Portland Trail Blazers

[gift_of_game]

were they the jail blazers at that time already?

 

i know they became the jail blazers after dallas beat them on the first round... 2002 yata yun

 

I think they got the nick much much earlier with Isaiah Rider and Rod Strickland on board when the franchise was desperately looking for direction in the post-Clyde years.

 

Still, for all their success during that run, dysfunction was a word bandied heavily when it came to talking about that reincarnation of the Blazers.

[Agent_mulder]

Here is something interesting about their so-called blunder in the 1984 Draft....

 

Misconception

 

Drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan was the single most collosal blunder in the history of basketball. How could the Trailblazers even think to not choose his Airness ? And for what, a guy who couldn't even get on the court without breaking his leg.

 

The Facts

 

In the 1984 draft, the Portland Trailblazers drafted Sam Bowie, a 7'1 center/power forward from Kentucky with the second overall pick. The first pick was center Akeem Olajuwon. The third pick was Michael Jordan, a 6'6 swing player from North Carolina. While Olajuwon has gone on to have a Hall of Fame career and Michael Jordan is considered by many as the greatest player of all-time, Bowie led a long but unremarkable career, coming back from a string of career-threatening leg injuries. For most of Bowie's career, when healthy, he was a good rebounder and passer, demonstrating excellent touch for a man his size. His dedication to rehabilitate and play despite the option of quitting the sport while keeping his contract was inspiring. However his basketball presence was mostly a shell of his former playing self.

 

Rebuttal

 

Of course in hindsight, the choice to pick Jordan over Bowie would be made by anyone. However at the time, the Trailblazers did not have a crystal ball. Indeed, no one forsaw the mercurial rise of Jordan. Even the Bulls did not know what they had and were considering trading the pick for a center such as Jack Sikma or Tree Rollins. The article above of June 17, 1984 in the Chicago Tribune just prior to the draft is no longer on-line, so below are some excerpts:

 

"The Bulls' decision to select Jordan, a 6-foot-6-inch All-America guard with unlimited potential was dictated by their No. 3 position in the draft order. Lack of a dominating center is the major reason they have lost 111 games in the last two seasons, but there are only two can't miss pivotmen this time - and both will be gone by the time the Bulls make their choice."

.....

 

"Frustrated in their bid to land center Jack Sikma from Seattle, the Bulls again went after ex-De Paul star Terry Cummings last week. A proposed three-way trade involving Cummings' Los Angeles Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks and the Bulls reportedly fell through."

 

....

 

"That left only two established starting centers available: Tree Rollins of the Atlanta Hawks and Joe Barry Carroll, a free agent anxious to leave the Golden State Warriors. Carroll's agent, Howard Shusher, is demanding a long-term contract at $2 million a year. 'Atlanta is willing to trade Rollins to us but the asking price is prohibitive,' Thorn said. 'We might consider giving Carroll an offer sheet.'"

 

The Blazers picked according to their needs and the evaluation of the talent as they saw it. Portland was a team on the rise. They did not gain the second pick due to a poor record, instead they were in the enviable and rare position of having the second pick to add to a winning team. They had the opportunity to draft a top-notch player to complement their team and put them over the top. Their main need was at center. At the time, the Pacific division was still dominated by the Los Angeles Lakers and the inside presence of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Blazers' Mychal Thompson was a good, active inside player but he did not have the necessary bulk to play center. It was thought Thompson would do better at the power forward position if they could add a force at center. One major strength of the team was in their shooting guards. They had an all-star in Jim Paxson along with a great athlete and budding superstar in Clyde Drexler. To top that off, they had just acquired high scoring Kiki Vandeweghe as their small forward. Simply put, Portland was stocked at the shooting guard position and had plenty of scorers. Their need was a defensive presence who could dominate the lane and rebound.

 

So after Olajuwon was taken, the Blazers had a choice.

 

Bowie was a 7'1 center who could rebound and block shots. He had an excellent outside shot (three-point range), ran the floor well for a big man, and had an excellent team attitude. Perhaps his most remarkable skill was his passing which was unmatched at the time for a man at his position. The only question mark was Bowie's leg which had been broken during his career at Kentucky and took a considerable amount of time to rehabilitate. But after he returned for his senior season, it appeared Bowie's leg had healed and in fact, was stronger than ever.

 

Jordan was an exciting wing player out of North Carolina who entered the draft after his junior season. He showed flashes of brilliance but his true skills were often hidden within Dean Smith's offensive schemes. He had great moves to the basket and had good size for his position. One question mark concerned his outside shooting ability.

 

When it came down to choosing, the Blazers made what they thought to be the best decision for their team, Bowie. He filled their major hole and brought new dimensions to the team. Jordan was certainly a great talent but he was projected to compete with Paxson and Drexler for basically one spot. It just didn't make sense to pass over a center to add another shooting guard whose presence could potentially wreck team chemistry due to competition between Drexler and Jordan, and still not address Portland's major concerns.

