Christie putting his best foot forward
Former King vows he's healthy - and ready to play in the NBA again.
By Joe Davidson - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:37 am PDT Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
Doug Christie is back.
Ready to pounce on an errant pass, to raise his hand in triumph. And yes, to salute his inseparable partner and wife, Jackie, while heading back up the floor.
He's back. But when? And where?
One of the cornerstones to the Kings' annual march deep into the postseason as a defensive stalwart earlier this decade, Christie said the rust has been chipped away and the competitive fire churned back up to full inferno.
The swingman has declared himself NBA ready again, at 36, after months of rigorous rehabilitation of a left ankle injury that seemed to end his career. He has worked out for two teams with more sessions to come.
NBA training camps start next week, and Christie plans to land somewhere, warning, like any true stopper, "Put me out there on the floor and I'll defend myself."
In other words, no young chap is blowing past him. No one is making him look his age after 14 NBA campaigns just yet.
At this time last season? Different story. Christie was brought into Dallas last summer as a final piece to what the Mavericks figured was the championship puzzle. The club reached the NBA Finals, but Christie managed just seven games, all starts.
"I'm 100 percent now, feeling really good," Christie said. "I'm able to move. I'm able to explode. In Dallas, I tried to come back too quick from (that ankle). I expected too much from my body. I couldn't do what I wanted to do and what my mind wanted me to do. I just couldn't do it. I didn't like how that made me feel."
So he stepped away in a mutual parting that cost Christie millions in salary and the Mavericks their veteran guard.
"The pain and not being able to run, I couldn't keep doing it," Christie said. "I had to get healthy. I have that explosiveness again."
And Christie is only as good as his burst. He has averaged 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the NBA, with his best seasons clearly coming in Sacramento, where he was the team's top defender and, arguably, their best athlete.
But Christie's left foot started to really ail him in his last playoff run with the Kings, in 2004, a seven-game series setback to Minnesota in the Western Conference semifinals.
Christie learned to deal with the searing pain on the tissue that runs along the bottom of his foot -- plantar fasciitis. Finally, Christie succumbed and took a pain-killing injection.
Christie said he willed himself forward because he sensed the Kings had a dwindling chance to do something significant.
"Body-wise, I sacrificed a lot with the Kings," he said. "I was taking Advil all the time. My foot hurt. But we had a great team and the fans were so great. ... "
His plantar fasciitis was a precursor to the bone spurs that slowed Christie after he was traded to Orlando during the 2004-05 season. He lasted just 21 games, 13 starts. With those spurs ripping into his soft tissue and feeling as if he was slowing by the day, he shut himself down. He returned to his native Seattle for surgery. Fans and media howled that he quit.
With his foot healthy, Christie hopes that his playing reputation doesn't need rehabilitation.
Christie wouldn't disclose what teams he has auditioned for, but he did indicate he'd like to play for a winner at this stage of career.
There's also the launch of his reality TV program -- "Committed: The Christies" on the BET network -- that has inside access to their unique marriage, including annual renewed wedding vows, to Jackie's insistence that her husband not be interviewed by female reporters, to their in-game hand signals to each other to signify their love.
For now, Christie yearns for more games.
He once said that he'd call it a career when his Kings' tenure was finished -- to spend more time with Jackie and their three children. Now he has no real timetable.
"I'll play until I'm dead," he said, then laughed. "I feel too good to stop now."
Former King vows he's healthy - and ready to play in the NBA again.
By Joe Davidson - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:37 am PDT Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
Doug Christie is back.
Ready to pounce on an errant pass, to raise his hand in triumph. And yes, to salute his inseparable partner and wife, Jackie, while heading back up the floor.
He's back. But when? And where?
One of the cornerstones to the Kings' annual march deep into the postseason as a defensive stalwart earlier this decade, Christie said the rust has been chipped away and the competitive fire churned back up to full inferno.
The swingman has declared himself NBA ready again, at 36, after months of rigorous rehabilitation of a left ankle injury that seemed to end his career. He has worked out for two teams with more sessions to come.
NBA training camps start next week, and Christie plans to land somewhere, warning, like any true stopper, "Put me out there on the floor and I'll defend myself."
In other words, no young chap is blowing past him. No one is making him look his age after 14 NBA campaigns just yet.
At this time last season? Different story. Christie was brought into Dallas last summer as a final piece to what the Mavericks figured was the championship puzzle. The club reached the NBA Finals, but Christie managed just seven games, all starts.
"I'm 100 percent now, feeling really good," Christie said. "I'm able to move. I'm able to explode. In Dallas, I tried to come back too quick from (that ankle). I expected too much from my body. I couldn't do what I wanted to do and what my mind wanted me to do. I just couldn't do it. I didn't like how that made me feel."
So he stepped away in a mutual parting that cost Christie millions in salary and the Mavericks their veteran guard.
"The pain and not being able to run, I couldn't keep doing it," Christie said. "I had to get healthy. I have that explosiveness again."
And Christie is only as good as his burst. He has averaged 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the NBA, with his best seasons clearly coming in Sacramento, where he was the team's top defender and, arguably, their best athlete.
But Christie's left foot started to really ail him in his last playoff run with the Kings, in 2004, a seven-game series setback to Minnesota in the Western Conference semifinals.
Christie learned to deal with the searing pain on the tissue that runs along the bottom of his foot -- plantar fasciitis. Finally, Christie succumbed and took a pain-killing injection.
Christie said he willed himself forward because he sensed the Kings had a dwindling chance to do something significant.
"Body-wise, I sacrificed a lot with the Kings," he said. "I was taking Advil all the time. My foot hurt. But we had a great team and the fans were so great. ... "
His plantar fasciitis was a precursor to the bone spurs that slowed Christie after he was traded to Orlando during the 2004-05 season. He lasted just 21 games, 13 starts. With those spurs ripping into his soft tissue and feeling as if he was slowing by the day, he shut himself down. He returned to his native Seattle for surgery. Fans and media howled that he quit.
With his foot healthy, Christie hopes that his playing reputation doesn't need rehabilitation.
Christie wouldn't disclose what teams he has auditioned for, but he did indicate he'd like to play for a winner at this stage of career.
There's also the launch of his reality TV program -- "Committed: The Christies" on the BET network -- that has inside access to their unique marriage, including annual renewed wedding vows, to Jackie's insistence that her husband not be interviewed by female reporters, to their in-game hand signals to each other to signify their love.
For now, Christie yearns for more games.
He once said that he'd call it a career when his Kings' tenure was finished -- to spend more time with Jackie and their three children. Now he has no real timetable.
"I'll play until I'm dead," he said, then laughed. "I feel too good to stop now."
