Vin does not concede his career is over. Read bottom of this article: March 8, 2005, 12:21AM Baker's latest battle: more playing time Bouts with alcohol, despair give ex-All-Star perspective, but he longs for action By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES ROCKETS Q&A Chronicle writer Jonathan Feigen takes your questions about the Rockets. Send your questions here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE STANDINGS Team W L PCT GB San Antonio 54 19 .740 --- Dallas 50 24 .676 4.5 Houston 44 31 .587 11 Memphis 41 32 .562 13 New Orleans 18 55 .247 36 As of Apr 6 2005 9:41 a.m. CT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMING UP Thursday: at LA Lakers, 9:30 p.m. TV/Radio: Listings; KILT (610 AM) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROCKETS BY THE NUMBERS • Schedule • Movements • Roster • Depth chart • Chronicle story archive • Live NBA scores at a glance • NBA Playoffs 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE PICKS • Writers & readers: Predictions for '04-'05 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEATTLE - If Vin Baker pretended he was comfortable sitting and watching, he would be lying. He has done enough of that over the years. For all he has been through, all he has given up in a career that gave him so much, Baker has not changed in every respect. Part of Baker, once an All-Star and an Olympian back when U.S. Olympians were still called Dream Teamers and came home wearing gold medals, is still itching to get back on the court with the ball in his large, soft hands. He is different, though. That's what he keeps hearing. He looks different. Thinner. Younger. The puffiness in his face is gone. A smile has replaced the scowl. He thinks differently, too. Now with the Rockets, Baker yearns to play, but at the same time he knows there are much greater battles to wage than the one with patience. Mostly, he lives differently. His fights with depression and alcoholism are not won, only because they never end. But he says he is winning. And after all the issues that have kept him off the court, Baker still knows about winning. "There's so many things I've gone through and been able to fight through in my personal life, in my professional life, it's easy to have perspective," Baker said. "But at the same time, I want to be on the floor. When I leave the court, leave the gym every day, I look at my averages and say, 'Gosh, how did I get here?' " Origin of decline If Baker could forget how he went from front and center to the end of the Rockets' bench — and he can't — he'd get a reminder tonight. Though he left Seattle after the 2001-02 season, he has been back just once. He played, coming off the bench. He doesn't really remember much about the game. But he said visiting Seattle tonight would be special — and not for the reasons players usually find in games against their former teams. It all happened here, the best and worst of his career. Baker was an All-Star forward with the Bucks from 1995-97. Then, after he was traded to the SuperSonics, he moved up to All-NBA second team in 1998. In 1999, he began binge drinking and started to fall into a downward spiral. When Baker was traded from the Sonics to the Celtics in July 2002, the thinking was that a return to the East Coast (he had played collegiately at Hartford) and the support of his family would help. But his two seasons in Boston were filled with alcohol dependency and emotional breakdowns. Baker broke down in tears on the bench and in a practice. He checked into Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut for rehabilitation, but soon after his return to the Celtics, he began drinking again. When Boston voided his contract in February 2004, Baker filed a grievance, reaching a settlement under which the Celtics will pay him $5.3 million for three seasons. The Knicks signed Baker that March and again last summer. In explaining their willingness to give Baker another chance, New York president Isiah Thomas cited his brother's alcoholism, and team CEO James Dolan spoke of his alcohol dependency. Baker cried at the news conference. When he got to Houston, he could not stop smiling. "I have been through some things," Baker said. "I went through alcoholism for a while. I got down on myself. There are 18 million Americans that have been through it. But I've been through rehabilitation. I attend meetings. Those are things I work on constantly in my personal life that get me prepared to come play every day." Asked how long he has remained sober, Baker said: "One day. I don't count. We learn that every day you start over." He has also learned that success in that arena is greater, more vital. But it does not seem to satisfy completely. Seattle is a reminder not just of where his career went wrong but of the kind of player he once was. "When he was at his best, he was a hard cover one-on-one inside," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He had explosive athletic ability, high release, good hands, was a very good rebounder. A very hard guy to guard. He can't be what he was in his prime. That doesn't mean he can't be effective. It's been a long time. How much is left? He believes a lot. I don't know." Like a rookie again As far removed as Baker seems from that prime — he averaged as many as 21.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for a season — it really wasn't that long ago. "It's very difficult," said Baker, who scored two points in his only game as a Rocket so far after averaging 1.4 in 24 games with the Knicks this season. "In your mind and in your heart, you feel like you're the player you were, that you could do some things on the floor. That you can help your team, especially coming from the situation I came from, from 1989 in college on up. I was always thought of as an unheralded player. I had to scratch and claw to become an All-Star and an Olympian. "Now, at 33, it takes me back to where I was in 1993 (as a rookie). I've got to continue to fight to get respect and get back on the floor. It's not an egotistical thing with me. It's more that I've been here before. Now I've got to work my way back." To Baker, who has played all of six minutes as a Rocket since he was acquired on Feb. 24, he will not be all the way back until he is on the court. Surplus at power forward As the fourth power forward on a team that usually plays no more than two, Baker might continue to find playing time scarce. After the trade with the Knicks — made largely so the Rockets could dump Maurice Taylor's contract — Van Gundy made it clear he had an established rotation at power forward. But the more Baker spoke of how far he has come, the more he seemed to want — and need — to take those remaining steps. "There's always a burning desire in me," Baker said. "As much as I can put things in perspective, there's a huge part of me that wants to be out there. I study the game. I study every night when I sit there watching, like, 'I can do this. I would have done that.' I don't think that will ever leave me. "With my family and my children, things will always be put in perspective now. I've been blessed to have overcome and to have fought through a lot of things in my personal life ... I have great people around me. But the basketball part of me wants to be on the floor."
