Sacramento Kings - Billy Owens and Mitch Richmond

Oh the irony of these two players. Lets start with Billy Owens. The player from Syracuse, who in 1991 was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 3rd over-all pick. Well, during this time, the Kings were a very horrible club, a team that struggled to win and always resided in the cellar of the Pacific Division… Well Billy Owens was too good for that. So instead of trying to carve a name for him self and helping a club that could really use his services, he held out and "refused" to play for the lowly Kings.

At the same time, one of the up and coming teams, an exciting team at that, were the Golden State Warriors. Coached by Don Nelson and featuring the high octane offense of Run TMC -- T as in Tim Hardaway, M as in Mitch Richmond, and C as in Chris Mullin. So Don Nelson saw this situation and made an offer that the Kings would not refuse. Run TMC would be disbanded and the Warriors would send the 'Rock' Mitch Richmond (along with Les Jepsen and a draft pick which would become Tyus Edny) to Sacramento in exchange for Billy Owens' rights, where Mitch would quietly become a star on a poor team and Billy Owens would battle injuries.

I guess the irony lies in that Billy Owens would end up in Sacramento (at the expense of Walt Williams *cry*). The Kings did make the playoffs that season but were promptly dismissed by the eventual Western Conference Champions. This would be the last time Billy Owens sniffed the playoffs and Mitch Richmond would piggy back his way to a ring in Los Angeles at the twilight of his career.

Houston Rockets - Sam Cassell

Here we have a legit replica Sam Cassell Houston Rockets jersey. I picked this up in Traverse City in the fall of 1994 while vacationing up north. One of the things I enjoyed doing as a high school youth, was to travel to various shopping malls while looking for jerseys. I had already got an Olajuwon and Vernon Maxwell Rockets jersey but the only obscure jerseys this mall had were a bunch of Rockets players. I guess it wasn't too unusual as they had just won the championship. They had a good selection. Of course they had Hakeem, as well as Thorpe, Maxwell, Smith, Horry, and Cassell. I was most interested in Horry and Cassell. I purchased this Cassell jersey because I had never seen it prior. So there you have it. Sam Cassell would play for many teams and bring success to where ever he landed but it was only recently would he realize something that has eluded him since his first two seasons… another championship ring. It was a good matching for Boston and Sam last season as his arrival solidified the point guard position and also gave Rajon Rondo some veteran partnership…

Shawn Kemp - Seattle Supersonics

I originally bought this back in 1994 at a shop in the Detroit area. When I was in high school, my goal was to have at least one jersey of all 27 teams (in the early 90's there were only 27 NBA teams in the league). I generally would buy replicas because they were cheaper and they were easier to find. BUT some exceptions had to be made. The Sonics were one of them. The replica Sonics jerseys lacked the banner across the jersey which would feature the team name as well as the player name on the back. So I wanted an authentic Sonics jersey to retain the essence of the jersey. So I found this a a sports card shop and the price, $124.99! I broke down and made the purchase. At the time, I had a job so I was able to spend that money and I did. I still have this jersey today and it does fit a bit tight, I bought my jerseys at size 44 back then and moved up to size 48 after I graduated high school, but I can still fit in it ok and wear it on occasion. The thing with authentics, is that Champion only made "star" players where with replicas, pretty much the whole team was available!

Pervis Ellison - Washington Bullets

Pervis Ellison - Champion 48

That's the shit. Really, it is. Of all the Bullets jerseys you see out there (Howard, Sheed, Unseld, Webber), this is probably the funniest. And you know I had to find it.

I wasn't even sure if it was made, but chances were it was released, since Pervis was a pretty high draft pick (1st in 1989). Once I finally found it on Ebay it went this way for about 15 dollar. Pretty nice bargain if you ask me.

Back to Pervis as a player, he was the first pick in one of the weaker drafts of recent decennia by the Sacramento Kings. Nicknamed "Never Nervous", Ellison entered the league injured and never really was able to shake them. Teammate Danny Ainge once nicknamed him Pervis "Out of Service" which should tell you something.

