pessimistic article on Radja

[S Farrell <sfarrell@dixie-net.com>]

The following is an article from Fox Sports:


Sixers VP King doesn't expect Radja to report for physical
9:46 a.m., Tue., Jun. 24, 1997

Philadelphia 76ers vice president of player personnel Billy King said
Monday that he does not expect
newly acquired Dino Radja to report for a physical on Tuesday, voiding
last week's trade with the Boston
Celtics. 

"His agent (Marc Fleisher) has told me it's not about not wanting to
play in Philadelphia," King said in a
teleconference tonight. "It's that right now, he feels that his knee is
not healthy, so why should he come?
He thinks he'll fail the physical anyway." 

Radja was acquired last Friday for forward Clarence Weatherspoon and
center Michael Cage in the first
deal between the longtime rivals. He missed 57 games last season with a
knee injury and the 76ers set a
deadline of 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday for his physical.

"Five p.m. is the deadline we set during the trade call," King said. "If
he has not taken it by then, we will
take the necessary steps we have to take. We can void the trade." 

If Philadelphia voids the deal, it puts both teams in a bind. The Sixers
have the second pick in
Wednesday's draft and the Celtics pick third and sixth. Both teams have
listed Colorado guard Chauncey
Billups, Utah forward Keith Van Horn and Texas Tech center Tony Battie
as the top three players on
their wish lists. 

Earlier today, new Celtics president and coach Rick Pitino said that
Radja was unhappy with the trade
because he wanted to go to a warm-weather site or a contender. Pitino
anticipated problems with the
completion of the deal. 

"Philadelphia will void the deal in our estimation if he does not show
up and we'll have to react to him not
showing up," he said Monday. 

King said he did not think Pitino or the Celtics were guilty of any
underhandedness. Rather, he believes
the problem is with Radja. 

"Rick Pitino and his organization was honest with us, in the trade, in
everything they thought," King said.
"I don't believe there was any deceit planned and I hope there wasn't.
Dino is telling us that his knee hurts
and like Larry (Brown) told him when they spoke on the phone Friday,
`Come here and let us take a look
at it.' " 

But the 6-11 Radja apparently is not coming. He has three years left on
his current contract worth $15
million. In 25 games last season, he averaged 14 points and 8.4 rebounds
for Boston, which finished with
a franchise-worst 15-67 record. 

Radja was a 1989 second-round draft pick by Boston, but remained in
Europe until 1993, when he
earned second-team All-Rookie honors by averaging 15.1 points and 7.2
rebounds in 80 games. The
native of Croatia enjoyed his best season in 1995-96 when he averaged
19.7 points and 9.8 boards in 53
contests. 

"We were not looking to trade Dino Radja, quite frankly," said Pitino.
"Philly gave us this option. They
came forward to us."

Weatherspoon, a 1992 first-round draft pick, started all 82 games for
the Sixers last year, but averaged a
career-low 12.2 points with 8.3 rebounds per game. The 6-6 small forward
also played in all 82 contests
in each of his first two seasons, and averaged career highs of 18.3
points and 10.1 rebounds in 1993-94. 

The 35-year-old Cage has played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Seattle,
Cleveland and Philadelphia in his
13-year career. Cage also appeared in all 82 games in 1996-97, averaging
1.8 points and 3.9 rebounds,
and has played in 657 straight games, which is the second longest active
streak in the NBA. 



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