Webber Is Weary of Speculation

Chris Webber’s potential free-agent departure from the Kings was the main topic in Sunday morning’s Sacramento Bee, and it dominated the postgame discussion as well.

“I don’t know where the hell I’m going, and I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do,” Webber said. “It’s that simple. If you don’t believe me, forget you. You can fill in the blank with the word I really want to use, but it’s just going to take a lot of prayer. Do [you reporters] make decisions about job changes, where you’re going to write or what you’re gonna do in one day? No, not unless it’s tremendously better. For that, I have to think about it and just pray and take my time.”

He was a little exasperated by how much attention his decision has received, but he never did anything to quell it by stating he preferred to stay in Sacramento.

“When I answered my questions earlier this year it was [supposedly] a distraction,” Webber said. “Then when I played well it was not a distraction. Then I took too many jumpers. Just like all that is . . . how soon they forget, it’s the same thing about this. I have to get away from all the emotion and not care what this person wrote or care what this person said or whatever and just make the best decision.

“I loved it here. I had a great time here. These fellas here are like the best. That’s all I really have right now, are good thoughts about this place.”

Webber’s father will have a role in the process.

“What I say means a lot to him,” Mayce Webber said.

His main advice is: “If your heart is there, I would say do it. I just want him to be someplace where his heart is at. That’s important to me.”

New York, Houston, Orlando, Detroit and Miami are among the potential destinations for Webber either through a free-agent signing or a sign-and-trade. The Knicks, where Latrell Sprewell, Webber’s teammate from his rookie season at Golden State plays, are often the first team mentioned.

“There’s no particular team,” Mayce Webber said. “New York has no lead. That makes me mad when I hear that.”

He seemed to think Webber would be well off to stay in Sacramento.

“Here he’s got good people, good fans,” he said. “To me it’s about more than just money. It’s all about where you’re going to be happy, because this is a business and a game all at once.”

It might sound as if Vlade Divac didn’t care much for the Lakers when he said after the Lakers’ 119-113 victory Sunday: “This is the first game we played well and they really beat us. The first three games we beat ourselves.”

But he insisted: “They’re my team now to go all the way and I’ll root for them.”