Timone
03-25-2008, 07:51 PM
Reported by Marc Stein.
Time is apparently up on Chris Webber's basketball career.
Sources close to Webber told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the 35-year-old has decided to retire from the game and end his comeback with the Golden State Warriors after more problems with a surgically repaired left knee that has plagued him for the past half-decade.
After trudging through several knee injuries, Chris Webber, the top overall pick in 1993, has decided to end his comeback bid with the Warriors and retire.
Webber is expected to formally announce his plans Wednesday, sources said, less than two months after rejoining the franchise that unleashed him on the NBA as the first overall pick in the 1993 draft and the face most synonymous with Michigan's famed Fab Five team.
Sources said that Webber, unable to play since March 2 because of the latest complications with his knee, decided in the past week to end his pro career after 15 seasons, having struggled with his mobility for the past five of those seasons since a serious tear in the 2003 playoffs that required microfracture surgery.
Webber sat out the first four months of this season and flirted with a return to the Detroit Pistons before signing with Golden State on Jan. 29, hoping for one last run at the championship that repeatedly eluded him and hoping as well for a fairy-tale reunion with the coach under whom he won NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1993-94.
But his seemingly unlikely reunion with Warriors coach Don Nelson -- after the collapse of their first partnership led to Webber's trade to Washington within six months of his rookie award -- ended faster than anyone imagined after Nelson pushed harder than anyone in Oakland to bring Webber back.
Webber appeared in a mere nine games with the Warriors this time, averaging just 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 14.0 minutes as Golden State went 6-3 in those games. He played only once more after sustaining his most recent health setback in a Feb. 29 win over Philadelphia and found the knee slow to rehabilitate after such a long layoff to start the season.
Asked Monday about a timetable for Webber's return after almost a month out of the lineup, Nelson admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle: "It'd be pretty hard at this point."
It was Nelson, back in January, who scoffed loudest at the widespread skepticism regarding Webber's ability to keep up with Golden State's run-and-gunners. Nelson insisted that the Warriors needed Webber's passing from the high post and ability to sink midrange jumpers to get them unstuck when their half-court offense bogged down or when their 3-pointers weren't dropping.
"I'm afraid if we don't get him here [that] our team is not strong enough to be a playoff team," Nelson said at the time. "That's my biggest fear. I think if he comes [that] it can benefit our team, it can benefit his and my relationship [and] it can benefit players on this team. I think he has a chance to make some of our players better and make our team better. Really, that's all that's important. I'll get along with anybody who can help our team."
Nelson also dismissed the idea that he would struggle to coach Webber again, insisting that he and Webber had reconciled years ago, starting when he chose Webber to replace the injured Shaquille O'Neal -- over Dirk Nowitzki from Nelson's Mavericks -- as the West's starting center for the 2002 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Time is apparently up on Chris Webber's basketball career.
Sources close to Webber told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the 35-year-old has decided to retire from the game and end his comeback with the Golden State Warriors after more problems with a surgically repaired left knee that has plagued him for the past half-decade.
After trudging through several knee injuries, Chris Webber, the top overall pick in 1993, has decided to end his comeback bid with the Warriors and retire.
Webber is expected to formally announce his plans Wednesday, sources said, less than two months after rejoining the franchise that unleashed him on the NBA as the first overall pick in the 1993 draft and the face most synonymous with Michigan's famed Fab Five team.
Sources said that Webber, unable to play since March 2 because of the latest complications with his knee, decided in the past week to end his pro career after 15 seasons, having struggled with his mobility for the past five of those seasons since a serious tear in the 2003 playoffs that required microfracture surgery.
Webber sat out the first four months of this season and flirted with a return to the Detroit Pistons before signing with Golden State on Jan. 29, hoping for one last run at the championship that repeatedly eluded him and hoping as well for a fairy-tale reunion with the coach under whom he won NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1993-94.
But his seemingly unlikely reunion with Warriors coach Don Nelson -- after the collapse of their first partnership led to Webber's trade to Washington within six months of his rookie award -- ended faster than anyone imagined after Nelson pushed harder than anyone in Oakland to bring Webber back.
Webber appeared in a mere nine games with the Warriors this time, averaging just 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 14.0 minutes as Golden State went 6-3 in those games. He played only once more after sustaining his most recent health setback in a Feb. 29 win over Philadelphia and found the knee slow to rehabilitate after such a long layoff to start the season.
Asked Monday about a timetable for Webber's return after almost a month out of the lineup, Nelson admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle: "It'd be pretty hard at this point."
It was Nelson, back in January, who scoffed loudest at the widespread skepticism regarding Webber's ability to keep up with Golden State's run-and-gunners. Nelson insisted that the Warriors needed Webber's passing from the high post and ability to sink midrange jumpers to get them unstuck when their half-court offense bogged down or when their 3-pointers weren't dropping.
"I'm afraid if we don't get him here [that] our team is not strong enough to be a playoff team," Nelson said at the time. "That's my biggest fear. I think if he comes [that] it can benefit our team, it can benefit his and my relationship [and] it can benefit players on this team. I think he has a chance to make some of our players better and make our team better. Really, that's all that's important. I'll get along with anybody who can help our team."
Nelson also dismissed the idea that he would struggle to coach Webber again, insisting that he and Webber had reconciled years ago, starting when he chose Webber to replace the injured Shaquille O'Neal -- over Dirk Nowitzki from Nelson's Mavericks -- as the West's starting center for the 2002 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.