Wake Up With An NBA Countdown: Chris Webber

Good morning everybody, happy Tuesday! Today we’ll look at a player who in my opinion has been greatly undervalued as history has gone on. That’s right, I think it’s completely ridiculous that Chris Webber is not in then Hall Of Fame. He was a finalist this past season but didn’t get in, and when you have guys like TMac getting in I find this rather silly. People need to stop snubbing Webber and it needs to stop immediately. Some probably only recognize Webber for two things. His timeout incident at Michigan, and his TV career. Well in between those was a fairly dominant 15 NBA career that spanned 4 franchises and career averages of 20.7/9.8/4.2/1.4/1.4. As the first pick in the 1993 Draft, he was traded on Draft night for Penny Hardaway and three first round picks, and right from the jump was an impact player. A casual 17.5/9.1/3.6 his rookie year on 55% shooting led to him winning the ROY and what should have been a happy marriage.

Only it wasn’t. Webber used a clause to get out of his Warriors deal so he was traded to the Bullets, a place he really started to become the Chris Webber we know today. When it was all said and done Webber would be a 5x All Star, he made one All NBA First team, 3 All NBA Second Teams, and he did lead the league in rebounding in 1999. Once Webber got to SAC he was a legit star player and without a doubt had the best stretch of his NBA career both in the regular season and playoffs. Don’t blame the Kings inability to get over the hump in Webber, he showed up. Blame Stern for being shady as shit.

If there was one player from the past that we could take in their prime and put in today’s NBA, I’d love to see like mid 20s Webber. If he was coached to develop a three point shot, holy shit it’s crazy to think what type of player he may have become as good as he already was. That just wasn’t what happened with bigs during Webbers run, and by the time we got to the mid 2000s he was a little too washed up to really make a change and be dominant. But in his prime? If you combine his ferocity with the ability to stretch the floor, I can guarantee he wouldn’t still be getting snubbed from the HOF in 2018.

So get your morning started with one of the more underrated guys in league history, and one of the best big men of my adolesence. As always if there is a player or type of countdown you’d like to see just list it in the comments. Other than that, have a great Tuesday!