Wiseman case far cry from Webber fiasco
You can’t blame longtime Warriors fans if they broke out in flashback flop sweat upon hearing that rookie James Wiseman was being disciplined by head coach Steve Kerr for missing a coronavirus test at the AllStar break.
Noooo! Not another Webber vs. Nellie!
No. This will not be another Webber vs. Nellie.
On the surface, yes, there are similarities in the two clashes involving rookies considered to be the future of the team. When Chris Webber and Don Nelson butted heads back in the
199394 season, it was a big deal, just as Kerr’s benching of Wiseman (for the first three quarters of the next game) was a big deal, hotly debated by media and fans. Who’s at fault? Is Kerr powershaming a sensitive young man? Is Wiseman getting the wakeup call he sorely needs?
Here’s a prediction: Not only will Kerr’s disciplinary move not destroy Wiseman or the Warriors’ franchise, it will help the team, and Wiseman. Evidence: Wiseman’s strong play (16 points) in Sunday’s 131119 defeat of the NBAbestrecordholding Utah Jazz.
But the WisemanKerr kerfuffle did stir up a nightmare memory of a bad coachrookie clash that plunged a promising young team into a twodecadeslong downward spiral.
In the 1993 NBA draft, the Warriors traded Penny Hardaway and three firstround picks to Orlando for No. 1 overall draftee Webber, a 6foot10 forward (or so he thought) from Michigan.
Nelson told me a couple of years ago that he and Webber clashed instantly — first day of training camp, first drill. The Warriors were running layups and there was a rule: Miss a layup, run a lap.
Webber missed a layup. Refused to run the lap. Begrudgingly, he walked the lap. Sauntered. No bueno. Nelson was in his 17th season as a head coach. Old school. Webber was 20, confident, and highmaintenance. New school. The relationship started bad and stayed bad.
On Saturday, I spoke with Nelson, who was at his home on Maui. I asked him, “You and Webber never hit it off from the start, right?
“Me and everybody else that ever coached him,” Nelson said.
Nelson did not coddle young players. Tom Tolbert once suggested to Nelson, “Coach, why don’t you just sign my paychecks to ‘Goddammit Tolbert’?”
One game, Webber threw a careless pass, Nelson berated him loudly and longly, and Webber screamed back, “Treat me like a man! Treat me like a man!”
Webber also wanted to be treated like a forward, but Nelson treated him like a smallball center. Despite the ongoing turmoil that involved the entire team, the Warriors won 50 games, an improvement of 16 over the previous season, and made the playoffs. Webber averaged 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds and was named Rookie of the Year.
But it was over. This is crazy: Webber had an escape clause in his contract, allowing him to become a free agent after his rookie season. He threatened to exercise the option, so the Warriors hustled up a trade.
“I tried to get (the Warriors’ front office) to fire me instead of trading him,” Nelson said Saturday.
The Warriors did both. They traded Webber to Washington for Tom Gugliotta and three firstround picks. Then they fired Nelson at the AllStar break.
The Warriors missed the playoffs that season, the start of an epic drought, a string of 18 seasons with one lonely playoff appearance.
Wiseman vs. Kerr is already vastly different from Webber vs. Nelson. Wiseman’s reaction to the benching, “I made a huge mistake,” is a phrase that was not part of Webber’s vocabulary.
After his benching, Wiseman played a sizzling fourth quarter, although in garbage time. He followed that Sunday with a big game.
“I thought James was great,” Kerr said. “I thought James did his part. It’s so exciting to think about where James is going to be down the road. (Utah center) Rudy Gobert’s been in this league a long time. You go back to his rookie year and you see where he was then and where he is now. I think James can have a very similar trajectory.”
Draymond Green, one of Wiseman’s chief mentors, also liked what he saw.
“He made some great catches in traffic and finishes,” Green said. “He had some great (defensive) switches. You know, that wasn’t the easiest game plan to follow, but he followed the game plan to a T. He battled one of the top centers in the league. He was out there with that group, the second unit’s been struggling, and I think they were a lot better tonight, and he was a big part of that.”
So, relax, oldtime Warriors fans. It’s a new day.