Webber:"Vlade is my brother"!

Peja

Peja

Bench
http://www.mtsmondo.com/sport/vesti/text.php?vest=70939

This is a text from serbian site,I'll do my best to translate it well.

There are 4 days before Vlade Divac is going to say good bye to the basketball.This glorious event will be organized in front of the Serbian parliament on saturday at 8pm.
The number of the famous people who are invited for this event is growing.Many NBA league superstar players as well as basketball stars from Ex-Yugoslavia confirmed their arrival.The main stars,without any doubt,will be Vlade's ex team mates from Sacramento Kings - Chris Webber,Scott Pollard and Hedo Turkoglu.

"I am really excited because I will have chance to visit country where Vlade was born.I am admirer of his work and contribution on helping poor people.He is my brother.Vlade is one of the most generous people I've ever met and I am very happy to consider him as my friend," said Chris before his flight to Serbia.

Glen Rice alongside with Greg Popovich,San Antonio coach,is one of the few NBA stars who had chance to visit Belgrade before.Great shooter,who played with Divac in Charlotte,was guest in Belgrade in 1997. when "Belgrade trophy" was held.
Greg Popovich,whose ancestors were from this area,was a teacher on "Belgrade international basketball clinic",but he was also a member of American basketball team during the competition called "Diamond ball" which was held in 2004. in Belgrade Arena,before the Olympics.

Really interesing story is about Bill Bertka,a member of LA Lakers coaching stuff.He is probably the most thankworthy for Vlade's arrival to the NBA.He was a collegue of Jerry West who was Lakers GM those days and Bill recommended Vlade to the Lakers after he saw his peformances on a McDonalds tournament in Madrid 1988. when Divac was playing for Yugoslavian national team against Boston.

------------------------------------------------------
That's it.I'll do my best to visit this event and to bring some pictures to you guys.I am not sure why Mike and Doug aren't here,but I guess they had some other plans right now.
 
Wow!!!

Shoot....the whole Laker contingency should be on that trip, paying homage to Vlade. For Vlade was as responsible for those 3 championships from 00-02. They traded him to Charlotte for one Kobe Bryant.
 
Finally the truth comes to light. I always thought they bore more than just a passing resemblance.


;)
 
uolj said:
Finally the truth comes to light. I always thought they bore more than just a passing resemblance.


;)
Click to expand...

That Grant Napear is always bringing up the reason why Vlade left the Kings is because of "Webb". I never bought that crap for one second. And if I am not mistaken, Napear is going to be at this function as well. Interesting.
 
While I rarely put much stock into what Napear says, I don't think it's implausible that Webber's position on the team had some effect on Divac leaving. I think that if they had disagreements, they were clearly more professional than personal. Both guys always acted like they had a lot of personal respect for each other.
 
uolj said:
While I rarely put much stock into what Napear says, I don't think it's implausible that Webber's position on the team had some effect on Divac leaving. I think that if they had disagreements, they were clearly more professional than personal. Both guys always acted like they had a lot of personal respect for each other.
Click to expand...

It might not be implausible but it certainly doesn't hold much merit. I think Vlade and Chris understood each other perhaps better than any other duo on the team - and the idea that Vlade would decide to leave because of Webber is, to me, just one of those Napear rants that are without basis in fact.
 
I think most people felt there was "on-the-court" tension when Webber returned in 2004. Whether that contributed to Divac going to LA or not I don't know. My point, though, was that any issues they had were basketball related, and wouldn't affect their friendship. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Webber is going to Serbia to celebrate Vlade.
 
anonymous person, come on down, you're the next contestant on the "We Hate Chris Webber Show!"

