Travis Knight

["smishra" <smishra@ix.netcom.com>]

Here is the LA times article on Travis Knight:

Travis Knight on Friday agreed to a seven-year contract with the Boston
Celtics worth approximately $22 million, even though he didn't want to. 
     The deal is not expected to become official for a couple days, after
final details are worked out that probably will also include the Celtics
renouncing several of their own free agents. Maybe then, perhaps on Monday,
he'll be able to celebrate. 
     There had been none of that so far, Knight having ached with his
decision as much as he rejoiced in it. He did not want to leave the Lakers.
He did not expect to leave the Lakers, even though they were limited by a
salary cap technicality to an offer of $326,700 for 1997-98. 
     But the chance at financial security proved impossible to pass up,
especially when it came with an out-clause after three seasons. So, after
about 48 hours of soul searching, conversations with five Laker players,
numerous talks with Executive Vice President Jerry West and General Manager
Mitch Kupchak, Knight accepted. 
     At that point, you weren't sure whether to offer congratulations or
condolences. 
     "I really have mixed emotions," he said. "I should be elated right
now, but I'm not. I feel so much loyalty [to the Lakers]. I respect Jerry
and Mitch so much and I understand what they say and I believe what they
say. 
     "But you work at something as hard as you can, and then it's there.
The security. That's the rest of my life, right there. 
     "I think, without a question, this has been the hardest decision I've
made in my life. It was much harder than choosing a college. . . . The most
difficult thing for me is that my heart and mind were in two different
places. It's just, I don't know. It's been tough." 
     So continues a circuitous rise to prominence. Knight--already a
favorite in New England because he played at the University of Connecticut,
about a 90-minute drive from Boston--was a first-round pick by the Chicago
Bulls last year, only to be renounced in a salary-cap move when he said he
would not go to Europe. 
     The Lakers, one of the few teams to show interest, then got him for
the rookie minimum of $220,000. He, in turn, repaid them by going from
project status to the rotation within months, once grabbing 11 offensive
rebounds to fall two shy of their Los Angeles-era record. 
     In February, he played in the rookie all-star game. When Shaquille
O'Neal went down with a knee injury days later, Elden Campbell was forced
to move to center, so Knight, the 12th man in November, became the starter
at power forward. In 14 such assignments, he averaged 6.9 points and 5.6
rebounds in 25.6 minutes. 
     In the end, he averaged 16.3 minutes in 71 appearances, contributing
4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds and shooting 50.9%. Coaches voted him
second-team all-rookie, after only seven first-year players grabbed more
boards and only four blocked more shots. O'Neal was the only Laker to get
more rebounds per minute. 
     The downside for the Lakers was that this made Knight a commodity as a
free agent, keeping his possible departure in mind as they picked Paul
Rogers of Gonzaga late in the second round of the draft. They could not
compete with offers from other teams, instead only use the emotional ties
as true negotiating power. As late as Thursday night, West and Kupchak both
reiterated how much they wanted him to stay. 
                                                                   - Mishra