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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/10995806.htm
Webber wonders about his welcome
His debut with the Sixers will be tonight. One of his concerns is how the fans will react to him.
[size=-1]By Joe Juliano[/size]
[size=-1]Inquirer Staff Writer[/size]
Chris Webber was some 30,000 feet above and many miles away from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine while the 76ers conducted practice yesterday on the eve of his much anticipated debut with them.
Webber, who was obtained Wednesday night from Sacramento in a six-player trade and flew into town yesterday, figures to enter tonight's game at the Wachovia Center with equal measures of excitement and anxiety.
For one thing, he will be going against the Kings, his old team. But he also has some uncertainty about how Sixers fans will receive him, with many believing that he will not only get the team over the top in its bid to make the playoffs, but that it now can make a deep postseason run.
"I really worried about how the city of Philly was going to accept me," Webber told the Sacramento Bee. "But then, about five minutes after the trade, A.I. was on the phone with me, and that made me feel better."
"A.I." would be Allen Iverson, who has made no secret of his delight with the trade. However, before the Sixers can worry about the playoffs, they need to acclimate Webber and three other players they acquired this week in trades to their offensive and defensive systems.
"There's nothing like practice," coach Jim O'Brien said. "In many cases, if we didn't make a trade, we'd probably be off Sunday. But we're practicing Sunday and Monday. And Tuesday - the day of the game [in Milwaukee] - is going to be a practice session. We need to get as much practice time as we can get."
Michael Bradley, the former Villanova star who was acquired with Webber and Matt Barnes from the Kings, watched practice from the sideline yesterday. He was not allowed to be on the court because all six players involved in the Sixers-Kings trade had not yet passed their physicals.
Webber and Barnes underwent physicals late yesterday. Rodney Rogers, whose physical was waived by the Sixers after he was acquired in a deal with New Orleans on Thursday, participated in the practice after having played 20 minutes in Thursday night's loss to the New York Knicks.
The defensive adjustment for Webber and the others might be challenging because of the intricacies of O'Brien's system, although Rogers is familiar with it, having played for O'Brien in Boston.
"The guys that are here now have been here since the beginning of the year, and we're still learning the new system," guard Aaron McKie said.
"So you can imagine, with the new guys coming in, the difficulty that they're going to have trying to learn it. Hopefully, their basketball IQ can speed it up more and they can get it down a little faster."
Although Webber will be moving right into the starting lineup at power forward, the offensive adjustment should be significantly less difficult.
"Certainly, Chris Webber is a cut above most power forwards in the league offensively," O'Brien said. "What I expect from him is to have the ball in his hands more than our power forwards have had the ball in their hands, because I think he has a way of making everybody - including Allen - better. In the case of Allen, Allen might not be as worn out, because he has [had] so much responsibility with the basketball [until now]."
O'Brien said Webber will ease the offensive burden carried by Iverson because Iverson won't "always have to do everything off the dribble or be the guy that has ball-handling responsibilities probably 80 percent of the time."
"That's not to say that I think Allen's productivity from the standpoint of points will go down at all," the coach added. "It might be that some of his points are scored differently than they have been in the past."
Ready or not, the revamped Sixers will be on display tonight against a team whose three newest players - Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner - sat on the home team's bench at the Wachovia Center last week.
But all eyes will be on Webber, and the Sixers can't wait.
"He's anxious to get here," O'Brien said. "He understands we're trying to make the playoffs, and he wants to contribute whatever he can to making us a better basketball team."
Man...it's weird seeing a Webber article here in the NBA forum. Nevertheless, in Brad's words "It is what it is". I just hope the Sixers fans give Webber the welcome he deserves, Billy King robbed us blind. On a side note, the Sixers are having 3 practices the week after Webb's arrival to Philly, and we've had like what, 1 or 2 practices since Cat joined us? What's up with that?
Webber wonders about his welcome
His debut with the Sixers will be tonight. One of his concerns is how the fans will react to him.
[size=-1]By Joe Juliano[/size]
[size=-1]Inquirer Staff Writer[/size]
Chris Webber was some 30,000 feet above and many miles away from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine while the 76ers conducted practice yesterday on the eve of his much anticipated debut with them.
Webber, who was obtained Wednesday night from Sacramento in a six-player trade and flew into town yesterday, figures to enter tonight's game at the Wachovia Center with equal measures of excitement and anxiety.
For one thing, he will be going against the Kings, his old team. But he also has some uncertainty about how Sixers fans will receive him, with many believing that he will not only get the team over the top in its bid to make the playoffs, but that it now can make a deep postseason run.
"I really worried about how the city of Philly was going to accept me," Webber told the Sacramento Bee. "But then, about five minutes after the trade, A.I. was on the phone with me, and that made me feel better."
"A.I." would be Allen Iverson, who has made no secret of his delight with the trade. However, before the Sixers can worry about the playoffs, they need to acclimate Webber and three other players they acquired this week in trades to their offensive and defensive systems.
"There's nothing like practice," coach Jim O'Brien said. "In many cases, if we didn't make a trade, we'd probably be off Sunday. But we're practicing Sunday and Monday. And Tuesday - the day of the game [in Milwaukee] - is going to be a practice session. We need to get as much practice time as we can get."
Michael Bradley, the former Villanova star who was acquired with Webber and Matt Barnes from the Kings, watched practice from the sideline yesterday. He was not allowed to be on the court because all six players involved in the Sixers-Kings trade had not yet passed their physicals.
Webber and Barnes underwent physicals late yesterday. Rodney Rogers, whose physical was waived by the Sixers after he was acquired in a deal with New Orleans on Thursday, participated in the practice after having played 20 minutes in Thursday night's loss to the New York Knicks.
The defensive adjustment for Webber and the others might be challenging because of the intricacies of O'Brien's system, although Rogers is familiar with it, having played for O'Brien in Boston.
"The guys that are here now have been here since the beginning of the year, and we're still learning the new system," guard Aaron McKie said.
"So you can imagine, with the new guys coming in, the difficulty that they're going to have trying to learn it. Hopefully, their basketball IQ can speed it up more and they can get it down a little faster."
Although Webber will be moving right into the starting lineup at power forward, the offensive adjustment should be significantly less difficult.
"Certainly, Chris Webber is a cut above most power forwards in the league offensively," O'Brien said. "What I expect from him is to have the ball in his hands more than our power forwards have had the ball in their hands, because I think he has a way of making everybody - including Allen - better. In the case of Allen, Allen might not be as worn out, because he has [had] so much responsibility with the basketball [until now]."
O'Brien said Webber will ease the offensive burden carried by Iverson because Iverson won't "always have to do everything off the dribble or be the guy that has ball-handling responsibilities probably 80 percent of the time."
"That's not to say that I think Allen's productivity from the standpoint of points will go down at all," the coach added. "It might be that some of his points are scored differently than they have been in the past."
Ready or not, the revamped Sixers will be on display tonight against a team whose three newest players - Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner - sat on the home team's bench at the Wachovia Center last week.
But all eyes will be on Webber, and the Sixers can't wait.
"He's anxious to get here," O'Brien said. "He understands we're trying to make the playoffs, and he wants to contribute whatever he can to making us a better basketball team."
Man...it's weird seeing a Webber article here in the NBA forum. Nevertheless, in Brad's words "It is what it is". I just hope the Sixers fans give Webber the welcome he deserves, Billy King robbed us blind. On a side note, the Sixers are having 3 practices the week after Webb's arrival to Philly, and we've had like what, 1 or 2 practices since Cat joined us? What's up with that?
