Chris Webber claims he is innocent.
The Sacramento Kings power forward denied lying to a grand jury about receiving money while attending the University of Michigan from 1991 to 1993. Webber, along with his father and aunt, were indicted two weeks ago on perjury charges, but claims he will fight them to the very end. If convicted, Webber could face up to 10 years in prison.
In recent years, it has become common to read that an athlete faces jail time, but never has a case struck at the core of a sport the way this should and hopefully will strike basketball. The same day Webber made his plea, for instance, Anaheim Angels pitcher Jarrod Washburn was accused of sexual assault. The Washburn case is one of dozens like it every year and has unfortunately become common practice in professional sports.
Webber’s case, however, is different. His case involves a booster at the University of Michigan who was convicted last year of paying such high profile players as Robert Traylor, Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose. Martin claims nobody was given as much money as Webber. Martin told a jury he gave Webber $280,000 over several years. When asked about his dealings with the booster, Webber said he never received anything more than $50. The problem is Webber didn’t just say this in a press conference, but in the middle of a grand jury investigation.
Webber was the most integral of what many consider to be the greatest recruiting class in NCAA basketball history. “The Fab Five” took the Wolverines to consecutive national championship appearances in 1992 and 1993, but were never able to lead the team to a title. In hindsight, it seems obvious why the Big Ten program was able to dominate the college scene and why head coach Steve Fischer was fired shortly after “the Fab Five” left.
As bad as Webber’s situation is, and it basically amounts to a “he said, he said” battle, it speaks volumes about the state of basketball. It has been seven years since Kevin Garnett passed up a chance to play college basketball to instead make millions in the NBA. Since then, a flood of high-schoolers have come to the professional level and most have suffered because of it.
Meanwhile, with the best high school players in the nation going pro, the talent pool has weakened at the college level. Something must be done. Ed Martin had his solution: give money to the players. Because it goes against everything the NCAA stands for, Martin is now in jail.
We are in the midst of a serious catch-22 in college basketball. Young players are going straight to the NBA, if not out of high school, then shortly after their first college game. This not only hurts the college game but also the professional arena. Let’s face it, DeSagana Diop (the eighth overall pick in the 2001 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers) is not a professional basketball player. Not to mention Kwame Brown, who rode the bench for the sorry Washington Wizards after the team declared him their future by picking him first overall.
This is not a problem that will be solved by the governing bodies of basketball pointing fingers. No one person can be blamed. The chicken and egg situation can only be solved by creating incentive, for athletes to play at the college level. The NCAA and the NBA need to figure out why this isn’t happening in any other sport. There is more money in the sport of baseball (a problem to be addressed on a different day) but they have a great college system, despite the fact that no one pays attention to it.
The good news is that the NBA has its head on straight. Commissioner David Stern is working on the problem of the immaturity of the players in his league. One idea being thrown around is to have an age minimum. While this is not the best idea and it goes against American ideals, it is at least thinking in the right direction. The newly formed National Basketball Development League, which is in a sense, a basketball minor league is also a step in the right direction.
Stern’s ideas, while not perfect, are certainly more innovative than anything the NCAA has come up with. College basketball is the greatest stage in all of sports. The tournament concluding the season is better than the Super Bowl, World Series and Bowl Championship Series combined, but if the ruling body of college basketball can’t figure a way to get the talent on such a stage and keep it there, people will watch other games, and the sport, not just the NCAA, will falter.
I love Chris Webber.
I think he got a raw deal in New Orleans in 1993 when he called a timeout he didn’t have. He is without a doubt one of the best players in basketball right now and he has done it in a tiny market. I don’t want to see him go to jail, but I am glad that this is becoming an issue at the national level. Don’t equate Webber with other legally troubled athletes. Webber is a victim of the system; now let’s just hope the system realizes this.
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