To this day, Chris Webber said it was hard saying no to Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas, his boyhood idols from the Pistons' championship era. It was hard to say no last summer, when Webber was a free agent making up his mind about where he might spend the rest of his career.

Webber is still a Sacramento King. How serious he was about becoming a Piston or Indiana Pacer isn't certain, but the Kings' $122-million contract offer prevailed in the end, much to the delight of the team and the city.

Webber, a former star at Birmingham Detroit Country Day and Michigan, said he wasn't man enough to tell Dumars face-to-face that he wasn't coming back home, so he left a message.

"It was the hardest thing," Webber admitted. "My father (Mayce) always says be a man, but I didn't want to call personally. He understood. He said as a player, (he could) understand. As director of the Pistons, he was disappointed and upset, but he knows how I feel about my basketball home, and he just wished me the best.

"He's a great person and there was no song and dance. He knew I grew up loving him and he helped me while I was at Michigan. He and Isiah respected my decision and encouraged me."