The Dice Man Returneth

By Jeramie McPeek, Suns.com
Updated: Jan. 7, 2003

"Is this a joke?"

After being traded three times earlier in his NBA career, Antonio McDyess wasn't too surprised when he got the news from Knicks President Isiah Thomas that he had been dealt once again Monday morning. When he found out that he was headed back to Phoenix, however, it took more than a few moments to sink in.

"Isiah called me at like 8 in the morning and told me he had some devastating news for me," he said in an exclusive interview with Suns.com late Monday night. "But I didn't find it too devastating (laughs). In my mind, I was like, 'Okay! I'm going home!'"

McDyess – who will make the move West along with guard Howard Eisley and rookie Maciej Lampe, in the trade that sent Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to New York – originally spent the '97-98 campaign in Phoenix after the Suns acquired him from Denver in another multiplayer deal. The plan then was to pair the 6-9 athletic forward with All-Star playmaker Jason Kidd, but plans quickly changed.

Following a successful season in which they won 56 games, McDyess stunned his teammates and the Suns' organization by choosing to re-sign with the Nuggets, who ironically had posted the worst record in the league during his year away.

Recruited by new friend and new Nuggets guard Nick Van Exel, and given some bad advice by others, including his own agent (now former agent, by the way), the then-24-year-old was convinced that he hadn't received the star treatment he deserved while in Phoenix.

"I was young and naïve, and got pushed into something that I think I should have made a decision about on my own," he admitted. "They were saying, 'You weren't getting enough minutes. The coach didn't like you as much as so and so.' And I fell for stuff like that. I didn't have anybody to guide me at that time as a young player, to look at the big picture and, you know, I got sucked in."

The bizarre story of McDyess' departure only begins there. Shortly after a somber CEO Jerry Colangelo held a press conference to announce the free agent's decision to leave the Valley for the Rockies, the Suns got a call from a distraught "Dice," who was having second thoughts.

"I remember stepping in the (Pepsi Center) and thinking 'This isn't right,'" McDyess said. "Tears came to my eyes and I called Rex (Chapman), and I called Jason, and I said, 'Man, I don't want to be here.' They said, 'You don't have to do anything you don't want to do,' and I was like, 'All right, c'mon.' And I sat there and waited, but nobody came. That was it."

After a couple hours of stalling, McDyess finally inked the contract with the Nuggets. He didn't find out until later, though, that Kidd and Chapman had actually chartered a flight to the Mile High City. Shivering in the snow outside the building, the two argued with a security guard, who informed them he had been ordered to keep them out.

And if Antonio had known his friends and teammates were in the parking lot outside?

"I probably would still be in Phoenix right now," he said with a laugh, realizing he is officially back in Phoenix now.

"You know, when you're young, you make mistakes and I kind of learned from my mistakes. But I used to sit back at home and say, 'I just can't believe I left Jason Kidd, Cliff Robinson' and those type players, a playoff status team."

Although he has yet to reach the postseason again, McDyess did achieve some success in his second stint in Denver. He averaged better than 20 points and 10 boards a game between 1999-2001, was named an NBA All-Star for the first time and won a gold medal with Team USA during the 2000 Olympics.

But then came the knee injury. Early in '01-02, McDyess fractured his left patella tendon and underwent surgery that ended his season and, eventually, his Nuggets career.

Denver dealt the healed-up forward to New York on Draft Night 2002 for the rights to Brazilian big man Nene Hilario. The Knicks had high hopes that his inside presence, added to the outside duo of Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, would equal a return to the playoffs.

A preseason game against the Suns at Madison Square Garden, though, saw him go down, as he once again fractured the tendon on a put-back dunk. A second major surgery wiped out a second straight year for McDyess, who finally returned to the court just last month.

"It's been really tough for me personally," he said. "It felt like someone had just taken my heart out and thrown it away. Loving basketball how I do and not having the opportunity to step on the court and play, it was real tough.

"I had friends and family that kind of got me through this, but half the time I was thinking like, 'My career is over. My career is over.' But I stuck with it and I kept going to rehab, kept working it hard and I finally got back."

Taking it slowly after returning to the Knicks' active roster, McDyess averaged 8.4 points, 6.6 boards and a cautious 23 minutes a night in his first 18 games. He showed flashes of his old self, though, recording 19 points and 10 boards in a mid-December game, and 14 and 11 in his most recent outing Sunday night.

The eight-year veteran will join his new teammates in Milwaukee, where they wrap-up their current four-game road trip against the Bucks.

"It's going to be good, especially if I come back to 100 percent," he said, noting he's particularly anxious to play with second-year forward Amaré Stoudemire. "You know, when I see Stoudemire play in that uniform, I've said, 'Man that was me when I played in Phoenix, running and dunking.'"

Of course, a lot's changed since McDyess last played in Phoenix. There's not a single player left from the '97-98 roster, with the exception of Chapman, who is now in the club's scouting department. But the newcomer is more than familiar with Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni, who was the head man in Denver the year he rejoined the Nuggets. "It's a thrill," he said. "I mean, I loved Mike D'Antoni when I was playing for him. He's a great guy, a great coach. When he was in Denver, I just feel he didn't get a chance to prove himself. Things happen, you know, but I'm just happy for him and I'm happy to join him, and be back on his team."

The Suns' coach is equally happy to be reunited with his former forward and even called him to catch up Monday afternoon before the Suns' game in Chicago. Now McDyess is just hopeful the fans in Phoenix, who gave him a hard time upon his first few return trips with the Nuggets, will take him back.

"I hope they welcome me back with open arms," he said. "If I can get back to 100 percent I'll remind them what Antonio McDyess used to be. I hope we have fun.

"No more boos."