Warped Drive Caddy-loving Kings backup Scot Pollard plays hungry and thinks goofy

These are among the things that Kings backup forward-center Scot
Pollard loves:

--His white 1969 Cadillac convertible, which has 140,000 miles
on it. "When I bought it," Pollard says, "the color scheme was
black, green and rust."

--Any Christmas song crooned by Bing Crosby. "But only Christmas
songs," Pollard stresses. "Other than that, he sucked."

--The beds at the Westin in Indianapolis. "Three words: like a
womb."

These are among the things that he hates:

--The East Coast. "Ugly, short, fat, rude people," he says. "My
agent [Jeff Austin] lives there. He's not fat, but you could
describe him with the other three."

--People who are shocked by the fact that he has worn nail
polish on occasion. "I played horrible in red," Pollard says,
"but I was pretty good in silver."

--Anyone who's humorless enough to take him seriously.

You may have gathered by now that Pollard views the world from
an odd angle. As a senior at Kansas he wore a dress in a team
skit at Allen Fieldhouse but changed before grabbing a
microphone and proposing to his future wife, Mindy, in front of
the crowd attending the opening practice. "I'm one of those guys
who used to be crazy until I made a little money," Pollard says.
"Now I'm eccentric."

He shares some of his eccentricities with anyone who visits his
link at www.nba.com/kings, where every few weeks he riffs on
topics from Sacramento forward Peja Stojakovic's looks ("A cross
between Chachi and Potsie") to the coolest thing his
one-year-old daughter, Lolli, has done ("Learn to say poo-poo.
I'm proud to say I taught her that one"). Pollard's game is more
traditional: It's based on throwing his 6'11", 265-pound body
around. As a member of the Bench Mob, the Kings' valued set of
reserves, he has contributed in ways that aren't fully reflected
by his averages of 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds through Sunday.
"You never know what new hair color or one-liner he's going to
come up with," says guard Jon Barry. "The only thing you know is
that he's going to get serious at game time."

Pollard is so aggressive that his teammates have nicknamed him
the Butcher for his frequent hacks and chops. "I've spent my
whole life in foul trouble," Pollard says. "Sometimes you'll see
a guy hesitate to contest a shot because he doesn't want to pick
up his fourth or fifth foul. I'm not like that. I figure I'm a
bench guy anyway, so there's no sense saving myself."

He readily accepts his brief appearances, partly because he
remembers how close he came to having none at all. Drafted 19th
by the Pistons in 1997, he averaged 2.7 points in 33 games
before Detroit sent him and a first-round pick to the Hawks for
Christian Laettner. Atlanta waived him less than a month later.
Pollard signed with the Kings as a free agent three weeks into
last season and began to play so effectively that Sacramento
will not be his only suitor if he chooses to become a free agent
after this season.

Even if he brings home a bigger paycheck, Pollard won't abandon
the '69 Caddy. Like his career, it once looked ready for the
junk heap, and now it's running very well.

--Phil Taylor

COLOR PHOTO: GERRY GROPP