Christie's next step may be retirement
After ankle evaluation, likelihood increases that Mavs guard will quit
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 23, 2005
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
The Doug Christie experiment might be over.
Owner Mark Cuban said Christie is evaluating his options after having his surgically repaired left ankle re-examined by his doctor in Seattle. Retirement appears to be increasingly likely for Christie.
The Mavericks expect to know something concrete within the next couple of days.
"He talked with his doctor and he said the ankle is OK, but it's not perfect," Cuban said Tuesday. "So Doug is trying to decide what he wants to do. He'll either decide to rehab it or go a different direction."
The Mavericks signed Christie to a four-year contract, but only the first year is guaranteed (for $3.15 million). It was a relatively small price to pay for the chance to have a healthy Christie.
Asked what his gut feeling was on Christie, Cuban said: "Doug's a quiet guy. It's hard to tell."
Coach Avery Johnson said the Mavericks "just got to move forward until we figure out that situation." Christie's agent, Bradley Marshall, did not return phone calls.
Christie was not able to play to his liking while starting the first seven games, averaging 3.7 points and shooting 34.6 percent. He was allowed to return home to Seattle to recheck the ankle in which had bone spurs removed this year.
The absence of Jerry Stackhouse has left the Mavericks thin at shooting guard. If Christie retires, they may search for another player – not Latrell Sprewell, Cuban and Johnson said. There's a long list of shooting guards in numerous locales. Among them is Jason Sasser, who was in the Mavericks' camp last year.
Stackhouse biding his time: Jerry Stackhouse suffered some swelling again in his right knee and is not expected to practice anytime soon. The slow-to-heal knee bruise is starting to frustrate Stackhouse, he said.
"It's a little embarrassing walking out there to the crowd with a suit on every game," he said. "We just haven't been getting the response we're hoping for as far as the healing of the bruise. It just pushes it back a bit."
Said Avery Johnson: "We don't have a timetable. I'm concerned, and he's a little concerned. The body has to be able to repair itself. It's just not repairing itself as quick as Stack or the coach wants it to."
Stackhouse bruised his knee in the first preseason game. It has swelled whenever he has pushed it.
"If I take a chance now and I jam it or do something, it's more susceptible to go back to ground zero," he said.
