Chris Webber Loved His Time With Golden State

It was a short stint but a memorable one. Chris Webber recently spoke with “The Athletic” about his lone full season with the Warriors. During his 1993-1994 rookie season, Webber played the point forward position under the mastermind of Don Nelson. It was looked almost down upon around the league.

During the early parts of his career, the league was in the beginning phase of transitioning into more perimeter shooting and a faster pace. Nelson pushed this style of play with Webber but other franchises and certain fans weren’t ready for this massive change.

“I loved my time in Golden State. I think the league was changing again. It was a difference at that time from old-school coaching and what you see now. I was part of that transition as well. It was fun to play point forward, but at that time, the league didn’t understand Nelly. They didn’t understand me. Even though I won Rookie of the Year, we were criticized for it. It’s just funny now looking back, and I was a part of change. I have to look back at it. The backlash we got for trying to be that change. We were among the top in the pace in play and playing with Mully (Chris Mullin) … I remember just following Mully, doing everything that he did. I love Golden State, the Bay, and winning Rookie of the Year was awesome. From 18 months at Michigan, from the period of calling the timeout, which was the worst period.”

Some Golden State fans still, to this day, wish C-Webb had stayed longer in the Bay. They wanted more from the trio of Chris Mullin, Latrell Sprewell, and Chris Webber. It will always be a “what could’ve been” scenario.

Webber is considered to be one of the greats the game has ever seen. A Rookie of the Year winner, a 5x All-Star, the 1999 NBA rebounding leader. He had career averages of 20.7 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 4.2 APG on 47.9% shooting from the field.

Chris has revolutionized the game for taller players with ball-handling skills like Draymond Green and even LeBron James. Picture Webber in his prime in today’s game… that would’ve been really special.

Follow Arden Cravalho on Twitter @a_cravalho.