Blazer exec: Yao will be greatest center in history of NBA

I have, it is nothing new. Hindsight is 20/20 but nobody was faulting them severely back then. Yes, it turned out to be a collassal bust but they needed a big man, had a hall of famer at SG, and instead of getting Olajuwon, Barkley, Kevin Willis, etc, they rolled snake eyes. It's the risk you run when drafting for need, it's not the first time it ever happened but surely not hte last either. At least they got to keep a hall of famer-50 greatest player at SG who lead them to the finals twice and were one of the winningest teams of the late 80s and early 90s.

It would have been a collassal blunder if Portland didn't have an HOF SG, or if they had Karl Malone or somebody at PF. But they didn't. But nobody will ever remember that.

I don't know if this guy was GM back then anyway.

 

Again, hindsight is 20-20...it's easy for you to say this.

Some people say that we should have drafted Jordan instead of Hakeem,
that way we would have won more championships. But, you never know
what would have happened.

I mean, the Blazers could have drafted Jordan and moved Clyde to the
the 3 spot, and maybe the Blazers would have won 1 or 2 championships.
But is this better than the 6 rings that Jordan got with Chicago?

Remember, Kobe was the 15th pick of the first round. Why wasn't he
the 1st pick? Huh? You just never know. We don't even know
about what Yao Ming will become. Not really. "Potential" is a funny thing.

 

NO, he was not, it was Stu Inman that did not draft Jordan, not Buckwalter, so all this is pointless. See below:


Those Are The Breaks: The Bittersweet, Overlooked History of The Portland Trail Blazers
By Rolf Boone
Sports World Japan May 2000 Vol.7. No. 64 (pp 68-71)

Question? Which team has appeared in the NBA playoffs for a record 16 consecutive seasons, has won one title in three chances, was at one time the fastest expansion team to reach the finals (a record now held by the Orlando Magic), and of this writing currently sits atop the Pacific Division with a 41-11 mark?
Answer: Los Angeles? Seattle? Phoenix? No. That honor goes to the Trail Blazers of Portland, Oregon. But in the answer lies part of the story.................................................................................

The Jack Ramsay era (inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992) would reach the early 80s and then quietly fade away. He and the team would never reach the same dizzying heights that they had for two seasons in the 70s.
However in its place came bigger money, bigger stars, and a rising National Basketball Association as the popularity of baseball started to fade. In Blazer town, this was never more clearly marked than in the arrival of Phi Slamma Jamma: Clyde Drexler.
Drexler (soon to be a member of the Hall of Fame with his 20,000 points, and 6,000 assists/ rebounds and one of only three players in NBA history to have done so), would usher in “the streak” – two more trips to the finals (both losses), and the star player as all-powerful. Briefly coached by “screamer and yeller,” Mike Schuler (1986-87 NBA Coach of the Year), Drexler would tire of the tirades and let it be known to ownership that he was unhappy.
Schuler? Gone. In would come the first of a wave of “kinder, gentler” former players turned coaches to sweep the NBA. In Portland, this coincided with the arrival of Rick Adelman and a team consisting of Drexler, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, and center, Kevin Duckworth. The reign of Adelman proved to be bountiful, but would have been a dynasty had it not been for a monumental gaffe on draft day, 1984.
On that fateful draft day, Stu Inman called good buddy, Bobby Knight, for advice on who to pick. As worked out by Inman, the Blazers will most likely wind up with the right to draft, of all people, Michael Jordan.
Reaching for his smokes and knowing that Knight has just coached Jordan to victory in the Olympics, he needed an insider’s touch. Knight gushed about the North Carolina star and Inman puffed. “We need a big man,” he said. Knight: “Play him at center then. He can play anywhere.”
If only Inman had heeded his advice. But obsession plays tricks on the mind and the memory of Bill Walton had too strong a hold on the Blazer faithful. In 1984, The Portland Trail Blazers drafted Sam Bowie. Mention this to any Oregonian today and the tears form quickly. Wistfully dream of what a backcourt of Jordan and Drexler might have been like and the crying jag only gets worse.
Add that to the little-known fact that the Blazers lost the rights to Hakeem Olajuwon on a coin toss (Portland: tails; Houston: heads) and razor blades should be removed from the immediate area. Stu Inman still smokes.
Since then the Blazers have been sold and newly bought by Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft), and have survived another “screamer and yeller” in ex-coach, PJ Carlesimo (who found out the hard way that the star player, in this case, Latrell Sprewell, is still all-powerful), but were once again soon welcoming a “kinder, gentler” coach in the form of ex-player, Mike Dunleavy.
Inman would give way to Bucky Buckwalter (1990-91 NBA Executive of the Year) who would give way to current executive and wheeler-dealer extraordinaire, Bob Whitsitt (1993-94 NBA Executive of the Year with The Seattle SuperSonics). Whitsitt, best known for dumping Chris Dudley onto the unsuspecting New York Knicks, and for trading six borderline NBA basketball players for one Scottie Pippen.
Again, it’s Pippen, Stoudamire, Wallace, Sabonis, and Steve Smith at work, in this, the 2000 campaign. The Press is still in love with the Lakers, Knicks, and Heat, but it’s the Blazers who deserve the real attention.

