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Before last season, Chris Webber had a shaky reputation--on and off the court--but leading the Kings to playoff respectability changed that

Somehow, in the shifting stock market of public perception, a couple of first-round NBA playoff victories can translate into more value than consecutive trips to the college championship game.

Think about it: even though Chris Webber played on the last Monday of the NCAA Tournament with all those freshmen at Michigan and came back for an encore performance the next year, he has been known as a loser, the guy who called the timeout

Now, with one jarring screen set on John Stockton and two victories by the Kings against the Jazz last spring, Webber is part of a promising young team. In defeat, Webber and the Kings might have gained more respect than any other team in the first round.

"I don't understand it," Webber says. "I'm winning now, right? But as a freshman, beating all those seniors, and as sophomores, going back to the same place and showing it wasn't a fluke, you're not a winner. That's the way it is. That's what I've got to deal with."

Last season, Webber's first with the Kings after four years in Washington, was called a breakthrough season for him. On the stat sheet, the difference amounted to 3.1 rebounds a game. That's it. He averaged 21 points and 9.9 rebounds the last two seasons in Washington, 20 points and 13 rebounds a game in 1999.

Webber says he was more focused in his offseason workouts, and he focused more on rebounding, but it wasn't like he spent the previous years goofing off.

"At first I was mad," Webber says. "They said, `This is the best you've ever played.' I kind of took that resentfully. I don't know why. I just took that like, however it comes. Whatever. Hopefully, people see that I try to be a good player."

It probably wasn't the increased rebounding as much as the winning. It isn't necessarily what you do. It doesn't always matter where you do it. It's what your team does.

"We never really had a winning season (in Washington)," Webber says. "I don't think people paid much attention. I was doing it in a losing effort, so they didn't take it seriously."

Webber is winning now. The credit is coming. But is that enough for him, or does the final answer lie elsewhere?

The six-year, $58.5 million contract he signed in 1995 expires after next season. He was reluctant to join the Kings at first when the Wizards traded him for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe after the 1997-98 season, but time and victories have eased the transition.

"I just want to be someplace for a while," Webber says. "So if a team needs me here or a team can trade and get me to make a long-term commitment, that's what I want. I'm not saying long-term commitment for money reasons; I just want to know where I'll be."

The excitement generated by the team's playoff performance doesn't hurt Sacramento's chances.

Webber's agent, Fallasha Erwin, met with Kings vice president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie in September to discuss a contract extension. They couldn't reach an agreement, but Erwin says they left the matter on amicable terms and now will wait to see what happens.

"I think that Chris is going to play out his time there," Erwin says. "He knows that Sacramento can offer him more than anyone else can. He likes his teammates, he likes his surroundings, the fans have been great to him."

Webber is less likely to feud with Kings coach Rick Adelman than he did with Don Nelson in their legendary test of wills at Golden State that remains a defining period in Webber's career and the Warriors franchise.

"I know Adelman lets Webber play," says Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Elston Turner. "You can tell it's a freewheeling system. The style of play is why Webber's rebounding is up. There are a lot of shots."

With Vlade Divac in the lineup, Webber is playing beside a legitimate, dependable center for the first time in his career, so he doesn't have to worry about playing the pivot. And if point guard Jason Williams is this good now, imagine how tough he'll be when he gets under control.

The Kings have the beginnings of a good team. Add a couple of pieces, let them grow together and ...

Awww, why bother. In this league it's impossible to stand back and wait while the ingredients boil. Whenever you have players, coaches, agents and general managers in a pot with egos, agendas and money, the broth usually comes out foul. The NBA kitchen is filled with so many recipes gone wrong it looks like a junior high home economics class.

It wasn't too long ago that Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway were going to be the next coming of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson in Orlando, and Stephon Marbury and Kevin Garnett were going to do the Stockton and Malone thing in Minnesota. Didn't quite turn out that way, did it? You just can't look too far into the future in this league.

"Exactly," Webber says. "That's something I'm not going to do anymore. I'm not going to say I'm going to be here or there. I know that I'm going to be where I want to be. I'm going to be recruited, or I'm going to recruit somebody. It's one way or another.

"I definitely love playing with Jason. Same with Vlade and Corliss (Williamson). I can see it, but I think that we need more. I don't think we're enough."

As for the city, he says, "Sacramento's pretty cool. Slower, but, uhh, it's cool.... It's about the people you're around. We've got some good teammates, some good guys, so it's fun playing with them."

Webber seemed to have plenty in Washington--a cosmopolitan city, his college teammate Juwan Howard playing alongside him, a top-notch point guard in Rod Strickland to get him the ball. But if Webber was in heaven, he sure didn't act that way.

During his four seasons in Washington he managed to annoy team personnel by complaining about the allotment and location of his complimentary tickets, he angered them by skipping fan and community service events, and he lost face in the community by running afoul of the law.

It didn't help that the Wizards were losing and that they couldn't build on the excitement created by their trip to the playoffs in 1997 and their departure from the dank USAir Arena to the glistening new MCI Center.

Something had to change. Webber believes he was traded because of his troubles off the court. But Wizards G.M. Wes Unseld denies that Webber's transgressions caused the trade, saying it was based on "the ability to get a player like Mitch Richmond and thinking we had two players who played the same position." Meaning Webber and Howard were best suited for power forward.

Howard's $105 million contract meant he wasn't going anywhere. And after four years of Webber and Howard, the Wizards hadn't gone anywhere, so Unseld pulled the plug. The Wizards wound up going down the drain.

In Sacramento, Webber is not being blamed for anything; he's part of what's right, and they don't want him to go anywhere.

"You would hope that if we put together a nice team, it's going to be an attractive place for him to play," Adelman says. "As long as I'm here, I hope he stays."

Trying to figure out what Webber will do is too exhausting for anyone--even Webber himself. We keep waiting for him to put all aspects of his talent, intelligence and personality into one complete package. He used to follow every mistake and every disappointment with assurances that things were going to change and get better. Now he doesn't care whether people view him as a changed man.

"If people think I'm still going to make mistakes or do some stuff, they should think that," he says. "I'm not trying to impress anybody. I'm just trying to play well.... I've owned up to mistakes that I've made and situations I've been in. That's all I can do ... until next time comes."

RELATED ARTICLE: The six degrees of Chris Webber

Chris Webber was selected by Orlando with the first pick overall in the 1993 NBA draft. Last season, he led the league in rebounding and helped Sacramento to the playoffs. In between, Webber was on two other teams and traded three times. But when you look at the final tally of the deals involving Webber, you may not believe your eyes.

* On draft day in 1993, Webber is traded to Golden State for Penny Hardaway and the Warriors' 1996, '98 and 2000 first-round picks. A year later, the '96 and '98 picks are traded with Scott Skiles to Washington for the Bullets' '96 second-round pick and '98 first-round pick. In 1999, Hardaway is traded to Phoenix for two future first-round picks, Pat Garrity and Danny Manning. Manning is then traded to Milwaukee with Dale Ellis for Chris Gatling and Armen Gilliam.