I don't know how I feel about Zo, on the one hand his comeback was inspirational, on the other hand its stupid. Why put your life on the line when you've already made millions and had success. Its just not worth it.
That's terrible news, but I'm sure that a family man like Zo will be happy to get a succesful transplant and just spend time being a a husband and father. Still, the man was a warrior would could have easily been one of the greatest at his position, ever. Man, the NBA is desperate for more warriors like Zo, the league would be a million times better. Good luck to Zo and may God bless him with a healthy life.
Alonzo's condition has deteriorated over the course of the past few weeks. He needs a kidney transplant. He's not retiring because of the Kenyon Martin fight.
Damn i wish the edit function worked It's sad. He was one of the few great centers left. Both Alonzo and Larry Johnson have had their careers cut short due to injury.
That's quite sad indeed... BTW, for the guy making the comment about Zo raping the Nets out of 22 million, if you ask me, he would gladly return the money and not have to deal with this disease...
why the anger?? it is ok if you do not agree with him, but athis isn't the place for a sentence like that.not agreeing with somebody doesn't mean you should bash him. if you are polite people tend to hear you better. just some advice. we all think Mourning was a great player, and we wish him the best in his life.
Same here. We don't need the language, OK? What a terrible thing to happen to a warrior like Zo. It's hard to believe the outstanding centers we were used to seeing for decades are becoming like the dinosaurs... extinct, except for one or two. We are lucky enough to have a good one. If Yao ever gets a decent percentage of Alonzo's heart and competitive fire, we should thank our lucky stars. I hope Zo can get a kidney. This isn't like going to the dentist.
I think he still has the warrior spirit in him. I have always admired his courage. I'm sad that he has been forced to retire. I hope and pray for his health. Alonzo will be missed.
He is a very generous man off the court. http://www.msnbc.com/news/997487.asp?cp1=1 Mourning must end NBA career Nets GM Thorn says center needs kidney transplant EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Nov. 24 — The disappointment was clear in Alonzo Mourning’s voice when he broke the news to Jason Kidd: He was calling it quits because his life-threatening kidney disease had worsened. MOURNING WASN’T WORRIED about himself, though. His biggest concern was letting the team down, four months after joining the New Jersey Nets. “The big person that he is, he was very soft-spoken,” Kidd said Monday, recalling his telephone conversation with Mourning the night before. “He felt that he was maybe letting me down in the sense that he came here to try and win a championship and he came here because of me.” Mourning, 33, will need a transplant soon, and the team said a nationwide search is under way for a prospective donor. A player who epitomized work ethic, Mourning lasted just 12 games in his return to the NBA after sitting out last season and large portions of two others because of the ailment, focal glomerulosclerosis. “For him to come out and almost kill himself to just play the game that he loves, it just shows the kind of person ‘Zo is,” Kidd said. Mourning was not at the team’s practice Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the Nets will have to pay the four-time All Star the remainder of the four-year, $22 million contract. Nets president Rod Thorn refused to discuss the topic. Coach Byron Scott said he had stared at Mourning’s chiseled body in recent days with a fear he kept to himself. “I would get updates on his numbers every day and it scared me to death,” Scott said Monday of recent medical reports. “When I started cutting him minutes, it was because I was getting a little nervous. I kept hearing about how his numbers were going up. Again, it had nothing to do with his performance. To me it was more of a life and death situation.” Former San Antonio Spurs player Sean Elliott contracted the same ailment and underwent a kidney transplant in 1999. He returned briefly in 2001, then retired. The disease attacks the tiny filters in the kidney that remove waste from the blood. That makes the kidney spill protein from blood into the urine. The resulting damage can lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a transplant. The disease was detected in Mourning in 2000, while he was with the Miami Heat and shortly after the 6-foot-10 center helped the U.S. team win the gold medal at the Olympics. Dr. Gerald Appel of Columbia University Medical Center, said Monday that Mourning’s kidney function has deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks. “It is no longer medically safe for him to play basketball,” Appel said. “Although he still feels well, the chemical imbalances in his blood make it dangerous for him to play.” It was not immediately clear if Mourning might be able to return to the court if he undergoes a successful transplant, team officials said. “I told him the game of basketball is just a game and I want you able to see your son play the game, or your daughter, your beautiful wife,” Kidd said of his conversation with Mourning. “Don’t be upset that you feel you let me down because I want to be able to still call my friend.” Mourning saved his best game with the Nets for last. He had a season-high 15 points in 16 minutes in an 81-80 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday. However, he looked exhausted when he left the court in the fourth quarter. “We don’t know why certain things happen, and we can’t control them,” Scott said. “From our standpoint as a coach, team and organization, we have to learn from this and understand that it goes fast, and it can be taken at any time. He played every game like it was his last game, because he never knew when it was going to happen.” News of Mourning’s retirement came just four days after he and Kenyon Martin nearly came to blows when Martin teased Mourning about his kidney condition at practice last Thursday. Martin acknowledged Monday he made a big mistake. “In the heat of the moment you, say things you wished you hadn’t,” Martin said. “I apologized right afterward. It still doesn’t take it back that I said it. I apologized to him, he accepted my apology and we moved on from there.” Mourning averaged 8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 17.9 minutes for the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions, who have struggled this season, posting a 5-7 record. His career averages were 20.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game coming into this season. He was in his 12th season in the NBA, having previously played for the Charlotte Hornets and Heat. “It’s a sad day in anyone’s life when they can no longer do what they love, especially when they have no control over their situation,” said Heat president Pat Riley, Mourning’s former coach.
