End of an Era---Chris Webber Memories Thread

[Ji]

Strange day for me yesterday. One of my favorite players of all time retired. Ive been following Chris Webber since he was in high school and the day the Wizards traded for him was one of the best days in my live. I loved Chris Webber man. I loved his dunks and his facial reaction. I loved his one time great relationship with Juwan Howard. I loved his passing...i loved when he shaved his head and had a goatee. The only reason I would go to a game in the 90's was to see Webber.

Yes..he irritated me at times with his love for the jumper and lack of low post skills but he was truly a special player. I thought the day we traded for him that his retirement would be in a Bullets Uniform after a couple of championships. I have never forgiven Wes Unseld for trading him to make it it worse..we got Otis Thorpe for him. Webber of course became a superstar after we traded him and everytime i would see his 30 pts 13 reb 5 assist line, it made me even more bitter. Meanwhile, we had Mitch Richmond and Rod Strickland.

There was alot of ups and downs with Webber in Washington. The downs were the injuries to his shoulder. The ups...well too many too name.

My first email address when the internet came out was cweb04@aol.com lol. I had a webber player card in my wallet instead of a picture of my girlfriend. Cweb man...im gonna miss you

[mhd]

One of the most underrated players ever. He took a dormant franchise and turned it around from day one. The greatest passing big man of all time. I'd argue any day that he's better than KG. He didn't lose that series to the Lakers. 2nd best PF of his generation behind only Duncan.

[fishercob]

Never won anything. His most clutch moment was a hard screen for Mike Bibby.

[mhd]

Never won anything. His most clutch moment was a hard screen for Mike Bibby.

What clutch moments has KG had? Do you remember any clutch shots Sheed ever made? CWebb wasn't airballing 3-pointers like Peja or missing FT's. He defended Shaq the best he could. CWebb gets way too much backlash. He's been playing on one leg for the past 5 years.

[Soup's Uncle]

He was good as hell for us. It's a shame we traded him for Mitch Ritchmond b/c he got really, really good in Sacramento. The Wiz would have probably remained competitive in the alte 90's/early 00's if we would have kept him.

He was never the same after his knee injury though.

[nate33]

Webber had fabulous hands and was a very good passer. But he was an underachiever at the other aspects of the game. He could have been the best PF in the game for 10 years. Instead, he was the 3rd-best for about 4 years.

He had a career TS% of .513. That's a lousy number considering his talent. He shot too many jumpers and did so at a poor percentage. He always seemed a bit too "soft" to me.

There's a debate on the general board about whether he should make the HOF. I don't think he should.

[doclinkin]

One of the most underrated players ever. He took a dormant franchise and turned it around from day one. The greatest passing big man of all time. I'd argue any day that he's better than KG. He didn't lose that series to the Lakers. 2nd best PF of his generation behind only Duncan.

Uh... Magic Johnson?

Also:
Wilt.
Bill Russell

And I'd go with Arvydas Sabonis, though most of his career was in international play.

[Spence]

Webber had fabulous hands and was a very good passer. But he was an underachiever at the other aspects of the game. He could have been the best PF in the game for 10 years. Instead, he was the 3rd-best for about 4 years.

He had a career TS% of .513. That's a lousy number considering his talent. He shot too many jumpers and did so at a poor percentage. He always seemed a bit too "soft" to me.

There's a debate on the general board about whether he should make the HOF. I don't think he should.

I agree with everything here. No way is Chris Webber a Hall of Famer. Did he waste as much talent as Derrick Coleman? No, probably not, but he wasted a lot. He should have made his living in the paint, where his combination of size, power, quickness and sticky hands would have made him almost unstoppable. Instead, he floated on the perimeter like a prissy li'l jumpshooter. His basketball career was, in the end, a disappointment.

Off the court, let's not forget this:

Sacramento Kings all-star Chris Webber pleaded guilty to criminal contempt on Monday, avoiding a prison sentence and a potentially embarrassing federal trial on charges he lied to a grand jury. Webber, a former member of the storied Fab Five of the University of Michigan men's basketball team, may still be convicted of a felony and ordered to pay a fine.

In court, he reversed years of denials and admitted repaying the late U-M booster Eddie Martin a substantial sum in 1994. Federal investigators said it was $38,200.

[Spence]

Obviously, the best passing big man of all time was Magic Johnson. If you want to limit it just to the 4 and 5 position [ignoring the time Magic spent at those positions], then you can't have a serious conversation about great passing big men unless you include Akeem Olajuwon -- a much, much better player than Chris Webber ever was.

