Blazer rookies exemplify camp
Valentine, Lamp - one struggles; another coasts
By DONALD COULTER
Of the Emerald
VANCOUVER, Wash - The
Portland Trailblazers’ pre-sea
son camp can be best described
as a tale of two rookies: one who
is making it look easy and an
other who is struggling
Darnell Valentine (6-1 guard,
Kansas) and Jeff Lamp (6-6 for
ward. Virginia) represent per
haps the finest pair of new
comers the Blazers have ever
had Valentine, a defensive whiz
from the Big Eight, and Lamp,
who led the Atlantic Coast Con
ference (ACC) in scoring twice,
come to the pros with raves
trom the pro scouts and high
expectations from Blazer fans
and management
But a successful transition
into the NBA is not insured by
highly touted college back
arounds The uncele
almost always defending guards
smaller than me In the NBA the
forwards I have to guard are are
at least as big or bigger than
me."
Having to concentrate on
defense has taken away from
Lamp’s scoring in the early go
ing He combined for only eight
points in the Blazer's first two
exhibition games, after averag
ing 18 8 per contest in four
years at Virginia
Meanwhile, Valentine has
been a sparkplug, and one of
the few bright spots for the
Blazers in those two games He
scored 23 points and dished out
seven assists in 45 minutes of
playing time, coming off the
bench in both games to revive a
muddled offense
”l can only play one way,”
said Valentine, whose muscular
legs would put even burly speed
tion's big men.'’
Indeed, it seems that
rebounding deficiencies are
what seperate the Blazers from
being a championship-caliber
team It’s no secret that Boston
and Philadelphia have dominat
ed the NBA over the last two
years because of their front
court power General manager
Inman received a lot of criticism
in June after the NBA draft,
when he picked two guards —
one of the Blazers' strengths—
rather than a center.
“When our turn came up
(draft picks 15 and 16 in the first
round) Alton Lister (Arizona
State center) was available,1'
Inman said "But our scouts
weren't high on him We went
for the best athletes, regardless
of position ”
Still, Inman admits that one of
brated NBA careers of
Butch Lee and Rickie
Green — or even La
Rue Martin — attest to
that And so does Jeff
Lamp
"It's been tough,"
Lamp said about step
ping from the limelight
of the Final Four last
season into the pros
this year “It's been a
very big transition I'm
still in the process of
trying to feel comforta
ble "
At the same time, the
move to the NBA
doesn't seem to faze
Darnell Valentine
"It's been an easy
adjustment," he said
"My style of play is very
consistent with the
NBA I like the role of
being the coach on the
floor when I'm out
there and I enjoy the
wide open style of the
league "
The dichotomy of
their adjustments to
the NBA is no more ap
parent than on the
practice floor Valen
the season opener (vs
Phoenix on Oct 30) is
"unsettled center
play." Kevin Kunnert,
coming off two injury
riddled seasons, will
share time at the center
position with Mychal
Thompson (17 points
per game last season)
At only 6-10, and not an
exceptionally good
rebounder, Thompson
would be a forward on
most NBA teams
Petur Gudmunds
son, a 7-2 rookie, will
come off the bench to
help out in the middle
Despite the loss of
Bob Gross for six
weeks — he recently
had surgery on his
right ankle — the
Blazers have a lot of
talent at forward Lamp
will play behind Calvin
Natt (13 4 points) at
small forward The
power-forward spot
will be filled by nine
year veteran Kermit
Washington (114
points and the team's
top rebounder last year
Blazer coach Jack Ramsey says he wants to
improve on his team's rebounding.
tine moves through drills with a
self-assured manner and |okes
easily with his new teammates
and coaches Lamp's struggle
to cope with a new position — he
will move from guard in college
to a small forward for the
Blazers — is mirrored in the
frustration on his face
"Darnell will make an im
mediate impact," general man
ager Stu Inman said at the
Blazer's training site in Van
couver last week "But Jeff has
the offensive skills — shooting,
passing — and he should come
around in time Jeff has a guard
mentality — he sees the floor
very well His problem right now
is with defense "
Lamp is the first to agree with
that statement "In college I was
skater Eric Heiden to shame,
"and that is to play with a lot of
intensity and desire "
Valentine's desire and rapid
ability to learn a new system is
impressing a lot of people, in
cluding Blazer head coach Jack
Ramsey "Darnell Valentine has
been outstanding.' Ramsey
said when asked about the
team's progress thus far in
training camp
"As a team we've had good
intensity in practice," he con
tinued "We've been able to put
a good part of our game plan in
motion But we haven't had the
same intensity or togetherness
in the exhibition games
"My major concern right now
is rebounding. We have to do a
good job against the competi
witn s.j per game)
Last season, the backcourt
was the team's strongest point
Jim Paxson (17.1 points) led the
team in scoring, Kelvin Ransey
(15.2 points, 6.9 assists) provid
ed the leadership, and Billy Ray
Bates (13 8 points) supplied the
quick offense off the bench
With the addition of Valentine,
the situation is even more
crowded
With less than two weeks
before the season opener,
Ramsey seems to have made up
his mind to go with Ransey and
Bates in the starting lineup, with
1980-81 starter Paxson and
Valentine held in reserve It's an
accepted fact that Paxson and
Valentine could be starters on
most clubs in the league
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Kelvin Ransey, who averaged 15.2 points and 6.9 assists per game,
is expected to start at guard for the Blazers.
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