I don't like to hear it either but I totally understand. The Rockets legs are dead and they are hurt. It makes you not even want to watch them go down further the rest of the season. Very little faith, if any, remains after what I have seen the last 3 games.
i would be content and putting things in perspective if i had all that damn time sitting on the bench making a couple million dollars.
Howard was never the solution at the 4. And this team still has issues at the point. JVG has been great in bringing in savvy veterns to patch up the holes, but clearly it was a patch job to save his job more then building a contender. He did get rid of heavy contracts like Mo Taylor which is always good. Not sure what we'll get in the off season...but we still have a playoff run to see what are problems are. Personally, I bought into the hype and starting believing this team was a contender....but ya know, I really have to say that the win streaks never truly convinced me. It's still to early to write this team off as not going far, because if Yao is dominant and T-mac plays well, that could snowball into something. Without Howard, this team loses 2-3%, which isn't a helluva lot, but enough to make a difference....still shouldn't make a difference in the first round. I mean, we're talking about JUWON HOWARD!!!!!!
Im sorry to say.. but it sounds like we're screwed. I would love to be proven wrong, but it looks like we've gotta look to next year now.
Compared to the alternatives. JH is to what we have left at the 4 what YM is to Shawn Bradley. It is all relative.
Even dumber than crying out in an endless rabid rage "Fire Gundy!!!!"? Your opinion and credability here are worth nothing.
Voluntarily giving up a playoff spot is freakin r****ded no matter what. The Rockets have played badly for one week and some peopel are ready to give up on the season?!?!
Everything was clicking for the Rockets. They beat some of the best the league had to offer, a lot on the road, nonetheless. Juwan Howard may not be the ideal 4 for this squad, but the fact remains, he was really starting to pick it up as of late, before he went down. Also, Weatherspoon and Paddget COMBINED isn't HALF of what Juwan Howard is. Houston, yes, we have a problem.
i thought we ought to know this few weeks ago? apparently SINA.com.cn didn't make this up for April fool.
"I’m closing up - I’m closing in Couldn’t wait for this moment to come Couldn’t wait for this day to begin Won’t be afraid - go so much pride And I’ve never been a loser And I just can’t lose tonight Winning it all -ain’t gonna walk away Giving it all - no matter what you say Ain’t gonna fall - don’t wanna lose today Winning it all This time it’s right - my time has come Gonna give everything that I’ve got Till it’s over and victory’s won No second chance - no giving up Because no one remembers a loser And I don’t intend to be one"
Well, at least Spoon hasn't been absolutely terrible. It will be one hell of a story when we win the title.
The important question is, what is Tim Duncans status regarding his injury? I am sure the Spurs are more scared of playing the rockets minus Juwan Howard than the Rockets are to playin Spurs without Tim Duncan.
Aren't you the guy who can't stop talking about the pooper in the Hangout? Why don't you worry about your own issues before you give the team advice? (Especially when it tends toward the homophobic.) JBII was right on. This team, which sometimes looks like a contender, which sometimes looks so deep, shouldn't have such a hard time losing a role player, whether it's Howard or Sura or whomever. We don't just need an upgrade at the 4 (though we do). We need our superstars to be superstars. And we need our deep bench to complement. James, Barry, Sura, Wesley, even Padgett and the rest, play big when the big guys play big. Same as it was in the improbable championship years. The thing with this team is, as it has been over the Francis years too, our guys get up for the tough games and fall down for the gimmes. I expect the playoffs to be a whole other deal for us. Of course, I expect it more if we can hold 6. I don't feel good at all about starting at 7. If we can start with the Sonics we can upset and ride a wave. This team is schizophrenic. If they get the juice, they can keep going. We start against a serious contender like the Spurs or the Suns and we're dead in the water. At this point, I don't fear the loss of Howard, I don't fear the Sonics, I don't fear the Kings, I don't fear the Grizzlies. I fear only the Nuggets. If we deserve to be in the playoffs at all, they're the only team to fear cause they're the only team that can make us play a 1 or 2 seed. And that's the only way we go out fast without a ******* good fight.
