined it."
Christie felt soreness in his foot during the playoffs last season. Doctor's orders were to take the summer off, a tough pill for a fellow who is a workout fanatic.
But when the foot still didn't feel right in September, he had what's called a shockwave procedure on his foot to alleviate the pain.
"Most people with plantar fasciitis get it, sit down, and in a couple of weeks, it's good," Christie said. "But once I got it, I kept pushing it. I really didn't give it a chance to rest in the playoffs last year. We were trying to win games."
Ostertag signed with the Kings to win some playoff games after being part of eight postseason berths in nine years with the Utah Jazz. But the Kings haven't seen him in game uniform yet, though he should be back within one week.
And what did Webber say when he saw Ostertag with his fresh cast? "I told him, 'Hey, welcome to the club. This is part of it. You'll fit right in.' "
Kings 2004 preview: Can the Kings overcome the Arco injury jinx?
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Chris Webber reeled off the names of the wounded, going through an imaginary medical chart as if holding open the doors to the ER ward for waves of teammates.
He tried to make sense of it, to come up with some logical reason as to why injuries continue to plague the Kings - two years ago, last season, even today - with Webber the appropriate spokesman as a one-man triage case study over the years.
All told, Sacramento's ailments would make for one sobering X-ray or MRI - from the underside of feet, to ankles, to knees, to thighs, to hands, to backs, to shoulders.
And they have come from everywhere, like two years ago when Bobby Jackson had his hand injured as Shaquille O'Neal swiped at it. Then Jackson suffered a severely strained abdominal muscle last season and missed the last third of the season. And then there was Webber's knee injury in the 2003 playoffs that forced him to miss most of the 2003-04 regular season.
The bug - or curse, if you believe in such things - has even latched on to the team's seemingly immune iron man, Doug Christie.
A guard who has started 324 of a possible 328 games since his arrival in Sacramento before the 2000-01 season, Christie missed training camp and the preseason this fall because of tender foot tissue. He hoped to be uniform for tonight's season opener at Dallas.
And now add Greg Ostertag to the list. Talk about fluky, the new Kings reserve center fits into Ripley's Believe it or Not. He tripped at home, breaking his hand when he landed.
These aren't out-of-shape ailments, Kings players and coaches agree. It's bad luck, bad breaks and bad karma. And Webber wonders if there's something a little more spooky to it.
"I mean, how do you explain it?" he said. "I think someone put a voodoo hex on us when Arco Arena was built, or there's a body down under there - Jimmy Hoffa or someone."
Webber and Jackson said their most current injuries were the most serious and troubling of their careers. Combined, they missed 74 games because of injuries last season. Both wondered if they would return to their old form. At their lowest, when watching games in street clothes wore on them, they even wondered if they would play again.
"I wondered that a lot," Webber said. "There were a lot of days when I didn't know if I could keep going, no doubt. It was very emotional.
"I had doctors tell me I would be healthier if I shut it down for a long time. I had players from other teams tell me to shut it down. But I didn't want to shut it down. I want to shut it down when I'm 37 or 38, not now. I've got six more years before that."
So why come back last season, then?
"What was my incentive? To win," Webber said. "I needed to play."
Webber's microfracture surgery required drilling into the knee to help induce bleeding in an effort to form scar tissue as a replacement for damaged or missing cartilage. It affects different players in different ways, with Webber so far emerging as the most mobile of some of his contemporaries.
Microfracture surgery has sidelined Jamal Mashburn of the New Orleans Hornets for most of last season and all of this season, maybe for good. It had Allan Houston of the New York Knicks out all of last season's playoffs and this training camp and perhaps well into the season. It has Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets out until late December, maybe even later. It has Karl Malone, last of the Los Angeles Lakers, pondering retirement after a career mostly devoid of injury.
Webber hired a personal chef for better eating. He conditioned throughout the summer, including 6 a.m. workouts, and was impressive in camp.
"I think he's looked really good," center Brad Miller said. "When this sort of thing happens to Karl Malone, you know it can happen to anyone. But Webber made it back, and he looks good to me."
Added Webber: "I didn't really want to talk to some of the players who have the same knee problem I had, because they have a lot of bad stories. ... I know I survived it, because it ruins some guys."
Jackson is similarly relieved. The energizer off the Kings' bench missed the last one-third of last season with his abdominal problem.
He kept alive the hope of playing again by shooting hundreds of jumpers in practice, but every time he tried to sprint, a la Action Jackson, he felt a tug deep inside.
To really push it, he said, was to risk a severe tear and perhaps end his career. He's back now, showing no ill signs.
"It's as if he was never gone," guard Mike Bibby said. "He looks great."
Said Jackson: "I know it's nice to come back because I haven't really played since last February. I was really concerned that if I ripped it, I'd never come back at all. I tried to come back last year, but it just didn't feel right, and that was hard to go through. The old me, years ago, I would have pushed it and ruined it."
Christie felt soreness in his foot during the playoffs last season. Doctor's orders were to take the summer off, a tough pill for a fellow who is a workout fanatic.
But when the foot still didn't feel right in September, he had what's called a shockwave procedure on his foot to alleviate the pain.
"Most people with plantar fasciitis get it, sit down, and in a couple of weeks, it's good," Christie said. "But once I got it, I kept pushing it. I really didn't give it a chance to rest in the playoffs last year. We were trying to win games."
Ostertag signed with the Kings to win some playoff games after being part of eight postseason berths in nine years with the Utah Jazz. But the Kings haven't seen him in game uniform yet, though he should be back within one week.
And what did Webber say when he saw Ostertag with his fresh cast? "I told him, 'Hey, welcome to the club. This is part of it. You'll fit right in.' "