Having hardly gotten rid of the burden of obligations to Philadelphia, C-Webb immediately gave the press a list of his own priorities, which clearly implied the desire of the striker to be in a strong team. No sooner had the journalists really reasoned about where Chris would be more comfortable and easier to get to the title, as the information appeared: the issue was decided in favor of the Pistons. There was no official confirmation of this, the deal could not be completed before the end of the weekend, but the argument of the parties is more or less clear.
WEBBER LOGICDeciding to move to “Detroit”, Chris doesn’t just fall into the team that has clung to the favorite status in recent years and won the playoffs in 2004. He moves to his hometown, where he is guaranteed hot support and a comfortable living environment. Here Mays Edward Christopher Webber the third took the first high-profile steps in basketball, three times with the school “Birmingham Detroit County Day” winning state championships and various individual awards.
Here, as part of the University of Michigan State, he inspired fear throughout the league with fellow members of the so-called Fab Five - Jalen Rose and Juven Howard also appeared in the starting five of the Michigan. The guys performed twice in the finals of “March Madness”, though they did not climb to the top. In general, the glory of Chris in Detroit - more than enough. For the sake of popularity and friendly environment, you can make some sacrifices.
For example, financial. “New Jersey” and “Miami” can pay Webber more than the veteran minimum proposed by “Detroit”. True, the difference between 1.2 million and 5 million dollars per year is not so great, especially when you consider three factors. 1) Chris will already receive from Philadelphia most of the 21 million salary. 2) The championship will soon exceed the equator, and therefore the difference will have to be considered between 450 thousand and 2 million. 3) Neither the Nets nor the Hit are ready to sacrifice Webber a maximum of their exceptions (limited amounts that, depending on the circumstances, teams can spend exceeding the ceiling of the total club salary).
A much more serious obstacle seems to be moral. As a colleague from the Detroit Free Press noted, Webber in his hometown will inevitably have to answer three questions from journalists: “Chris, how do you feel at the Pistons?”, “Chris, how much money did Ed Martin give you?”, “Chris, did you lie are you to the grand jury? " The striker will be reminded of the dark side of the past when the aforementioned Martin, as a philanthropist of the university, borrowed large sums of money to the players, thereby violating their amateur status, and Webber at first tried to unlock, assuring that he did not take any money.
Chris will also have to remember the insulting nickname Mr. Timeout, which he was awarded for the most insulting mistake in the NCAA-1993 final. Then, with “-3” in a duel with “North Carolina” 11 seconds before the siren, the winning rebound Webber asked for a timeout, which his team did not have. A technical foul, of course, deprived the “Michigan State” of a chance for the title.
It seems that C-Webb does not need to be reminded of all this. On the contrary, these troubles are probably too firmly embedded in the subcortex of his brain, probably becoming one of the obstacles to great success in the NBA. And an excellent performance for the “Pistons” Chris can throw a stone off his shoulders, cleansing himself in front of the fans. Such an opportunity is worth a lot.
LOGIC "DETROYTA"It is unlikely that club president Joe Dumars at the forefront puts Webber's family ties with Detroit. Moreover, as a former basketball player, Joe should know well that the atmosphere of the city in which he was born and grew up, where many relatives and friends live, distracts from business. There is no need to take care of the full houses either: the numbers 22076, indicating the absence of free places, have been printed for a long time in the Palace of Auburn Hills attendance graph. The working city fell in love with a team that took the slogan “Goin 'To Work. Every Night”. On the contrary, the current policy of the leadership leads the pistons away from the image of hard workers more and more. To which Webber never belonged.
A clear adherent of strict style and amid the gradual involvement of young people in the game, Dumars is increasingly moving away from the main principle. Eighteen months ago, hiring Flip Saunders, Joe hoped to make the Pistons attack more fun. The first six months, everything went fine - perhaps thanks to the legacy of Larry Brown, and then the trouble went. In the summer of 2006, I had to let go of Chicago's chief defense specialist, Ben Wallace, who was unable to find a common language with Flip. Now Saunders has already entered into a junction with Rashid Wallace, a pair of matches excluded coach from the starting five. Recently, even the quiet Teyshone Prince complained about the shaky atmosphere in the team!
What will happen when Webber, by no means an outstanding defending player, appears in the team that has lost 6 of the last 8 matches? “Any team will happily invite a basketball player, hoping for 20 points and 10 rebounds on average - the ones that Webber celebrated last season,” Saunders issued a controversial statement. This year, Chris’s statistics almost halved, playing time decreased, injuries fell again, and he almost does not resemble a five-time participant in the “All-Star Matches”.
If Saunders wants to use Webber in the starting five, he will have to rebuild the usual schemes of the game. It is unlikely that Flip will decide to tightly seat Rashid Wallace on the "jar". So, Chid and Sea Webb will be a couple of “big”, that is, high heavy forwards with a good long throw. And, therefore, the future of the classic centers Nazra Mohammed and Dale Davis is in great doubt. But there is also Tony MacDyess and the young Jason Maxiell, who has been doing quite well lately!
It’s not a secret to anyone that Detroit’s transfer activity will not be limited to Webber’s acquisition. Almost certainly Dumars will part with either MacDyess or Davis - veterans expire their contracts in the summer, which means they both become tidbits for clubs that need to clean up their payrolls. It is already known that the Pistons are in talks with Toronto, ready to give Maurice Peterson, a light forward, into good hands. True, the "dinosaurs" in return want another young and athletic "extreme" that can fall from afar. But Dumars has no plans to exchange Carlos Delfino and, especially, Prince. It will be too close to restructuring. How far will the desire to get Peterson, a graduate ... of the Michigan State, go?
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH
SEE ALSO:
NBA Chris Webber will move to the “Detroit”
NBA "Philadelphia" refuses Webber