The most disappointing thing about Chris Webber’s retirement is that we never got to see him mature, personally or professionally. Throughout his 15-year tenure in the the NBA, we never got to see that rare combination of power and finesse sustain for an extended period. But more than that, we never got to see redemption from the public immaturity; the perception that he was a gifted and privileged athlete, prone to acting out his own image.
In his stops with the Golden State Warriors, the Washington Bullets and the Sacramento Kings, we got to see Webber as a back-to-the-basket boy wonder, with a penchant for passing, and an attitude to be as bad as he wanted to be. Marijuana arrests, open-air feuds with management, wild parties and high profile relationships gave us a biased view of the man that most knew as engaging, thoughtful, and highly intelligent.
And just when you thought he was finally putting it all together, manhood and career that is, the frailty of the human anatomy betrayed him, and turned him into a recluse. The man that would be king of the post became a recluse to the media, and a journeyman player. We all waited for the man-child we watched googly-eyed at Michigan to emerge and make a difference in his own legend, and the should-have-been bright star now goes fading into the flickering limelight, defined mostly by micro-fracture surgery and an ill-fated timeout.
Webber was supposed to be power forward 2.0, until controversy, injury and Kevin Garnett all came along and derailed that notion. He’ll be remembered more for dating Tyra Banks than his five all-star appearances, and more for being a budding hip-hop producer than a career 20 ppg-9 rpg-4 apg player.
There’s so much that Chris Webber could’ve been to himself and to the league, but it all works out in the end. He’s freed himself of filling an expectation he began building way back in high school, and can finally walk into maturity his way.
It’s just a shame he’ll do it in a way he, and all of us, didn’t expect. With no one watching.
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