Author Topic: "I need to be more selfish"  (Read 2137 times)

Offline JoMal

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"I need to be more selfish"
« on: August 03, 2004, 12:05:55 PM »
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/baske...-11105724c.html

I was going to expound on his self-serving take on what now is surely his team, and his (lack of) involvement locally, as compared to other present and former Kings, but please read this interview published last Sunday in the Sacramento Bee for yourselves and try not to laugh out loud.

If he thinks he can be perceived as the leader of the Kings, with his A.I. understanding of what a leader should do on and off the court, then the Kings coaching and management better start writing up their excuses for another failed season right now.

He talks about committment and the serious business of playing the game and the right attitude, but with his lack of defense, expected games to be missed due to injuries, and a federal sentence still hanging over his head, maybe a little levity would be helpful at this point. I know I was laughing at that nonsense.

You want to help the team to win, Chris? Take a look at the King's record when you sat out fifty games last year compared to your "committment" once you returned. You call Peja the best shooter in the League, but with your ball-hogging once you came back, he disappeared from the radar and lost his stroke. You refer to Vlade being out of shape and not acting like he wanted to win, but his skills in the post while you were out and unselfish passing led the Kings to dominate opponents like no other team during that time. Your "unruly" teammates deferred to you once you came back, hoping it would improve them, but instead they spiraled to mediocrity under your guidance.

Oh, and that promised financial committment to Sacramento you refer to? Let's see, on top of all the other local involvements and charity events we have seen from you, that would be three, plus (snort, snort), one, carry the five (toke, toke), times six years..... makes a grand total of zero to date. We await this committment with baited breath.  

Webber needs to host his own reality show. The winner gets to pound sand up the derriere's of the media while bragging what a great bricklayer they are.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2004, 12:09:01 PM by JoMal »
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.....We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.....We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular....We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

Offline westkoast

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2004, 12:34:55 PM »
I dont think Vlade was that much out of shape.  Hes getting up there in age.  Which probably has more to do with his activity on the court than the shape he is in.  Not everyone is a Karl Malone.  However instead of trying to do it all, like someone on that squad when he couldnt, he was passing and getting others to do the work.  If Vlade wasnt trying to win what was he doing?  I always though that his constant crying on calls that didnt go in the Kings favor had to do with him wanting to win very badly.

Like you said JoMaL, his interior passing was on of the reasons this team was KILLING everyone else.  Happens each and everytime C-Webb goes out for a long period of time.  I was one of the only people on the board saying this team is better WITH Chris Webber in the lineup.....just not this current Chris Webber.  I am speaking about the Chris Webber of 3-4 years ago.  CWebb was a premier player when he was one of the best passers off the block teamed up with his post moves, his jumper, his attitude, and his rebounding.  Now hes lacking 4 of the 5.  Or at least he was last year.
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Offline Reality

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2004, 12:49:35 PM »
Wow i could only stomach about half of that article.  Sounds like wussy Webber is also jealous of Brad Millers superior play.  The ommision of Miller along with Vlade on WussyWebbs approval list.

Has anyone from the Sac Bee researched and written about the alleged "hood" that Webber claims to be from?

"It's what gave me my toughness."  :huh:  

jn

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2004, 01:01:46 PM »
He's from Southwest Detroit.  If I recall correctly, his neighbors Vo Lenard, Howard Eisley and Jalen Rose stuck around and went to the local school, (what a team!) while Webber found his way to a more prestigous school.    

Offline JoMal

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2004, 01:24:26 PM »
Quote
He's from Southwest Detroit.  If I recall correctly, his neighbors Vo Lenard, Howard Eisley and Jalen Rose stuck around and went to the local school, (what a team!) while Webber found his way to a more prestigous school.
Right, his father got him out of the "hood" as fast as he could.
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.....We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.....We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular....We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

Offline Reality

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2004, 08:30:14 PM »
Jomal this is not to rub salt in the wound but does this not solidify Adleman as being an obstacle to winning a title?  While none of us was handing it to the Kings when they were 45-13 (or whatever they were without Me-Webb) they were as front running as anyone.  It was a no brainer to keep things as they were and relegate Webber to sub.  Instead, well we know what happened.  I find it hard to believe the Maloofs *forced* this on Adleman.  If they did and he caved in that is just as sad and he just as accountable IMO.  Nope i recall Adleman saying CWebb was the plan, 45-13 machine be crap canned.  

I'd like to see Adleman become a Tex Winters type O coordinator with the Spurs.  I know its not going to happen.

