| Breaking The Webber Curse Authored by Payam Jahromi - September 4, 2005 - 8:58 pm
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By now, everybody knows about the Webber fiasco and the fact that the Warriors have not made the playoffs since. One can say the team is cursed. Call it “The Webber Curse,” or “The Curse of C-Webb,” or “The Curse of the Web-Bino.” Whatever you prefer.
The fact remains the last time the Warriors were in a postseason game, Webber was wearing a Warriors jersey and Charles Barkley was dropping 56 points to complete a three-game sweep for the Suns.
This could be the year the Warriors end that curse and playoff drought. But, before we look forward, let’s look back.
Despite the early playoff exit, the future was bright for 94-95. Webber was last season’s Rookie of The Year, Latrell Sprewell was a young superstar and Tim Hardaway was coming off a knee injury that sidelined him during Webber’s entire rookie season.
The Warriors also acquired center Rony Seikaly for Billy Owens, allowing Webber to move to power forward. A starting lineup of Hardaway, Sprewell, Chris Mullin, Webber and Seikaly was ready to contend. And Chris Gatling was the sixth man.
But then, the Webber/Nelson debacle occurred, and the rest is history.
All those memories came back as I watched this tape. I was at that game in ‘94, booing with the rest of the crowd every time Webber touched the ball. If you don’t remember that game, Webber went down early in the third with a separated shoulder in a tight contest before the Warriors blew it open behind Hardaway, Sprewell, Gugliotta and Gatling.
It ended a 10-game losing streak. The Warriors finished that season 26-56, a year after going 50-32. That season was the beginning of one of the most painful stretches that any franchise has gone through.
What stood out for me was who the best player on the court was that night. It wasn’t Webber. Not Sprewell or Juwan Howard. It was Hardaway.
Timmy never played with Webber, so he wasn’t as close to the situation as some of his teammates on that night. But he was the guy who led the Warriors, snapping their losing streak while dishing out 14 assists and controlling the game. In the two previous games, play-by-play announcer Steve Albert mentioned that Hardaway had 22 and 18 assists.
After Hardaway was traded during the 95-96 season to the Heat (along with Gatling for Bimbo Coles and Kevin Willis, one of the worst trades that nobody talks about), the Warriors didn’t have an All-Star caliber point guard for nine years.
A big man and point guard are arguably the two most important positions in basketball. If you don’t have a star at one of those positions, you probably have a bad team. (Note, any team with Michael Jordan is the exception.) And the Warriors haven’t had a star at either position since the Hardaway trade.
That is, until now. The trade for Baron Davis rejuvenated the franchise and gave the Warriors a young star at point. There was no doubt the Warriors were talented before the Davis trade, but it did not translate to wins. With Baron, everything clicked.
Now come the expectations. The team has sold over 3,000 more season tickets than last year, and the buzz about the team during this off-season is unequalled from seasons past.
This could be the year the Warriors finally make the playoffs and the year the Warriors put the Webber curse behind them.
The past 11 years are much more than just one Webber/Nelson fiasco, I know that. Crappy ownership and management, along with bad luck has contributed to the futility.
But everything started in ’94. Who knew on that December night the Warriors wouldn’t make the playoffs for at least the following decade? Looking back is painful, but it makes looking forward that much more exciting.
There are no guarantees for the 05-06 season. The Warriors have question marks and the West is still tough, but this could be the year. The Warriors are talented, young and deep.
It’s time to end the Webber curse.
If you have any questions or comments, you can email me at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net
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