 

What's funny is Laker fan trolling the cc.net BBS. Don't you have a lunch to do or a facelift appointment or a white wine spritzer to drink or something?

Oh, and as someone noted, it wasn't this guy that drafted Bowie, but whatever. Everything is relative in LA LA Land.

 

mav,

You did mean to say Sam Bowie, not Jordan...right?

 

It think it's called a "let's do lunch, call me."

 

no offense, thats never gonna happen!


why? coz chinese guards r not only beyound horrible, they do not have the talent too(which mean, will never be good). They dont have the athleticism to compete w/ guys like Francis and kobe

beside, i m a 5-11 azn but i believe i can outplay any guard in chinese national team squad. (and dunk on them all)

 

Relax dude. The Chinese guards are not so bad as you think. They can all shoot the lights out on any given night. They are slow and suck on individul defense, but so were the Spurs when they won the ring, with the exception of Mario Elie. Jarome Kersey, Jaren Jackson, Steve Kerr and Avery Johnson? Come on, that's a bunch of CBA players. What they have done were to hit the open shots and play team defense, which can be done with a better coach for the China NT. If any of Yao, Wang and Bateer prove to be effective in the paint in the NBA, along with the sick touch of the Chinese guards, throw in solid team defense and Yao Ming's presence in the middle, it's not impossible to beat the USA. Remember, Dream team 4 was one point away from being dethroned by the Lithuania non NBA players two years ago.

 

yeah i fixed it, thx.

 

panda,

Kerr, Elie and company would score 30+ points in the CBA. David Benoit did and he isn't close to what these guys were. Kerr and Elie were starters on two championship teams. The chinese guards suck compared to the American and European counterparts.

 

LakerMania:
If that's the case, you'd better get your facts straight before discrediting Yao supporters.

 

I never said he was the GM at the time or the one who drafted Bowie. I just said I thought he was the one there on draft night who announced that the Portland Trailblazers would be taking Bowie. He was like Asst. GM at the time right?

And to all the people who said the Blazers already had Drexler, so there was no need to draft MJ. That's pretty weak. It's not like a good SG/SF combo would ever work that good,. I mean it only got the Bulls, what, 6 rings right?

 

Rockbox:
You are right the Chinese guards suck, but as long as they can shoot, which they do, and play team defense, they can contribute a lot with the right post players. Steve Kerr could do nothing but shoot with the Bulls and Spurs, and there's Chinese guards who can shoot hell lot better than Kerr. If Yao or Bateer can become as dominate as Duncan in the post, and the guards hit the open shots while playing team defense they can be deadly. Throw in Wang ZhiZhi(40% 3 point shooter in NBA) to shoot from outside that team can be very competitive. The basketball level is rising in China and there's several years away from 2008, so China is not exactly out of the race.

 

Again, with the great wisdom of LakerMania....sigh.

See, back in 1984, when you were just a little kid, you looked into
the future and saw the great Jordan win his 6 rings...yeah right.

 

Posted by DavidS

Kobe was the 15th pick of the first round




Umm learn you facts - Kobe was the 13th pick and drafted by Charlotte Hornets.

 

Oh, my God! I'm off by two picks. The point is that he wasn't
the first pick overall.

Didn't you read the context of the post?

 

He didn't have to rely on my 20/20 wisdom but Inman did seek out Bobby Knight's opinion on Jordan before the draft. And what did Bobby Knight say:

"You would have to be crazy not to take this guy(Jordan), this guy is going to be HUGE"

When they told Knight that they were kinda leaning toward a big man and if he thought Jordan was worth it since they already had talent for their smalls. Bobby replied:

"Play the guy at center if that's what you need, just DRAFT HIM"

Sadly they decided to ignore this advice.

 

If there are Chinese guards that can shoot better than the guy w/ the highest 3pt shooting % in NBA history, why don't we see any Chinese guards in the NBA? Steve Kerr's in the NBA because of his 3 point shooting ability. If there's Chinese guards that can "shoot hell lot better than Kerr", I'm sure there would be some Chinese guards either in the NBA or on the verge of it.

I've been to Taiwan and watched some games of the CBA...the caliber of basketball there is nowhere near the caliber of the NBA. The shooting, while decent, isn't comparable to the likes of Kerr, Dell Curry, Dale Ellis, BULL , Reggie, etc etc.

 

So, who's the next Jordan? Let us know here, so we can draft him.
I'm suprised that you aren't a scout for the Rockets. Man, you just
have so much wisdom. You should change your name to FortuneTeller.

Remember, if Kobe wins 6 rings...there will be people ten years from
now that will be saying, "Man, you are stupid for not taking Kobe in
the draft." 12 teams passed on him.

And yes I know he has Shaq. But, people will still say it.

 

So you have actually made this prediction in 1984? Damn I can't believe it. You are such a draft genius.