 

Many claim they would have chosen Jordan, and maybe they would have but for a team with the needs the Trailblazers had, I don't think that choice made sense. These people will point out that the Piston's success in the late 80's and the Bull's success in the 90's is proof that guards and wing players can lead to championship teams. The fact they omit is that at the time of the draft in 84, there was absolutely no precedence over the entire course of NBA modern history to suggest that this was possible. All the evidence suggested that in order to have a contender, the team needed a dominating big man, whether you looked to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the 50's and 60's, Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Moses Malone etc. Even though Robert Parish's talents are often overlooked, the Celtics of the 80's had arguably the greatest front line in pro basketball history with Bird, McHale and Parish. Even one of the best teams of the early 80's, the Philadelphia 76ers, didn't win the championship until they brought Moses Malone on board. Again, to pass over a gifted center in order to take another guard would require a lot of explaining by the Blazers at that time.

 

Another claim by the critics is that Jordan demonstrated much more talent than Bowie during his collegiate career and they cite the performance in the 1984 Olympic games as evidence. Again, the problem is that the Olympic games were not held until after the NBA draft so this is irrelevant to the discussion. If anything, if you take into account the fact that Bowie's senior year was mainly spent on rehabilitation on a balanced team, Bowie's collegiate career looks as impressive as Jordan's. He was All-SEC and made the ill-fated 1980 Olympic team after his freshman year, and averaged 17 ppg, was All-SEC and was All-American his sophomore year before his injury was revealed. At the time, he was considered a more well-rounded prospect than Ralph Sampson who went on to dominate college basketball while Bowie was injured.

 

There are players every year in the shooting guard range who draw raves in college. But for every one of those that turns into a Michael Jordan, there's a hundred who turn into a Fennis Dembo. (Of course the same can be said about 7-footers, however there are a lot fewer 7-footers with skills available than there are shooting guards.) Those who claim they knew Jordan would be as great as he turned out, I have a hard time believing. Injuries and other factors have a way of altering careers in radical ways to be so confident with any assurances of greatness.

Edited July 3, 2007 by Agent_mulder

[Mike_Lowrey21]

hindi po ako blazers fan pero parang masarap gamitin ito sa NBA Live 2008 pag nagkataon hehehe

 

starting line up ko

 

C - Greg Oden

PF LaMarcus Aldridge

SF Darius Miles? hehehe

OG Brandon Roy

PG Steve Francis

 

Pagandahin na lang nila yung bench nila pwede ito No. 8 sa playoffs hehehe tapos unang ka matchup ni Oden? Tim Duncan lang naman and the Spurs hehehe

Edited July 3, 2007 by Mike_Lowrey21

[clubber_lang]

Thanks, Agent Mulder!

 

I always thought that while the scrutiny was a bit warranted, it actually also bordered on exaggeration...

[Guest airmax]

this team was fully loaded during the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 season. sayang deep bench pa naman ang portland noon.

[pr0nmast3r]

They need a guard and Francis is not the answer!

[howard_the_duck]

kahit saan mapadpad si franchise ang daming galit sa kanya

 

naalala ko nung araw puro lakers sa classroom, ako lang ang portland... tapos the year after ako lang ang nagiisang pacers

[gary_gnu]

Oden feeling a bit "foul" following Summer League loss to Boston

 

Going into Friday night’s NBA Summer League opener versus Boston, much of the hype centered on the debut of Portland’s imposing frontline duo of 7-foot rookie center Greg Oden and 6-11 forward LaMarcus Aldridge. In the end though, Aldridge had the monster night, while Oden was plagued by foul trouble and the result was a 74-66 loss to the Celtics before a capacity crowd at Cox Pavilion.

 

Aldridge was impressive pouring in a game-high 26 points (10-17 FG, 6-7 FT) to go along with 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Oden finished with six points, two rebounds and two blocked shots before following out with 10 fouls with 2:47 left in the game.

 

"I didn’t play too well and I didn’t play hard enough," said Oden. "When you don’t play hard enough you don’t win."

[revi]

The Blazers just got Steve Blake.. The need for a pure PG is now taken cared of.. I guess Jarett Jack would now come off the bench..

[webslinger]

getting blake will have a solid backcourt for d blazers.... its like drexler and porter combo... w blake and francis at 1 and 2 position.... he he he.....

[clubber_lang]

Give this team 2 seasons to gel and the West would become even wilder!!!

[iskurokutoy]

na-injured si Greg Oden, hindi makakapaglaro buong season.

 

swerte ng Seattle...

[silver41surfer]

d magagamit c Oden this season!sayang tlaga..i go Portland pa naman!

[howard_the_duck]

11 straight wins!

[silver41surfer]

11 straight wins!

 

 

sweet!!!