mikebibby1034
Bench
The emotions were still raw a month ago. The sadness of leaving Sacramento, the frustration at the new stop, the maddening timing of karma going south, insults and injuries turning a once-joyous NBA career into a less joyful job.
And that was Scot Pollard. Doug Christie was having a hard time, too.
Three days after Christie was traded from the Kings to Orlando, Pollard - an Indiana Pacer three years removed from his trade from the Kings - approached his former teammate before the Pacers hosted the Magic.
"I went over to him, and I just said, 'I know how you feel,' " Pollard said. "It was a shock to him to get traded and a shock to me to get traded."
The Kings' alumni association gets together from time to time, via cell phone or on common destinations in the rogue life of an NBA player. They reminisce about the glory days, recanting what, for many, were the best years of their careers. They remember the adulation of the fans in a one-team town, that free-flowing offense full of fun, the feeling that came with forming a franchise. All so sweet.
And leaving? Pure sorrow.
Christie, whose Orlando team arrives without him to face the Kings tonight, simply went public with a sentiment shared by many of the departed. He broke down on the local sports radio station when the trade for Cuttino Mobley occurred Jan. 10. Then weeks later, his wife, Jackie, said the hurt was still lingering, her husband getting "choked up" when he would watch a tape of his Kings highlights. Christie's season ended last week, when he decided to have surgery on the bone spurs and foot injury that plagued him before the season.
"Doug is distraught," Jackie told The Bee on March 2. "He's still not over the trade, and it's not even the basketball part of it. It's the feel of Sacramento, the fans, the community. ... The one good thing is that we'll be out there on March 15." Nothing good about leaving now. But at least he's not getting booed.
see whole article here http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12565929p-13420914c.html
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