It was only right for the 76ers to bring an end to Chris Webber era. It wouldn’t have been right for the fans to have to suffer watching him drag that leg up the court while AI was running wild in Denver. It was clear they couldn’t trade him, so simply clearing him out was the least horrible scenario, which is how it goes with Billy King. So now C-Webb’s a free man, still getting close to $20 million this season and free to sign with another team for another few million. Maybe he’ll give that extra money to charity since he’s a good guy. Ha. Anyway, now that Webber is out of Philly, the big questions for us are – where will he land and can he be a fantasy asset again?
Those two questions obviously go hand in hand. Webber put up 20 and 10 last year, and you don’t just lose it that quickly. He looked bad at the beginning of the season, yes, but Webber can still put up numbers. But he needs to be featured and play lots of minutes to put up those numbers, and that doesn’t look like it will be the case on whatever his next team will be. Webber can basically choose which uniform he’ll wear next and he’s picked five finalists for his services – the Heat, Pistons, Mavs, Spurs and Lakers. We don’t often like to speculate on rumors here at FBB but since this situation is so cut and dry – he will go to a new team, extremely likely one of those, and that team won’t have to give up anything to acquire him. So let’s take a look at what might happen in those situations.
(On a side note, while Webber is going through this whole ordeal, how about fellow former Fab Fiver and Bullet Juwan Howard playing like its 1996 down in Houston? After tonight’s 23 and 11 he’s averaging 16.8/8.3/2.4 on 50% shooting in his last eight, numbers he’s never been able to put up while in Houston. And Dikembe Mutombo … man.)
Detroit
The Pistons seem to be the clear frontrunner for his services, so we’ll spend the most time on them. It makes plenty of sense, with Webber returning home to a team that has certainly lost something with the departure if Ben Wallace. Replacing him with Webber is ironic just about every level possible, but the Pistons need help in the front court. Nazr Mohammed hasn’t been all that bad when he’s been on the court, but Flip Saunders clearly doesn’t trust him, and after a stretch of four straight double-digit scoring games around Christmas, he’s done it just once in his last six contests including a donut in 11 foul-plagued minutes tonight. Meanwhile Rasheed Wallace and Saunders are in some sort of weird power struggle where Saunders benched ‘Sheed for being late to practice and ‘Sheed came back with, “Well maybe I want to come off the bench.” So Jason Maxiell seems to be the starting power forward for the time being. Antonio McDyess has been awful this year, as well.
The main positive about a move to Detroit is that the team has proven that it can have five reliable fantasy options. Not every team is built that way – on San Antonio, for example, nobody except Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will have value. But the Pistons have done it for a few seasons now. I also see Webber fitting in rather easily. The Pistons main guys are all very experienced, smart players, like Webber. I can’t see him having much of a problem adjusting to playing with Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and ‘Sheed. He stands a good chance of seeing at least 30 mpg in this environment, although that would seem more likely if Wallace moves back into the starting lineup, which should happen sometime in the not too distant future.
I do sense that going to Detroit could get ugly, though. Saunders doesn’t seem to have much control over his team and bringing in another very opinionated superstar could create tension if things don’t go well. But in the East, it would be hard for things not to go well. A starting five of Billups/Hamilton/Prince/Webber/Wallace isn’t out of the question, but even if they aren’t out there at the beginning of the game, that unit could be on the floor plenty. A Webber arrival might be more bad news for Wallace owners, and it also could mean that Prince’s modest bump in his numbers could fall. But it’s not like the Pistons would re-shape their team to fit C-Webb. The key would be Wallace. It would be hard to see them bringing both ‘Sheed and C-Webb off the bench, so if Webber could somehow work his way into the starting lineup, he would certainly have some value.
Miami
Webber would fit right in on a team that seems to be collecting players who peaked last decade. This would seem to be another decent fit for Webber. Alonzo Mourning is probably going to need some rest when Shaq gets back, so there could be some bigs minutes for Webber to grab. Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem are around to compete with, but Webber on his game even at this point in his career is an upgrade over those two. Consistency isn’t likely to be a strong suit though, especially with Shaq around.
San Antonio
I really do think that the main three guys on San Antonio are the only ones who can have value on that squad when they are all healthy. And I don’t think Webber’s arrival would change that. And it’s hard to see San Antonio actually wanting to deal with Webber when they’ve mostly been looking for a swingman.
Dallas
Can’t see much of a fantasy role for Webber here, either. Dirk is the guy at the 4 in Dallas, so Webber would be in a bench role along with fellow crappy ex-Wizard Jerry Stackhouse. The Mavs are getting to be a bit like the Spurs in that the offense is highly regulated and regimented, with Dirk, Josh Howard and Jason Terry being the main beneficiaries, although Devin Harris has his usefulness as well. Webber would be a complimentary piece, not much more.
Los Angeles
Well, the Lakers certainly have fewer sure things than most of the teams above, and until Lamar Odom comes back there isn’t a clear #2. Again, though, Webber and Odom play the exact same position so that would seriously limit the minutes for C-Webb. Once Odom is back to full strength he’ll be out there 40 minutes per night again, and it’s possible they could man the 4/5 at times, and that would give them two of the best passing big men around.
It will be interesting to see if Webber can adjust to a secondary role, because that’s what he’ll have to do wherever he lands. Throughout his career he’s always been one of the main guys and has liked it that way, but now he’s seeking teams on which there are plenty of established stars. He doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy who would gladly accept a 20 mpg off the bench role, but on any of the above teams that might be what he’s best suited for. It’s always easy to get excited and hope for the best in an unknown situation like this, and if you’ve been holding onto Webber for a while you’re obviously going to continue to do so. But it will probably take him at least a few games to get acclimated to a new team, and by that point it will have been more than a month since he’s helped your team at all. And think of all the people you could have snagged on the free agent list during that time. So just hope the end result is worth the wait.