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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12667268p-13520417c.html
Webber, Divac look forward to reunion
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 3:15 am PDT Sunday, April 3, 2005
Someday, Vlade Divac and Chris Webber will be teammates again, if for just a moment amid applause and adulation while watching their jerseys retired and hoisted into the thin air of a sparkling new Arco Arena III.
OK, at least part of that isn't a pipe dream for Kings fans and followers.
The former Kings captains acknowledged last week that there's a sense of irony that two life-sized cutouts of their likenesses rest in the back tunnel of Arco, seemingly stashed away to clear room. They said the next time they'll be side by side will bring what Webber called "great closure" to their Kings experiences.
Webber came through Arco as a visitor for the first time in seven seasons Monday, and Divac could be in uniform when his Los Angeles Lakers play at Arco next Sunday. Or he could be in street clothes, as he has most of the season with a bad back, which, if it doesn't improve, likely will end his career.
And jersey Nos. 21 and 4 could be elevated down the road, since Divac and Webber were paramount in the Kings bidding farewell to their mediocre-to-poor era. Both admitted they would love to have such a ceremony.
In the meantime, the Kings would be wise to invite any remaining family of Maurice Stokes or have fellow Hall of Famer Jack Twyman represent him at an Arco game before too long, so they could honor a forgotten legend in the making.
Stokes was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer for what he might have been. He was on his way to becoming the NBA's first great power forward as a member of the Rochester Royals in the late 1950s before a freak basketball injury halted his career. He fell to the floor during a game in 1958, hit his head and was knocked unconscious. He fell into a coma and was permanently paralyzed, and he died in 1970.
Twyman, his teammate and best friend, became Stokes' legal guardian. Twyman helped pay the medical bills and was by his side to the end. Both of their jerseys are retired in the Arco rafters. But many Kings fans have no idea how good they were.
More Webber
Webber bristles when challenged about his practice regimen with the Kings - he hardly practiced this season in Sacramento, citing his surgically repaired knee - and he hasn't had a good go of it in practice with the Philadelphia 76ers.
"When they traded for me, the Sixers knew what they were getting," Webber said. "If the inability to practice has hurt us winning, then that's sad, because we all want to win. When they traded for me, they knew everything about me. Everything, from practices, to my health, what I can do. I'm not blindsided. I have to keep the same regimen, the same schedule, I had before I got here."
Sixers coach Jim O'Brien, a taskmaster in practice, said he keeps a wary eye on Webber's knee (and now his shoulder after he was injured against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday). He said he is convinced the Webber experiment will work this season.
"Trades involving key players of this magnitude, there is an adjustment period you cannot avoid, and sometimes it sounds like people making excuses, but you have got to build a different type of defense, and there's a big offensive change," he said. "It is what it is."
One thing is clear: Because it's unlikely someone else will take on that knee and that contract, the 76ers will be Webber's last team.
BASELINE JUMPERS
**Rick Adelman of the Kings, Gregg Popovich of the Spurs, Nate McMillan of the SuperSonics and Jerry Sloan of the Jazz are the only NBA coaches who have directed their teams for more than three seasons.
**Doug Christie, 34, will undergo surgery to remove bone spurs from his foot in the next week, officially ending his season with the Orlando Magic. If Christie doesn't recover fully from that and foot tissue inflammation, his career could be over.
**Former Kings player Harold Pressley marvels that Chris Webber can play at all with such a bad knee. Pressley's career ended after nine pro seasons (four with the Kings) because of the same knee injury. "I had bone-on-bone and couldn't do a thing, so what Webber is doing is just amazing to me," Pressley said.
-----------------------------------
NBA forum? sorry. didn't know where to post it.
there's more, but they're' not kings-related.
Webber, Divac look forward to reunion
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 3:15 am PDT Sunday, April 3, 2005
Someday, Vlade Divac and Chris Webber will be teammates again, if for just a moment amid applause and adulation while watching their jerseys retired and hoisted into the thin air of a sparkling new Arco Arena III.
OK, at least part of that isn't a pipe dream for Kings fans and followers.
The former Kings captains acknowledged last week that there's a sense of irony that two life-sized cutouts of their likenesses rest in the back tunnel of Arco, seemingly stashed away to clear room. They said the next time they'll be side by side will bring what Webber called "great closure" to their Kings experiences.
Webber came through Arco as a visitor for the first time in seven seasons Monday, and Divac could be in uniform when his Los Angeles Lakers play at Arco next Sunday. Or he could be in street clothes, as he has most of the season with a bad back, which, if it doesn't improve, likely will end his career.
And jersey Nos. 21 and 4 could be elevated down the road, since Divac and Webber were paramount in the Kings bidding farewell to their mediocre-to-poor era. Both admitted they would love to have such a ceremony.
In the meantime, the Kings would be wise to invite any remaining family of Maurice Stokes or have fellow Hall of Famer Jack Twyman represent him at an Arco game before too long, so they could honor a forgotten legend in the making.
Stokes was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer for what he might have been. He was on his way to becoming the NBA's first great power forward as a member of the Rochester Royals in the late 1950s before a freak basketball injury halted his career. He fell to the floor during a game in 1958, hit his head and was knocked unconscious. He fell into a coma and was permanently paralyzed, and he died in 1970.
Twyman, his teammate and best friend, became Stokes' legal guardian. Twyman helped pay the medical bills and was by his side to the end. Both of their jerseys are retired in the Arco rafters. But many Kings fans have no idea how good they were.
More Webber
Webber bristles when challenged about his practice regimen with the Kings - he hardly practiced this season in Sacramento, citing his surgically repaired knee - and he hasn't had a good go of it in practice with the Philadelphia 76ers.
"When they traded for me, the Sixers knew what they were getting," Webber said. "If the inability to practice has hurt us winning, then that's sad, because we all want to win. When they traded for me, they knew everything about me. Everything, from practices, to my health, what I can do. I'm not blindsided. I have to keep the same regimen, the same schedule, I had before I got here."
Sixers coach Jim O'Brien, a taskmaster in practice, said he keeps a wary eye on Webber's knee (and now his shoulder after he was injured against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday). He said he is convinced the Webber experiment will work this season.
"Trades involving key players of this magnitude, there is an adjustment period you cannot avoid, and sometimes it sounds like people making excuses, but you have got to build a different type of defense, and there's a big offensive change," he said. "It is what it is."
One thing is clear: Because it's unlikely someone else will take on that knee and that contract, the 76ers will be Webber's last team.
BASELINE JUMPERS
**Rick Adelman of the Kings, Gregg Popovich of the Spurs, Nate McMillan of the SuperSonics and Jerry Sloan of the Jazz are the only NBA coaches who have directed their teams for more than three seasons.
**Doug Christie, 34, will undergo surgery to remove bone spurs from his foot in the next week, officially ending his season with the Orlando Magic. If Christie doesn't recover fully from that and foot tissue inflammation, his career could be over.
**Former Kings player Harold Pressley marvels that Chris Webber can play at all with such a bad knee. Pressley's career ended after nine pro seasons (four with the Kings) because of the same knee injury. "I had bone-on-bone and couldn't do a thing, so what Webber is doing is just amazing to me," Pressley said.
-----------------------------------
NBA forum? sorry. didn't know where to post it.
there's more, but they're' not kings-related.