Other names in this 89 draft include the top five picks Danny Ferry, Sean Elliot, Glen Rice and JR Reid. Sean and Glen? Good. JR and Danny? Not so much. After that you had Stacey King, George McCloud, Randy White, Tom Hammonds, Pooh Richardson (all top 10), Dana Barros, BJ Armstrong (competes for Worst All Star ever with Jamaal Magloire, and soon Jilian) etc.

The few names who did actually impress were Mookie Blaylock (#12), Tim Hardaway (#14), Shawn Kemp (#17), Vlade Divac (#26), Cliff Robinson (early 2nd round) and Dino Radja (mid 2nd round).

Funny thing is, if this class would have been the draft class today, the latter names would probably make up the first lottery selections while the 'sure shot' top 10 would end up out of the top 10, with the exception of Elliot and Rice. The NBA's love for prospects and European talent clearly wasn't that big back then.

I should probably also mention one of the last picks of this draft was Haywoode Workman, NBA journey man, servicable G for the Pacers and currently NBA referee.

Well this Pervis Ellison post turned out to be more about the '89 draft than it was about the player himself, but I guess it kind of sums up this man's carreer. He did actually win the Most Improved Player award in '91-'92, one of the two seasons in which he kind of played like a first overall pick (20 points, 11 rebounds, 2.6 blocks). Knee problems just ruined his career, which actually did last for about 11 seasons, in which he played for the Kings, Bullets, Celtics and Sonics.

He currently lives in New Jersey where he coaches both basketball teams and the football team his son plays for. Pervis must have loved his tenure with the Sonics; he named one of his children 'Seattle'.

Gary Payton - Seattle Supersonics

Gary Payton - Champion 48

I am a nba fan for many years and a jersey maniac too. A couple of years ago i bought tons of them and had to sell them to keep my marriage standing lol . I kept only the special ones and i'm going to write something about them from time to time.

As I began watching the nba in the late 80ties i am a bit nostalgic about that time and most of the jerseys of my personal collection are from that period.

This is the first one and one of my all time favourite jerseys. A Gary Payton champion authentic, i love the colours and style of the jersey. It also reminds me of the spectacular team they had.

I paid approx 100 dollars for it and it kept its value.

Gary payton was known for (trash) talking all the time but was a pretty good player. I remember an interview with Perkins I believe were he told that sometimes even his teammates told him to shut up because they were getting crazy. The Glove as he was nicknamed was a real thief on the court but scored and distributed the ball well too.

Shawn Respert - Milwaukee Bucks

Shawn Respert - Champion 48

Another one I was looking for. Shawn Respert came into the league (8th pick in 1995 draft) as a high profile scorer, and never quite lived up to the lofty expectation people had for him. He was out of the league within a few (4) years and the Bucks picked Ray Allen in a later draft.

Respert bounced from the Bucks to the Raptors, Mavs and Suns and was waived by the Lakers around 2000 without even playing a game for them. Only in 2005 he admitted he suffered from stomach cancer while playing for the Bucks. He never told it before because he "did not want to make an excuse, even if it was cancer."

Talk about a warrior. He currently works as the director of player development in the NBDL, and has played a few seasons of professional ball in Italy.

I found this jersey on Ebary for a very nice price, around 7 dollar iirc. Really happy with it, as I found it pretty quickly after I decided I wanted it. He's one of those players who make for a beautiful story while most people actually forget about him.

Read more about Resperts struggle with cancer here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=1962444

Michael Smith - Sacramento Kings

Michael Smith - Champion 48

I'll start off with a pretty rare one. Most people won't remember the player Michael Smith but he was a servicable player for the Kings in their Richmond days. He was a second round pick in the very deep 1994 draft and averaged over 9 rebounds in his third year in the league. He couldn't hit a free throw to save his live though as he hit only 53% over his career.

After the Kings he played for the Grizzlies and Wizards before dissapearing from the NBA. For some reason I always thought he'd have a decent NBA career, but his only lasted seven seasons tallying over 3000 rebounds and 2500 points.

I just kind of stumbled upon this jersey while browsing Ebay listings. That's the beauty of Ebay, you can find stuff you didn't even know excisted. This one ran me about 8 dollar excluding shipping. Really nice jersey for really not much money, seeing I'm a fiend for obscure jerseys.

Anybody who knows what he does nowadays?