Could a logical explaination be that Webber has and continues to toke heavily?  I'm not being sarcastic.  Really would that make a whole lot of sense in his attitude and game?

Offline westkoast

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2004, 10:56:06 PM »
Quote
Jomal this is not to rub salt in the wound but does this not solidify Adleman as being an obstacle to winning a title?  While none of us was handing it to the Kings when they were 45-13 (or whatever they were without Me-Webb) they were as front running as anyone.  It was a no brainer to keep things as they were and relegate Webber to sub.  Instead, well we know what happened.  I find it hard to believe the Maloofs *forced* this on Adleman.  If they did and he caved in that is just as sad and he just as accountable IMO.  Nope i recall Adleman saying CWebb was the plan, 45-13 machine be crap canned. 

I'd like to see Adleman become a Tex Winters type O coordinator with the Spurs.  I know its not going to happen.

Could a logical explaination be that Webber has and continues to toke heavily?  I'm not being sarcastic.  Really would that make a whole lot of sense in his attitude and game?
Maybe hes in injury denial?  If he was I dont think he would realize, or would want to realize, that maybe (not saying its true) he is not able to play at the same level  because of his nagging injuries.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2004, 10:56:51 PM by westkoast »
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Offline JoMal

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"I need to be more selfish"
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2004, 12:09:10 PM »
Quote
Jomal this is not to rub salt in the wound but does this not solidify Adleman as being an obstacle to winning a title?  While none of us was handing it to the Kings when they were 45-13 (or whatever they were without Me-Webb) they were as front running as anyone.  It was a no brainer to keep things as they were and relegate Webber to sub.  Instead, well we know what happened.  I find it hard to believe the Maloofs *forced* this on Adleman.  If they did and he caved in that is just as sad and he just as accountable IMO.  Nope i recall Adleman saying CWebb was the plan, 45-13 machine be crap canned. 

I'd like to see Adleman become a Tex Winters type O coordinator with the Spurs.  I know its not going to happen.

Could a logical explaination be that Webber has and continues to toke heavily?  I'm not being sarcastic.  Really would that make a whole lot of sense in his attitude and game?
First off, westkoast, I never will question Webber's committment regarding his workouts and attitude about the game. He may still toke once in a while, but it never has affected his approach to the game and taking the time to beef up in the gym and practice. He does both regularly and with apparent aplomb. The reason he could come back and play at all last year when so may others could not who went through the same procedure, is a tribute to his own efforts, away from the team and generally with only his trainer around to watch him do it.

That he was still not physically ready to stand up to the likes of Duncan and Garnett was made very clear to all but his coach. Adelman committed his team to defer to Webber and it cost the team not only some playoff games, but possibly the unity for which the Kings were reknown. So, yes Reality, the coach is responsible for not coaching his team properly under the circumstances.

But the 45-13 record could just as easily been a house of cards anyway, built up from the benefits of a weak schedule up to that point. A tougher schedule in the last part of the season, Peja's obvious exhaustion from playing the season without a viable backup, the loss due to injury of Bobby Jackson, and Brad Miller's nagging injuries (a bigger factor then the team let on), coincided with Webber's return, so who knows. Timing was such that all we really saw was Webber coming back that changed the King's fortunes.

But Webber being Webber, all he dwells on is his own world and how people perceive him. A few fans (rightly so) booed him during a particularly bad stretch, so now all of Sacramento is against him. A teammate who never works out in the gym but contributes greatly to the unselfish passing for which the team is reknown is now accused of being the cause of too much jocularity in the locker room and a perceived attitude of not wanting to win it as bad as he does. Are the two concepts even related?

He talks about having teammates from the hood who will go to war with him, but ignores the fact that two of the European teammates he accuses of being soft actually COME from a war-torn country and may know a bit more about what real conflict is all about. Humor has its medicinal benefits as well, or doesn't Chris understand that? Another teammate, Songaila, comes from a country that was jackbooted under a repressive communist regime for 51 years until freed.

Does Webber's 'hood really compare? His 'hood problems are created by lazy gang members who would rather destroy the hopes of their neighbors rather then utilize the opportunities given to them by just living in the United States. The previous governments of Lithuania and Yugoslavia would not have tolerated these gangs; they would not have tolerated ANY form of freedoms available to Chris and his so-called 'hood compatriots.

How would Webber and his 'hoodmates handle playing basketball with the same oppression imposed on his European teammates?
« Last Edit: August 04, 2004, 12:10:31 PM by JoMal »
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.....We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.....We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular....We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."