Seriously, Chris Webber was the best player on this team for a long time, and we weren't going anywhere in the playoffs with Brad Miller at the 4. I would doubt very seriously that Divac had trouble adjusting to Webbers return in 2004, especially since the two had been making playoff runs for years together. The only person who really had a case for being pissed at #4 for coming back was Peja (since he stepped up in Webber's absence), but I think it's pretty obvious that he was not the kind of player that could lead us to a championship, so in reality he needed to suck it up and deal with being a super role-player (which he is very good at). Unfortunately, I think Vlade left because he saw the ship was sinking in Sacramento, and L.A. offered him more money (please correct me if I am wrong, I have fuzzy memories of the period).
 
divac-kzsop1.jpg
 
To this day I believe that the greatest tragedy for Serbian basketball is Kings not winning an NBA title with Vlade, Chris and Co. I'll never get over it.
 
bozzwell said:
To this day I believe that the greatest tragedy for Serbian basketball is Kings not winning an NBA title with Vlade, Chris and Co. I'll never get over it.
Click to expand...

It is the only thing that we don't have. We have all the other titles.
 
I am 99% sure that Chris doesn't have a wife.If I remember well I saw somewhere that this girl on the picture is his PR,or some kind of a guide,or something like that."Blic" can't count themselves as a serious newspapers if they print something like this...
Btw. Webber was at some bar last night,had a good time so he was late for the interview:D
 
in one word "splavovi":D

I am sure they are having a great time there. around 100 000 people are expected at the "parade" tomorrow. Vlede, Webber, Pollard, Pedja, Hedo and may more "celebrities." Too bad they never got their Championship parade in Sacramento - it would have been so deserved.
 
That is NOT Webber's wife. He's not married. And unless I'm mistaken, the woman in the picture has, in fact, been his publicist for several years.
 
I just saw a headline and a few sentences of Peja's interview,but wasn't able to ses everything because it's not free.Anyhow,once again he said that he "didn't play his last game for a national team" and that he had some problems during his rehabilitation and that's why he never came back on the court last season.I wonder which problem was that...
 
Omg,I can't tell you how sad I am because I am sick and not able to go to Belgrade to see Vlade's huge party.It is amasing,almost all TV stations are reporting from Belgrade downtown about Vlade and his friends.I saw Webber who was playing with some kids and he said that he is very happy to be in Belgrade and to see how the kids are happy for him.I saw Peja shooting,but they never interviewed him.Today they put some sentimental song(lyrics are something "love,love,love all you need is love",it's Beatles song) and Vlade's moments from the Sacramento and LA with Chris,Peja,Doug,J-Will...many NBA players congratulated to him including Stern,P.Jackson,Joe Maloof said that Vlade put Kings on a map,Napier said that Kings have to retire his jersey as soon as possibile,etc. To sum up,everything looks great and very sentimental and I guess this would be especially sentimental for you Vlade Fan?!;)

P.S.2 more details.One of his team mates from Lakers said that Vlade was very funny when he came to NBA because all he knew on english was "Coca Cola and Hamburger":D
Also,Rick Fox said that it was tough for him to hate Kings when Vlade tells him during the game "Come on Foxy,".He would laugh very hard in those occasions.
C-Webb also said that he and Dirk are trying to immitate Vlade's pointguard moves on the court,but nobody can do that so well as Vlade himself.

Today Serbia is playing tennis against Australia in front of 20.000 noisy fans(Djokovic - Hewitt),so basically Belgrade is the center of the wold today!:)
 
Last edited:
I saw some footage. It was amazing. Webber's Serbian needs improvement:D.
Only Vlade can get something like this together. Many people were helped today that have been suffering trough years. Webber got ovations from the crowd. Pollard is such a goof ball. So many young kids had dreams come true today. If You are a young kid who is just starting to play this game and You get to shoot some hoops with Kukoc and Webber on the same court. That is special and stays for life.

One and only - Vlade Divac
 
The funniest moment was when Chris took a microphone and said:"I am first black Serb - Chris Webberovic",he got a standing ovation for that:).

What I didn't understand is why I couldn't see Doug anywhere...Chris,Peja and Scott were here,B-Jax and Mike sent a video message,but Doug was never mentioned...I am starting to think that maybe him and Vlade had some conflict after that Minnesota game...
 
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