[nate33]

Divac was also a better passer than Webber. Brad Miller is a better passer than Webber.

[milesfd1]

Webber had the ability to be a hall of famer but he would rather get high on the way to practice or party all night in potomac. I remember being totally enamored with him and even paid a bunch of money for a signed ball during one of the Bullets silent auctions because I thought him a lock for a life time bullet. He dissapointed everyone everywhere he went. So that being said... anyone want a signed Chris Webber Bullets Basketball??
Do I hear $5.00....$4.00........$3.00.....

[Wiz99]

Good article on Webber by JA Adande...

He was a tragic figure. Always close, never the winner in the end, often felled by his own mistakes or being just a split second late.

He always had this hangdog "Wow. Did that really just happen?" look on his face.

[Wiz99]

But that was always better than the look this guy wore on his mug:

[Kanyewest]

Divac was also a better passer than Webber. Brad Miller is a better passer than Webber.

Chris Webber has higher assist numbers in terms of aggregate and in 40 minutes pace than Divac, Miller, and Sabonis. I know Sabonis was a crazy player in Europe but he was not nearly as effective in the NBA due to injuries and entering the league at 31.

[Kanyewest]

Never won anything. His most clutch moment was a hard screen for Mike Bibby.

Seems like the officials had it out for the Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Finals and the Kings should have won the Western Conference finals and would have gone on to win the NBA finals. Remember Ralph Nader was blasting the NBA for the terrible officiating? The Lakers had 27 free throws in game 6 of the 4th quarter.

Michael Wilbon wrote: "I have never seen officiating in a game of consequence as bad as that in Game 6....When Pollard, on his sixth and final foul, didn't as much as touch Shaq. Didn't touch any part of him. You could see it on TV, see it at courtside. It wasn't a foul in any league in the world. And Divac, on his fifth foul, didn't foul Shaq. They weren't subjective or borderline or debatable. And these fouls not only resulted in free throws, they helped disqualify Sacramento's two low-post defenders. And one might add, in a 106-102 Lakers' victory, this officiating took away what would have been a Sacramento series victory in 6 games."

[doclinkin]

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Chris Webber has higher assist numbers in terms of aggregate and in 40 minutes pace than Divac, Miller, and Sabonis. I know Sabonis was a crazy player in Europe but he was not nearly as effective in the NBA due to injuries and entering the league at 31.

You ever seen footage of Sabonis in Europe? If you did you'd never say CWebb was 'the best of all time' as a sweet-passing big man. The man was a 7 foot Jason Kidd. Jawdroppingly good. Like ESP. No-look high post over the shoulder dump pass with his back to the basket to a guy streaking to the hoop from the wrong side. Really really insane.I don't care about his NBA stats. I wished he had a chance here, but it don't matter. Any objective viewer would tell you he'd have been a player. All-star. Probable HOF lock.

[Kanyewest]

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Uh... Magic Johnson?

Also:
Wilt.
Bill Russell

And I'd go with Arvydas Sabonis, though most of his career was in international play.

If you want to get technical, then you would have to consider LeBron James as a better passer than Webber as well. However, no one considers Magic Johnson a big man; he does not enter the debate of best big man ever. Sure he could have played the 4 but skill set was that of a point guard.

[doclinkin]

If you want to get technical, then you would have to consider LeBron James as a better passer than Webber as well. However, no one considers Magic Johnson a big man; he does not enter the debate of best big man ever. Sure he could have played the 4 but skill set was that of a point guard.

Precisely my point. So to speak. And yes Magic played a ton of minutes in the low-post especially late in his career, had a nice hook, a spin move like Hakeem (well almost). And still was the best passer on the floor.

[Kanyewest]

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Precisely my point. So to speak. And yes Magic played a ton of minutes in the low-post especially late in his career, had a nice hook, a spin move like Hakeem (well almost). And still was the best passer on the floor.

Are you talking about when Magic Johnson came back when he was 36?

[doclinkin]

Not only then. Late 80's early 90's he saw alot of time in the low post putting his ass on a player. Even early on, he always played like a G-F, depending on who was on court when he was in the game. Shouldn't be a knock on him that he brought the ball up the court as well as poiunded it in the post.

But even at 36 he was a better passer than CWebb. In fact when CWebb came out the hype line was 'best passing big man since Magic'. Cwebb was a nice passer, but best big ever? No.

In my opinion.