Classic Card – Divac & Worthy
January 16, 2009 by Evil E
This card raises several questions…
by Mike Kenny
After staring at this card for 24 hours straight, I have several questions:
a) Is that really the training room of the Los Angeles Lakers, arguably the proudest and most affluent franchise in professional basketball? It looks like the athletic director’s office at Lakeside Technical High School.
b) Why is James Worthy, and not, say, the trainer for the L.A. Lakers, taping up the ankles of Vlade Divac?
Vlade Divac & James Worthy, 1993-94 Upper Deck
c) What is James Worthy wearing? Are those gold khakis? It looks like he’s been at his 9-5 job all day at Orange County Communications, walked into the locker room around 6:15, took off his shirt and tie which revealed a Lakers jersey he recently purchased at Champs Sports, and mysteriously began taping the ankles of his Serbian teammate.
d) Why is Vlade Divac smiling like that? What is he up to? I just don’t trust that guy.
e) What would somebody have to pay me to touch the feet of Vlade Divac without wearing seven pairs of latex gloves?
It’s time for answers. Back of the card, explain:
In order to survive in the NBA, every team and player must be fully prepared for each night’s battle.
Okay. But is there more than one way in which a player must prepare for battle?
Each player has to prepare themselves in several ways.
Gotcha.
They must be prepared mentally, which is something they have to do on their own.
Vlade Divac: Hey James, I was wondering…Can you do me a solid and help me prepare for tonight’s battle mentally?
James Worthy: What do I look like, the Horse Whisperer? Damn fool — preparing mentally is something you have to do on your own! I can’t tape up your brain!
Other preparations, such as taping, sometimes requires the help of teammates.
Divac: Oh, alright. My bad. But hey — would you mind taping up my ankles?
Worthy: What? Where the hell is the trainer?
Divac: He’s uh, massaging Van Exel’s groin.
Worthy: Geez! Fifteen guys on this team and that freakin’ dude needs his groin massaged every two seconds. My groin ain’t feeling too great either ya’ know, but I got two hands! (Starts furiously pounding his groin with his fists…) Gimmie that tape.
These final preparations not only help the individual, but also the team, as it generates team unity and teamwork.
Divac: Ya’ know James, I really feel like this experience is bringing us closer together as teammates.
Worthy: Man, shut the hell up.
Did you know?
Flopping does a number on the ankles.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Mike Kenny was born and raised in NJ, but recently moved to Arizona where he is now a contributing sports columnist to a weekly newspaper in Glendale. His blog — MikeKenny.blogspot.com — contains his weekly columns, other “stuff,†plus a wide array of more classic cards. Tell him what you think, or submit your own classic NBA card at: mkenny59@hotmail.com.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
You have a lot Lakers stuff on your site Evil
and I am suprised as hell! I am in shock! 
Wow Evil E thanks for linking that Divac tribute video that was really nice to see. I always felt like Divac was one of the most underrated players in the league. 13, 9, and 4 never told the real story with him. He was like a point-center. It was probably him and Sabonis who did as good of a job as anyone could hope to do on Shaq in his prime. You could just tell that the Kings loved playing with him. He needs to have kids that grow up and play in the NBA, we need another Divac!!
you’re welcome man. Here’s another Vlade tribute that’s in a similar style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPHIT61FfU
Haha, I loved the stares, the straight faces, and the PLEADING for those calls, too! I have tried to bring up the possibility of Divac getting into the Hall of Fame a few times and no one really wants to entertain the possibility. Does anyone think he has a chance?
He probably wouldn’t get in as an NBA Player, although he is one of 3 players with 13,000pts, 9,000rebs, 3,000asts, and 1,500blks – the other 2 being two scrubs named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon. However, the Basketball HOF lets players in for International Accomplishments as well. Vlade doesn’t have the european accolades that Drazen had, but his teams did win the World Basketball Championship twice (including a victory over Pierce’s “Dream Team”), along with one bronze in a WBC, and he has 2 Olympic Silver Medals. Also, three Eurobasket golds and 2 Eurobasket Bronzes.
The real reason that I think he should be considered is because to my knowledge he was the first guy to actually make the leap from Europe to the NBA and to have success. This opened the gates for Kukoc, Radja, Petrovic, and for Sabonis to finally come over here and play. So, although he probably isn’t the greatest euro ever (that would have to be Drazen or Dirk, both HOFers, btw), I feel like he should get Basketball Hall of Fame consideration for being somewhat of a pioneer. He’s like the Plato of European basketball, before him, none of this was even a consideration. Now it seems like we have as many Euros taken in the NBA draft as college seniors. In this way Divac’s impact has been huge.
If he didn’t come over and had the success that he did teams would’ve been very leery about drafting euros and the big european stars would’ve been very reluctant to leave their european superstar status behind for the NBA.
I say Vlade deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame!!!
Good stuff ej.
I believe that Divac, Petrovic, and Sarunas Marciulionis were all rookies in the same season, so they all deserve some credit for the influx of foreign players. Of those 3, you could argue that Sarunas made the biggest impact as a rookie, so make sure you give him his props.
I think what hurts Divac’s case for the HOF is that he only made 1 All-star team. I’m guessing that most HOFers have multiple All-star appearances. The points you bring up are very valid tho, so he should definitely get more consideration.
oh yeah… am I the only one who misses Dino freakin’ Radja?!?!
That is true, I forgot all about Sarunas Marciulionis! My memory of this period is not entirely accurate, until I just looked it up I thought Divac was a rookie for LA in “91 when they met MJ in the finals, but in reality he was in the league one year before that. Also, I was shocked to see that Riley didn’t coach LA in “91 when they went to the finals. Wow. Coulda sworn he was still the coach.
I still contend that Divac was the original visible euro. Sarunas scoring 12ppg for a 37 win team isn’t exactly something to get overly excited about and Drazen’s stuggles and frustrations about not getting off the bench in Portland were well documented. Drazen was a legend – he had a freaking Spanish Language Commodore 64 game made in his likeness – yet couldn’t even get into games for Portland and we all know that dude could ball.
Divac starting for a team in LA featuring Magic Johnson and playing against Michael Jordan in the finals? THAT is what these guys needed. Divac played great in the playoffs and the finals, scoring 10 straight LA points during one stretch against the Bulls all while hilariously being the most obvious chain smoker in the NBA.
A few years later we’d see Kukoc, Dino, and the legend himself Sabonis give it a go, along with Sarunas having a couple good years and Petrovic establishing himself as an absolute force. Maybe Divac should get in as a contributor if not a player, although he does have a lot of Olympic and WBC bling to go along with a pretty good NBA career. It’s been four years since he retired and I still miss him! ha!
Also, Dino – not good times for my Celts but he definitely had some nifty post moves. To this day I can still occasionally be seen breaking out the patented Dino Radja up-and-under when I attempt to ball.
That ish was hilarious, well done.
My favorite part of this card is the use of the nonexistent word “its’” in the third line from the bottom. Way to be, Upper Deck.
Nice catch. The whole card creation/ layout/ text/ editing process intrigues me.