Wednesday, February 23, 2011

"Frederic Weis," or "The Guy Vince Carter Dunked Over"



Timofey Mozgov's name has come up a lot this week. The Knicks were reluctant to part with the 7'1 Russian center, but eventually caved under the pressure of acquiring Carmelo Anthony just before the trade deadline. Mozgov may develop into a great player one day, but he will always be remembered for that one fateful second in which he tried to stand up to Blake Griffin. Griffin left the floor, curled his left arm around the back of Mozgov's head, and proceeded to direct it towards his groin area. All while throwing down a ferocious slam.
No matter what Mozgov accomplishes in the NBA, that will be his legacy. The first and probably not last person to get Blake Griffin's nuts planted squarely in his face.
Frederic Weis, the 7'2 French center, received a similarly embarrassing fate in the 2000 Olympics (shown above). Fortunately for Weis, this came before the "instant news" era of the Internet and at least saved his name from being remembered infamously. Instead, we got to see the Vince Carter's dunk on every Sportscenter highlight reel of the summer over "some 7'2 French guy."
Interestingly enough, Weis was actually drafted 15th overall in the 1999 draft by the Knicks the summer before the Olympics. He underwent back surgery before getting drafted and credits his injuries as the reason why he never made it to the NBA. The Knicks traded Weis' rights to the Rockets in 2008 for no other than Patrick Ewing, Jr. Who says the Knicks were irrelevant the last decade?
Weis peaked in 1999 with French club Limoges, averaging 13 points and 7 rebounds a game. He was priased for his good hands and footwork, and was thought to be the second coming of Zydrunas Ilgauskus.
Weis had played professionaly for five years with Limoges before being selected by the Knicks, and then opted for a year of basketball in Greece instead of the NBA. He spent the last decade playing basketball professionaly in Spain, and has returned to Limoges to play this year.
Weis isn't much of a factor anymore, playing only 12 minutes a game and averaging a paltry 1.8 points per game. He's 33 years old and likely near the end of his career.
When asked in 2005 if being remembered for the Vince Carter dunk bothered him, he responded, "Why? I didn't do anything. It was just him doing something incredible. I can only imagine...If he jumped over me, he can jump over anybody! If people laugh, I laugh too. At least I can say I once played against him."
Isn't that a great attitude to have? It's not that Weis was bad, Carter was just that good. There's only so many special talents out there, the rest of us are either witnesses, or in the way.
I'm interested in hearing what Mozgov has to say about Griffin's dunk in ten years.

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