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Pull The Plug

Authored by John McMullen - November 16, 2006 - 12:34 am

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It has to be hard for an elite athlete to admit it's over.

And even if an athlete that is clearly on empty could take personal inventory and look at himself objectively, only an idiot would walk away from $40 million.

That's the predicament Chris Webber finds himself in. Perhaps more importantly, that's the situation the Philadelphia 76ers are looking at.

CWebb refuses to acknowledge or accept he is killing the Sixers. His ego simply will not allow it.

I mean this is a guy who once scored 51 points in a game. A player that once pulled down 26 boards. A five-time NBA All-Star that has 22 career triple-doubles. A guy that has bedded Tyra Banks.

So it's not a surprise when Webber grumbles as his playing time dwindles.

But, so what?

Is there some unwritten rule that you have to acquiesce to a former star? Is there a law that forbids you to sit a guy who makes a ton of money?

The Sixers made a big mistake by acquiring Webber but why exacerbate an already bad situation by throwing a guy on the floor that has no right being there?

Can't we all just accept that Webber fought valiantly to regain his athleticism after undergoing microfracture knee surgery and acknowledge he just couldn't do it?

Let's thank him in the form a two-year severance check for $40-plus million but let's not enable him.

Maurice Cheeks has talked a good game. The coach has indicated he will go with the best matchups each night and has even gone so far to say, with the exception of Allen Iverson, any player could be pulled at any time.

And, he has pulled Webber in a couple of key situations -- and even sat down an uninterested Andre Iguodala versus Denver -- but that's just not good enough.

The Sixers wasted a 3-0 start because the head coach keeps trotting out a broken down thoroughbred nearly 32 minutes per night.

If Cheeks and Billy King truly want to win -- it's time to pull the plug on CWebb.

You can reach John McMullen at jmcmullen1@comcast.net or john@phillysportsline.com