| | FORT MILL, S.C. -- With one teammate tragically killed in a car wreck and their point guard too distraught to grieve with them, Charlotte Hornets players convinced the NBA on Thursday night to postpone Friday night's game against the New York Knicks.
Players, coaches and support personnel spent several hours at
the Hornets' suburban training complex, meeting with counselors and
discussing a memorial service and funeral arrangements for their
late co-captain, Bobby Phills.
|  | | A shaken Charlotte coach Paul Silas bites his lip as he talks with the media after a team meeting at the Hornets' practice facility. |
Late in the day, the league announced Friday night's postponement.
"Rod Thorn and I spoke with (Hornets center) Elden Campbell a number of times today, and late this evening he advised us it would
be extremely difficult to play so soon after the memorial service.
As a result, we have decided to postpone Friday night's game," NBA
deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.
The Hornets will resume playing Saturday night in New York
before traveling to Louisiana on Sunday for Phills' funeral.
The only person missing from Thursday's team gathering was point
guard David Wesley, Phills' close friend and the person police say
was racing his teammate Wednesday when Phills lost control and
collided with an oncoming car.
"We're trying to contact him," coach Paul Silas said Thursday afternoon.
"I have not been able to reach him."
Later in the day, club officials who spoke on the condition of
anonymity told The Associated Press that the team had reached
Wesley and sent a counselor to meet with him.
The rest of the Hornets looked emotionally drained as they left the training center.
Silas, unshaven and slouching, shook his head and sighed
frequently as he answered questions in soft tones. He took a deep
breath when asked if Friday night was too soon to resume playing.
"We're all taking this pretty hard," Silas said. "That's up
to the players. I think we have to find the strength. It's very
difficult, but there are obligations that we all must meet. But
it's purely up to them."
The only player who would speak to reporters was reserve center
Todd Fuller, who said it was difficult to think about going back
out on the court without Phills so soon after his death.
"It's going to take some time," Fuller said. "It's not just
like one day you can come back and expect to be on the same
wavelength emotionally, mentally, physically that you were before
that. Bobby was a special person, and it's going to take some time
to get over this."
Phills' widow, Kendall, issued a statement through the team
later urging the Hornets to get back on the court.
"If the players can emotionally handle it, I would want them to
go out and play because that's what Bobby would want," she said.
A memorial service was scheduled for Friday in Charlotte at
Central Church of God. The funeral is to be held Sunday in Baton
Rouge, La., on the campus of Southern University, where Phills
earned a bachelor's degree in animal science.
A moment of silence as well as a video tribute to Phills had
been planned for Friday night's game. His teammates plan to wear a
patch bearing Phills' No. 13 on their jerseys for the rest of the
season.
In addition, the Hornets will retire his jersey number at their
Feb. 9 home game against Cleveland, the team with which Phills
spent his first six NBA seasons. Phills will be the first Charlotte
player to have his jersey retired in the club's 11-year history.
No makeup dates have been set for the Hornets' two postponements. Wednesday night's game against Chicago was postponed after the accident.
Wesley and Phills both signed with the Hornets as free agents in
the summer 1997 and grew particularly close. The two guards had
their cubicles nearby in the team's locker room, frequently played
practical jokes on each other and often were seen together with
their families away from the court.
Police said Wesley and Phills left a practice at the Charlotte
Coliseum late Wednesday morning, got into their 1997 Porsche coupes -- Phills a black 993 Cabriolet and Wesley a white 996 Cabriolet -- and began racing on a winding, heavily traveled thoroughfare.
Less than a mile from the coliseum, while the two were traveling
at what police said were speeds in excess of 75 mph, Phills lost
control of his car in a 45-mph zone and slid into oncoming traffic.
His car was struck in the driver's side door by an oncoming sedan.
Phills, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Wesley has refused to speak with investigators,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg County police spokesman Keith Bridges said.
If any charges are filed, they would come at the end of the crash
investigation, probably sometime next week, Bridges said.
Remembrances of Phills were evident Thursday throughout
Charlotte, where Phills was a tireless volunteer, especially for
causes related to helping children. Bouquets of flowers were
scattered near the crash site and the coliseum, and an arrangement
of tiger lilies was delivered to the training center at midday.
Team chaplain Luke Witte said the players were experiencing a
typical range of emotions expected following an unexpected death.
"Some of them need to get out on the court and work up a
sweat," Witte said. "Other guys are going to need some real quiet
time to meditate through this."
In addition to his wife, Phills is survived by two children,
Bobby Ray III, 3, and Kerstie, 1.
| |
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