TRENTON – All in all, it was not a good 24 hours for Chris Childs.
The 34-year-old back-up point guard, who was a midtown mugging victim Monday night, was suspended indefinitely without pay by the Nets yesterday “for failure to be in condition to play NBA basketball,” according to team president Rod Thorn.
Childs was informed of the team’s decision yesterday, 11 days after he met with Thorn who told him to lose weight. Thorn, who spoke with Childs again after a Monday weigh-in, declined to say how many pounds Childs needs to lose, only that he was “a lot heavier than his playing weight” of 205-210 pounds. But one source claimed Childs was 30 pounds overweight.
At least a yacht was not involved in all this.
Childs, in his second tour of duty with the Nets, battled alcohol problems in the past. After cleaning up his act and playing in the CBA, Childs was given a shot with the Nets. He played two seasons in New Jersey before signing as a free agent with the Knicks and doing 4½ seasons in Manhattan.
Childs reported to training camp out of shape and in a walking boot to support a sore right Achilles that he injured when he tried to hasten his rehab process. Childs had suffered the Achilles injury last season in Toronto and was in a support boot most of the summer. By his own admission he “tried to do too much” after getting out of the boot and aggravated his Achilles.
“Chris has been struggling with his conditioning. It’s just not getting better,” Thorn said before the Nets and Sixers played a pre-season game here last night. “I had a meeting with him on the 11th of October and we talked to him about his conditioning and where it needed to be. He agreed at that time that it needed to get better. He said it would and it didn’t. That precipitated [the suspension].”
For a pre-season game, Childs will lose 1/90th of his pay. Based on the two-year, $3.6 million free agent deal he signed Aug. 1, he will lose $19,444.44 per game.
Team captain Jason Kidd said the matter is “between management and Chris. I think Chris will work it out. As teammates, he’s a part of the family. We have to help him through this.”
Thorn said there was no decision to keep Childs away from the team, as the Knicks did with Latrell Sprewell, but the Nets exec did offer that “there is a possibility he won’t be with the team, that he may be working out elsewhere.” The Nets will decide today what action to take, whether Childs will be permitted back with the team or not.
Following their meeting earlier this month, the Nets prescribed a physical regimen for Childs to follow, which he was apparently doing. However, Thorn noted, “along with that you’ve got to have some disciplined eating habits which he wasn’t able to do.”
Just when you find Nirvana, someone cracks down on the jelly-donut diet.
The Nets maintain that they want Childs on the roster. Thorn was asked if the contract could be voided. And Thorn said, if necessary, the Nets would assess the possibility of replacing Childs, depending on what players become available.
“I don’t see that it could but we’ll have to see,” Thorn said. “I had a positive conversation with him today. He knows what he needs to do.”
It was not immediately know when or if Childs would appeal.