Russell Cross Is Crossed Off List by the Nuggets

By and large, Russell Cross is goodby and too large.

There were 16 reasons why the Denver Nuggets cut the cord with Cross by not inviting him to their rookie-free-agent camp that begins today in San Antonio.

First, there were the 15 extra pounds he was carrying . . . still. But those weren’t the only reasons. There was another, even bigger one: Not only is Cross out of shape, the Nuggets think he’s out of talent.

In announcing the decision not to take Cross, a 6-foot-10 forward who was the sixth pick in the 1983 NBA draft, to Texas, Nuggets coach Doug Moe uttered the three words an athlete never wants to hear: “He can’t play.”

Said Moe: “I don’t know. Some guys have it, some guys don’t. He’s never really shown me anything. I guess . . . at one time, he was supposed to be good.”

Incredibly, that time wasn’t so long ago. Maybe if Cross were 33 instead of 23, it would be easy to write him off. But the fact is, it was little more than two years ago when he was the most valuable player in the Big Ten, one of the best basketball conferences in the country.

After being drafted by the Golden State Warriors and averaging 3.7 points a game in a rookie season doomed from the start by a contract holdout, he was waived last year during training camp. The Nuggets, part out of intrigue and part out of need, signed him, only to put him on the suspended list five days later with a bad left knee that ultimately required surgery.

He was in, to use Moe’s word, “pathetic” shape last season. But after he had rehabilitated the knee, the Nuggets thought he might come into this camp ready to play. It never happened.

“From our vantage point,” said Nuggets player personnel director Pete Babcock, “we wanted to see if he could help us out because we were in need of a power forward. This just answers the question.”

The biggest question of all, though, is still hanging out there for the sports world to contemplate: How could a player of the stature Cross enjoyed in college sink so far so fast? How, in two years, could he go from high first-round draft choice to being waived by one of the worst teams in the league to not even being invited to a rookie camp by the Nuggets?

“I don’t know what it is,” said Moe. “He seemed like a nice kid, but he’s got an attitude problem from the point where he doesn’t have any mental toughness. He was in shape to do a few things, but he’s still in bad shape. He’s got a long, long way to go. He’s going to have to really work and push himself.”

Cross, who will accept an invitation he got Sunday to go to the New York Knicks rookie camp, said he was surprised by Monday’s development. Under the circumstances, though, he said he could understand. Obviously, he was a man in the wrong place (with a running team) at the wrong time (condition).

“I’m disappointed, of course,” he said. “I can understand it. They told me our games are different. I have more of a power game and they have more of a running game.”

The Knicks system is slower than the Nuggets’, but Cross admittedly isn’t in good enough shape to play even at New York’s pace.

“I have to get in better shape,” he said. “You’ve got some guys who can push the ball up. If you’re going to be in this league, you have to be able to get up and down the floor.”