Man, I am a HUGE ZO fan and very saddened for the man. I hope he can get a transplant and live a normal life with his family. It wouldn't suprise me though if ZO comes back in a year and half if he gets the transplant and it is successful. He's such a warrior and competitor. He is also a great individual/leader off the court and does so much charity work off the court. He IS what a professional athlete should be. Too bad there aren't more Athletes like him. God Bless.
And here's how big of a loss it could be for the Nets........ Nets will pay for losing gamble Tuesday, November 25, 2003 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN Star-Ledger Staff Just moments after the Nets held a news conference on July 16 to introduce Alonzo Mourning, their new $22.6 million center, a middle-aged man wearing a dark suit approached the player's wife, Tracy. "I'm Alan Landis," the man said, reaching out his hand. "I represent the ownership." For Landis, a minority partner in YankeeNets, the Nets' parent company, this was quite a moment. By landing Mourning, the Nets had added a former All-Star to a two-time conference championship team and also guaranteed that Jason Kidd would stay in New Jersey. But not everyone in the fractured and fragile world of YankeeNets was as excited as Landis. In fact, one YankeeNets executive and another sports executive who deals regularly with the company's owners said Mourning's signing outraged New York investors who are critical of the Nets' mounting losses. Those investors -- many of whom are loyal to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner -- questioned the move because they knew the player's kidney disease would make it impossible to insure his contract. Most pro sports teams insure their highly priced players and the premiums are usually a small percentage of the player's salary. Typically, the policies cover 50 percent of the player's contract. "No prudent underwriter is going to take the risk of having to pay out $20 million on a guy diagnosed with a significant kidney disorder," said Steven Rosenfeld, an insurance lawyer specializing in the sports business with Ohrenstein & Brown in Newark. "The business is all about risk, but it's not about stupidity." Landis did not return calls to his office seeking comment yesterday, but Nets president Rod Thorn last month said the team tried to insure Mourning but was turned down because his kidney problems were deemed a "pre-existing condition." In other words, an insurance policy would cover part of Mourning's salary if he blew out his knee and could no longer play, but not if his kidney failed. That made Mourning a $22.6 million gamble. Mourning, whose failing kidneys ended his basketball career yesterday, becomes yet another former Net who will collect millions from the team while no longer wearing the uniform. By the time Mourning's contract runs out in 2007, the Nets will have paid roughly $72 million to Mourning and former centers Jayson Williams and Jamie Feick, whose careers were cut short by injury. Other deals with Dikembe Mutombo, who received a $27 million buyout last month, and Chris Childs, who was cut last season, push the total to more than $100 million. Insurance companies have paid for half, or roughly $50 million, of Feick's and Williams' contracts. Still, the New York investors in YankeeNets were furious over Mourning's deal. The executives said the signings of Mourning and Kidd, who received the NBA's maximum seven-year, $103.6 million contract, become the latest pawns in the ongoing battle between the warring factions in the fractured sports company which has losses that will reach $42 million this year. That Mourning's contract would put the team over the NBA's $62 million limit on salaries and force the Nets to pay a $4 million luxury tax made the friction even worse, the executives said. Yet as far as Landis and his partners in New Jersey were concerned, Steinbrenner never asked them permission to sign Raul Mondesi or Jose Contreras. So when Kidd made it clear he would re-sign only if the team signed Mourning, Landis and his partners made their offer to Mourning. "There is never a consensus reached," said a top YankeeNets executive who requested anonymity. "This happens time and time again with these guys." Yesterday, the YankeeNets executive said owners were split on whether signing Mourning had been a mistake. Some say the team had to sign Mourning to guarantee Kidd's return. Others said the signing was a risk that a team hemorrhaging money should not have taken. "It was a bold personnel move," said Rosenfeld, the sports insurance specialist. "The Nets gambled there would not be a problem and they lost the gamble." story link........
Another article...looks like you were wrong. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nets-mourningcontract&prov=ap&type=lgns Nets had no insurance for Mourning's contract By TOM CANAVAN, AP Sports Writer November 26, 2003 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Nets will have to pay Alonzo Mourning $22.6 million over the next four years because they were unable to insure the guaranteed contract due to the center's kidney disease. Nets president Rod Thorn said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Nets are responsible for the payments to Mourning, who earlier this week left the game because his illness worsened. The seven-time All-Star center needs a kidney transplant. The added financial burden comes just months after the Nets spent $25 million to $30 million to buy out the contract of center Dikembe Mutombo, who spent one disappointing, injury-marred season with the team. Thorn said the financial burden would not be an obstacle to selling the team. ``Everyone who is trying to buy the team is well aware of the situation,'' Thorn said when asked if Mourning's illness might make the team harder to sell. YankeeNets, the sports conglomerate that runs the Nets, has received four bids for the team, reportedly ranging from $250 million to $275 million. Thorn said the Nets cannot remove Mourning from their salary cap until July 2005, at the earliest. New Jersey is going to have to pay more than $10 million in luxury taxes because of its salary cap problems. Updated on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2003 7:15
