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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12709007p-13561385c.html
Williamson suspended 1 game
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, April 11, 2005
One face Kings players are not expecting to see during pregame shooting drills is trainer Pete Youngman's.
But there he was Sunday, as forward Corliss Williamson was going through his ritual.
Youngman's presence was not good news. He was there to inform Williamson he had been suspended for one game without pay for striking the Portland Trail Blazers' 7-foot-1 Joel Przybilla in the head during Sacramento's 119-115 road victory Friday night.
Williamson, who didn't have the cheeriest of attitudes as he gathered his belongings from his locker to leave the arena, said he spoke with someone from NBA security Saturday. Williamson, who earns $5.5 million this season, lost $67,073.17 in salary.
"They didn't call back," he said of the league's security. "You never know what is going on in people's minds. So I woke up in the morning and began preparing for the game. It was a real shock to learn about it about 11:45 a.m. for a 12:30 game. I mean, I'm pretty sure (the league) had its mind made up (Saturday) night."
That Williamson was suspended, Kings coach Rick Adelman said, was not a major surprise. Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie had talked to NBA senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson on Saturday.
"We had a feeling this might happen," Adelman said.
That the news came 45 to 50 minutes before Sacramento's game against the Los Angeles Lakers weaved easily into the surprise mode.
Adelman joked that the league must not have had the cell phones of any Kings personnel besides Petrie, who was traveling from a scouting expedition.
Petrie eventually received the news via cell phone message and then phoned Youngman.
Meanwhile, Williamson tried to remember the times in his career he has been suspended.
The man had his "Big Nasty" nickname before the Kings drafted him in 1995 out of Arkansas, and he has lived up to it in the NBA.
"I got suspended for an incident with Derrick Coleman and another one with Tom Gugliotta," said Williamson, who lamented the opportunity to go to Arkansas and visit his family with a child on the way. "Had I known that, I'd have been gone." Said Lakers center Vlade Divac about the timing of the Williamson suspension: "I have never heard of that one. But there is a first time for everything. Maybe soon, someone will be suspended after the first quarter."
Williamson suspended 1 game
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, April 11, 2005
One face Kings players are not expecting to see during pregame shooting drills is trainer Pete Youngman's.
But there he was Sunday, as forward Corliss Williamson was going through his ritual.
Youngman's presence was not good news. He was there to inform Williamson he had been suspended for one game without pay for striking the Portland Trail Blazers' 7-foot-1 Joel Przybilla in the head during Sacramento's 119-115 road victory Friday night.
Williamson, who didn't have the cheeriest of attitudes as he gathered his belongings from his locker to leave the arena, said he spoke with someone from NBA security Saturday. Williamson, who earns $5.5 million this season, lost $67,073.17 in salary.
"They didn't call back," he said of the league's security. "You never know what is going on in people's minds. So I woke up in the morning and began preparing for the game. It was a real shock to learn about it about 11:45 a.m. for a 12:30 game. I mean, I'm pretty sure (the league) had its mind made up (Saturday) night."
That Williamson was suspended, Kings coach Rick Adelman said, was not a major surprise. Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie had talked to NBA senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson on Saturday.
"We had a feeling this might happen," Adelman said.
That the news came 45 to 50 minutes before Sacramento's game against the Los Angeles Lakers weaved easily into the surprise mode.
Adelman joked that the league must not have had the cell phones of any Kings personnel besides Petrie, who was traveling from a scouting expedition.
Petrie eventually received the news via cell phone message and then phoned Youngman.
Meanwhile, Williamson tried to remember the times in his career he has been suspended.
The man had his "Big Nasty" nickname before the Kings drafted him in 1995 out of Arkansas, and he has lived up to it in the NBA.
"I got suspended for an incident with Derrick Coleman and another one with Tom Gugliotta," said Williamson, who lamented the opportunity to go to Arkansas and visit his family with a child on the way. "Had I known that, I'd have been gone." Said Lakers center Vlade Divac about the timing of the Williamson suspension: "I have never heard of that one. But there is a first time for everything. Maybe soon, someone will be suspended after the first quarter."
