| | PORTLAND, Ore. -- The death of Charlotte Hornets player Bobby Phills made it a bittersweet day for his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs were stunned to hear about the car crash that killed
Phills, who spent his first six NBA seasons in Cleveland. But the
team's spirits were lifted by the birth of teammate Danny Ferry's
third child earlier Wednesday.
"At least we had some good news," said Cavs' media relations
director Bob Price.
Tiffany Ferry gave birth to an 8-pound, 1-ounce girl, Sophia
Bryn, Wednesday morning. She and her husband have two other
daughters. Danny Ferry, who is on the injured list with a strained
left calf, remained in Cleveland and will join the team sometime
during its seven-game road trip.
Even with that happy event, the Cavs' locker room was somber,
although Bob Sura and Ferry are the only team members who played
with Phills, who signed with Charlotte as a free agent following
the 1996-97 season.
"Bobby's one of the best people you could be around, and he
really tried to help others out," said Sura, a teammate of Phills'
during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. "It's a tough day for
people who were close to him. He was such a good guy.
"It's so unexpected. We just feel bad for his family and his
kids who have to grow up without having him around."
Sura said it was tough for the Cavaliers to focus on basketball.
"It's a tough night for me, having been one of the only guys to
have been around him when he was here," he said. "It just makes
you realize that basketball is such a small part of what life is
about."
First-year coach Randy Wittman, who played against Phills as a
member of the Indiana Pacers earlier this decade, said Phills was
an uncommonly good person.
"Let's forget what Bobby Phills was as a basketball player.
It's what he was as a man and the good things that he brought,"
Wittman said. "I think anybody that has ever associated or touched
by Bobby considered him a friend, a guy that would give the shirt
off his back for you. It's tragic that his life was cut short.
"As I told our team today after hearing the news, it's time to
take a step back and realize how precious life is, and that we
don't live it on our terms. At any time, you just never know when
your time comes." | |
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