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Saturday, August 23, 2003
Sayson: 2nd OT
By HOMER SAYSON
CHICAGO – Loyalty and commitment are gems that most NBA players and team owners find hard to grasp. Loyalty and commitment are more rare than a Haley’s Comet sighting, virtues which “could only be seen through the eyes of the blind,” to borrow the words of Billy Joel’s classic River of Dreams.
Even if you weren’t a Knicks fan, your sentimental side probably shed a tear or two when Patrick Ewing divorced his 16-year marriage with the Knicks to chase his sport’s Holy Grail just before the 2001 season. Ewing playing outside the Big Apple simply didn’t look right, and every time I see replays of Patrick playing for Seattle and Orlando, I still grab a kleenex.
In the 2001-02 season, Michael Jordan unretired. You didn’t have to be a Bulls fanatic to struggle for a sane explanation as to why the NBA’s biggest star chose to resurrect from a comfortable basketball after-life and risk his legacy by riding a shotgun and putting up with the travails of some not-so-smart Wizards in Washington.
MJ’s numbers dropped, his flights no longer shook the Earth, and his knees often betrayed him. But the greatest tragedy was seeing Michael in a different uniform. Whatever happened to the guy who built the global NBA wearing a blazing red NO.23 Bulls uniform? What happened to the icon who swore that his “heart and mind will always be in the city of Chicago?”
Just this past July, Robert Horry wanted to remain as a Laker. But LA owned his contract option and decided to cut him loose. The Lakers declined to pay Horry the $5 million per year that he absolutely deserved. NBA management’s memory is short, if not cruelly selective. Instead of showing gratitude for his past heroics, LA kept reminding Horry how old he got at 32, and that he went 2-for-38 from three-point range during the Lakers’ ill-fated playoffs run.
Loyalty and commitment. How can a pair of three-syllabic words be so hard to embrace?
SOUR ENDING. Just a few days ago, perennial All-Star Reggie Miller announced in a press conference his multi-year contract to stay with Indiana. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, although it is believed to be nowhere near Miller’s once top-dollar deals. Reggie has played for Indiana for 16 years and the extension guarantees that he will retire as a Pacer.
But what was shaping to be a refreshing bit of news was quickly tainted by Miller’s uncivilized tongue. Taking a shot at new Laker Karl Malone, Miller told reporters “I didn’t want to be like some guys who jump on another team’s bandwagon just to get a ring.”
Reggie’s unprovoked verbal hostility toward Malone was not only unnecessary and uncalled for. It was heartbreakingly wrong.
Malone didn’t jump on LA’s bandwagon. The Lakers were desperate for a true power forward and got unbelievably lucky when Karl took a mammoth paycut (from $19 miliion to roughly $1.5 mil) for a chance to play for a ring. What’s wrong with that?
If Malone chose big bucks elsewhere like Dallas’ $10 million offer, he’d be labeled as greedy and money-grubbing. Now that he opted what his heart told him, Miller accuses him of riding a storied franchise’s coattails.
What’s a man to do?
JUST JEALOUS. Methinks that Reggie is just green with envy now that Malone, with a two-year contract, has a realistic chance of winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. Miller probably wanted to join the Lakers, but Phil Jackson doesn’t have any use for a washed-up gunslinger who is oft-injured and whose scoring last season plummeted to career-low 12.6 points per game.
Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said Miller “wanted to remain loyal to the city, to the fans and organization.” Walsh forgot to mention that no teams were willing to pay Miller’s hefty salary ($12 million last season). Heck, no legitimate contender publicly went out to even offer Miller the mid-level veteran’s exception of $4.5 million.
Miller’s career is so storied. It includes 2,330 triples in the regular season and 275 more in the playoffs. It is a career that has spanned 16 seasons, amassed 23,505 points. Miller has won an Olympic gold in 1996 and has been to the NBA Finals in 2000.
Sadly, that same career is fading like the August sunset. To some, it is deader than the Titanic. It needs to be salvaged from the unforgiving depths of the NBA seas and Miller wants Malone to rot with him. Misery, after all, loves company. Miller is 38. His once-dreaded rifle has turned cold, while his aching bones are digging holes on his ankles.
Malone, meanwhile, is 40, and still going strong. Still delivering like The Mailman of old. Miller couldn’t stomach that reality, so he did what bums do: stir a furor, when there is none. Along the way, poor Reggie knows not that he had completely lost his class. How sad.
P.S. Readers’ email on Monday...
(Questions are welcome at homsay@hotmail.com) |
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