THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9506220650
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Capel was introducing Kenny Gattison of the Charlotte Hornets to a couple hundred basketball campers Wednesday afternoon when he paused to add one final comment:
``Hopefully,'' Capel said, turning to smile at Gattison, ``he'll remain with the Charlotte Hornets.''
It doesn't seem likely. Gattison, the former ODU star, has been left unprotected by the Hornets and could have a new home north of the border very soon. Saturday, to be specific, when the NBA conducts its expansion draft to stock the rosters of the new Toronto and Vancouver franchises.
Gattison is one of four Hornets exposed in the draft and has more service in Charlotte - seven years - than the other three combined.
But Gattison, 31, says he learned long ago not to take these things personally.
``It's business,'' he said after speaking at Capel's camp. ``They pay you a lot of money to do a job. Like any other company, you can get transferred.''
That doesn't mean you have to like it. Gattison, a native of Wilmington, N.C., has built a home in Charlotte and feels comfortable there. He joined the team when it was an expansion also-ran and appears to be leaving just when it has a chance of contending in the Eastern Conference.
``I've been through the expansion thing with Charlotte and I really don't want to go through that again,'' he said. ``But if I'm selected, I'll go play. And the only way I know how to play is all-out.''
Gattison has never been the type of player you see on those ``I Love This Game'' TV spots, the ones where everybody's jamming and juking and mugging with courtside celebs. His career scoring average is just under eight points per game.
But Gattison could probably make an instructional tape on the underappreciated arts of boxing out, playing solid defense and taking the high-percentage shot, which is why he's lasted eight years in the league.
``The reason I keep my job is I know what I'm doing,'' he told the campers. ``It's that simple. I know how to play the game.
``Clyde Drexler is a 911 Turbo Porsche,'' he added. ``I'm a pickup truck.''
A pickup that needed some extensive body work recently, after a collision with another large vehicle, Michael Cage of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cage, 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, and Gattison, 6-8 and 250, were scrapping for a rebound Nov. 15 when a Cage elbow caught Gattison in the head, hyperextending his neck.
The initial fear was that Gattison's career could be over. The blow sprained his spinal cord. He had to have surgery to repair a ruptured disk, fuse his fourth and fifth vertebrae and shave a bone spur that was pressuring his spinal cord.
Gattison was grateful it wasn't worse and was prepared to walk away from basketball, if need be. But surgery and rehab went well, and he was back in a Charlotte uniform March 16, less than two months after surgery.
``The toughest part was mental - you're talking about a spinal-cord injury,'' Gattison said. ``Was I going to be able to mentally get back to playing the way I did before?''
Gattison answered the question when he returned to practice as his old self - banging and bumping with the other Charlotte big men.
``They were more worried about it than I was,'' he said. ``They were like, `You all right? Your head's not going to snap off, is it?' ''
Gattison's head has always been firmly attached to his shoulders. Which is why he's not holding out false hope of remaining in Charlotte.
The other Hornets dangling in the draft are Robert Parish, who at 41 is probably too old to be selected; Michael Adams, who is too old, too small and too expensive; and David Wingate, who, like Gattison, could be headed out of the Sun Belt to the Great White North.
Gattison has two years remaining on his contract and would like to play three more after that. Playing for an expansion club could be a career-extender, he said.
``I've been trying to think of some positives,'' he added, with a laugh.
Here's one. Over a long Canadian winter, a pickup is more valuable than a Porsche, eh? ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTO
``The reason I keep my job is . . . I know how to play the game,''
says Kenny Gattison, a valued commodity in the NBA at age 31.
by CNB