Purple Reign
Starter
I am, as many Kings fans a huge Chris Webber fan. But after reading the following article and the previous article on Webb in the Philadelphia newspapers, have have concluded it is going to be a very long season for him.
Stephen A. Smith | Sixers' Webber has a lot to prove
By Stephen A. Smith
Inquirer Columnist
Just days after he arrived in Philadelphia to thunderous cheers last year, Chris Webber stood stone-faced in the 76ers' locker room, seething with incredulity.
On that day, his face conveyed the feeling he expressed Tuesday: disbelief that so many had lost faith in him while he had not.
After all these months, after a summer spent pondering the muck and mire that were his last 21 games of the regular season in a Sixers uniform, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward still seemed as lost
as he had appeared while playing for Jim O'Brien last season.
No one cares that he has averaged 21.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in his 12-year career. Or that his points-per-game numbers swelled to 19 in a five-game first-round series the Sixers lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. What everyone is paying rapt attention to are two things:
How, precisely, will those statistics be attained this season?
And will it be to the detriment of Allen Iverson?
As the Sixers embark on another season, looking to do something other than watching most of the postseason with the rest of us, anyone with sense knows this season won't fall on the shoulders of new coach Maurice Cheeks or Iverson as much as Webber.
When last checked, Cheeks could coach a little bit and run when necessary, and he has physical obligations that entail no more than marching from his seat to a coaching box about 10 feet away. And Iverson, if nothing else, has earned enough cachet on the basketball court that there should be few questions about him.
Look at any game tape and you will see what the Sixers' primary concern should be.
It was Webber who consistently limped down the court. It was Webber who was slow, lacking lateral movement, almost incapable of competing athletically with the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Udonis Haslem.
All because of a left knee that never seemed fully healed.
Sources have told me that Webber says he has worked extremely hard this off-season, that he is raring and ready to go earn his exorbitant pay. Yet, reading and hearing about what he said Tuesday, sensing the ire that's fueling him right now, I can see that he just doesn't get one painful reality:
Even if he's hurt, he will get no sympathy in this town - purely because no one will believe he did what it took to get healthy.
"There's nothing I can say right now," Webber told reporters Tuesday. "The only thing I can do is play. Everything I say will be held against me. It's not anger or frustration. I'm just eager to get on the court and play. Everything else is just rhetoric. I can get up here and talk about how hard I work, but if you don't know me, that would just be talking."
I've got news for Webber: Here is the talk circulating around the NBA. This is from several scouts who have watched numerous Sixers games, especially the games with Webber in uniform.
"Webber's done," one scout for a Western Conference team said. "By that I mean athletically. On one leg, he can play better than most power forwards in this game. He's an exceptional passer. He can still rebound, too. But he can't do much against anyone who's athletic at his position.
"Guys run a lot now. They know he can't run with them because of his injuries. He doesn't jump with anyone anymore, and, with Iverson, Cheeks and Andre Iguodala, you know good and well they're going to run. We hear all this talk about how he's worked on getting healthy, but we've heard this before. For his sake, that had better be true. Because if it isn't, it's going to be a long season for him in Philadelphia."
I only have one thing to say about that:
Can I get an amen?
This Sixers team that fans have gained an affection for once more is far from championship caliber. But with Iverson still around, with Cheeks having something to prove, and the acquisition of Lee Nailon to go along with Samuel Dalembert, there's potential on this roster. Take away Miami, Indiana and Detroit, and there shouldn't be a single team the Sixers can't compete with in the Eastern Conference.
If Webber is ready, the Sixers could do more than that.
Ready to play, that is. Instead of leaving us lamenting that he can't.
Stephen A. Smith | Sixers' Webber has a lot to prove
By Stephen A. Smith
Inquirer Columnist
Just days after he arrived in Philadelphia to thunderous cheers last year, Chris Webber stood stone-faced in the 76ers' locker room, seething with incredulity.
On that day, his face conveyed the feeling he expressed Tuesday: disbelief that so many had lost faith in him while he had not.
After all these months, after a summer spent pondering the muck and mire that were his last 21 games of the regular season in a Sixers uniform, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward still seemed as lost
as he had appeared while playing for Jim O'Brien last season.No one cares that he has averaged 21.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in his 12-year career. Or that his points-per-game numbers swelled to 19 in a five-game first-round series the Sixers lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. What everyone is paying rapt attention to are two things:
How, precisely, will those statistics be attained this season?
And will it be to the detriment of Allen Iverson?
As the Sixers embark on another season, looking to do something other than watching most of the postseason with the rest of us, anyone with sense knows this season won't fall on the shoulders of new coach Maurice Cheeks or Iverson as much as Webber.
When last checked, Cheeks could coach a little bit and run when necessary, and he has physical obligations that entail no more than marching from his seat to a coaching box about 10 feet away. And Iverson, if nothing else, has earned enough cachet on the basketball court that there should be few questions about him.
Look at any game tape and you will see what the Sixers' primary concern should be.
It was Webber who consistently limped down the court. It was Webber who was slow, lacking lateral movement, almost incapable of competing athletically with the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Udonis Haslem.
All because of a left knee that never seemed fully healed.
Sources have told me that Webber says he has worked extremely hard this off-season, that he is raring and ready to go earn his exorbitant pay. Yet, reading and hearing about what he said Tuesday, sensing the ire that's fueling him right now, I can see that he just doesn't get one painful reality:
Even if he's hurt, he will get no sympathy in this town - purely because no one will believe he did what it took to get healthy.
"There's nothing I can say right now," Webber told reporters Tuesday. "The only thing I can do is play. Everything I say will be held against me. It's not anger or frustration. I'm just eager to get on the court and play. Everything else is just rhetoric. I can get up here and talk about how hard I work, but if you don't know me, that would just be talking."
I've got news for Webber: Here is the talk circulating around the NBA. This is from several scouts who have watched numerous Sixers games, especially the games with Webber in uniform.
"Webber's done," one scout for a Western Conference team said. "By that I mean athletically. On one leg, he can play better than most power forwards in this game. He's an exceptional passer. He can still rebound, too. But he can't do much against anyone who's athletic at his position.
"Guys run a lot now. They know he can't run with them because of his injuries. He doesn't jump with anyone anymore, and, with Iverson, Cheeks and Andre Iguodala, you know good and well they're going to run. We hear all this talk about how he's worked on getting healthy, but we've heard this before. For his sake, that had better be true. Because if it isn't, it's going to be a long season for him in Philadelphia."
I only have one thing to say about that:
Can I get an amen?
This Sixers team that fans have gained an affection for once more is far from championship caliber. But with Iverson still around, with Cheeks having something to prove, and the acquisition of Lee Nailon to go along with Samuel Dalembert, there's potential on this roster. Take away Miami, Indiana and Detroit, and there shouldn't be a single team the Sixers can't compete with in the Eastern Conference.
If Webber is ready, the Sixers could do more than that.
Ready to play, that is. Instead of leaving us lamenting that he can't.
