P«B« M . Portland Obsorvsr Octobar 9.1900
Sports Talk
By Ron Sykes
Sports Editor
Al A ttlb s. W arrior coach, encourages his players during recent
game.
Attles: A dedicated warrior
By Ullysses Tucker Jr.
The life expeciancy o f Black
coaches in the NBA is relatively
short as in the case o f Ray Scott
(Detroit), K.C. Jones (Washington),
B ill Russell (Boston-Seattle), W ilt
Chamberlain (San Diego, and Willis
Reed (New York Knicks). Lenny
W ilkins was misused in Portland
and is now doing an excellent job in
Seattle.
Out o f all the "brothers” to pilot
a professional ball club, Al Attles.
head coach and general manager o f
the Golden State W arriors has
lasted a decade. Longer than any
coach has lasted in a league where a
player/coach could lose a job with a
twenty second phone call.
"Y ou got to give credit when it’s
due,” said Attles. "A n d I have to
give credit to club president
F ranklin M ieuli. He understands
some o f the things I ’d like to do here
and Franklin is allowing me to do it
my way. I have a great deal o f
freedom here.”
For 19 seasons, both as a player
and coach and always as a Warrior,
Attles has earned respect with his
determination, aggressiveness, and
competitive spirit. And, most im
pressively, through his sense o f
humor and ability to keep the game
in perspective.
As a player, Attles unyielding
competitiveness on the floor earned
him
the
nicknam e,
‘ ‘ The
Destroyer” which was indicative o f
his defensive wizardry. O f the more
than 1300 who have been active
players in the 27 year history o f the
N B A , only 25 o f those players
played more minutes than Attles.
A ttles played in 712 regular
season games and averaged 8.9
points per game He wore a Warrior
uniform longer than anyone in the
W arrior organization. Attles best
scoring performance came against
the Knicks when he scored 33 points
( February 29, 1964) and 17 assists
against C incinnati (February 24,
1968). Al scored 17 points against
the Knicks the same night teammate
W ilt Chamberlain scored his 100
points.
A native o f Newark, New Jersey,
and a graduate o f North Carolina
A&T College in Greensboro, North
C arolina, Attles 450 N .B .A . vic
tories rank him in the top three on
the all-time list.
Since taking over head coaching
duties in 1970, Attles has won a
N.B.A. title in 1975-76, two division
titles and coached the N.B.A. All-
Star Western Conference twice.
What are your expectations o f the
Warriors now that you have Lloyd
Free, Bernard King, and prize
rookie Joe Barry Carroll playing fo r
you?
‘ ‘ Unless we learn to share the
b a ll,” he laughed, "W e won’ t be
good. I f you know me, I don’t make
predictions. I just want to be com
petitive. Joe Barry w ill get better
when he learns to recognize what he
and the players around him can do.
Lloyd shot more free throws (800)
than our entire team did last season.
He also adds the three-t>oint dimen
sion to our attack.
‘ ‘ Bernard is an outstanding
player. He can play both forwards
and his game is fundam entally
sound. He doesn't go between his
legs and all that other fancy stuff. I
like his game very much,” he said.
Attles, the father of two (Alvin II,
15, and Erica, 9) advice to
youngsters chasing the dream o f
playing professional ball is to "have
an ace in the hole, the books...”
The Trailblazers are continuing to
ignore their number one draft pick
and the season opener against Utah
is just around the corner.
The Blazers are obviously high on
the Ohio product, why else would
they d ra ft him so high and con
tinually refer to him as the missing
link to their NBA success. “ There
are two players in the 1980 rookie
crop that have made significant con
tributions; Darrell G riffith o f Utah
and Kelvin Ransey (Blazers).” I f
this is true, then why won’ t they pay
the man?
Alan Tothenberg, Blazer a tto r
ney, has said that the S400.000 per
year Howard Slusher is asking is too
much. Slusher has reportedly
lowered his request, but Portland
has held steadfastly to something
like 5200,000. 5200,000 is a good
deal o f money, but if you had to go
into the NBA market today with
that amount in your pocket, just
what could you expect to buy.?
Perhaps you could get Henry
Bibby from Philadelphia, maybe
C harlie Scott w ould come o ft
waivers for that amount, Cleveland
w ould probably give up A ustin
Carr. So after examining this, one
can readily see why M r. Slusher
holds his client in such high esteem.
Blazer management, while one o f
the richest in the league, has
developed an image that would put
the legendary Scrooge to shame
when it comes to paying their
players.
It has been reported more than a
few times that the Blazer payroll is
among the lowest in the league.
What puzzles many and continues
to bewilder me is how they let Lionel
Hollins, who wanted to stay, and is
a premier point guard, get away!
Hollins, a former All-Pro, asked for
5300,000. Blazer management, and
coach Jack Ramsey concurred,
believed that price too high. But
then turned around and gave Bobby
Gross, a non-starter, 5275,000,
which led Gross to say, " I must ad
mit this is more than I hoped fo r.”
I f Bobby is w orth 5275,000 as a
ing and that, my friends, would
part-time player, then Mr. Slushers
create a situation that Portland's
argument for Ransey looks awfully
not ready for: Kermit Washington,
strong. Ransey is 21 w ith no in
Bates, Ron Brewer, Thompson and
juries. Bobby is considerably older
Calvin Natt. A ll brothers!!
with a long line o f injuries. Now
Don’ t shed a tear for Muhammad
when we look at the differences
Ali. The man is a living legend with
between Gross and Ransey, we see 8 million dollars to deposit, a lovely
something other than their size and
wife and many years ahead. Forget
ability. I hope you see where I ’ m that he was beaten by the best young
coming from.
heavyweight in the world. Remem
12,666 will always be there. And
ber that A li is a three time champ
don’ t lok fo r anything more than
and the “ greatest fighter” to walk
mediocre season from Portland.
this earth. Always him as Muhum-
W ith a mediocre center, Tom
mad A li, the "B lack superman.”
Owens, what more could you ex He really was that.
pect?
After all the talk last season about
Ron's Picks
T om ’ s déficiences at center, who
Oregon over C a lifo rn ia ...T h e
w ould have believed P ortland
Ducks are for real. Super running
would be heading into this season back Reggie Brown’s return should
with the “ no jumping, weak, can’t
be more than enough. Washington
block the m id d le ,” Owens? But
will drown the OSU Beavers. USC
then who would have believed Jim
by 11 '/i over Arizona. Ucla over
Paxson would be a starting guard.
Stanford...If Bruins play as they did
You see if Owens and Paxson were against Ohio State. John Elway,
on the bench, then Billy Bates and
Stanford’s brilliant quarterback can
Mychal Thompson would be start give Bruins fits.
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Chrest visits Nigeria
(Continued from Page 1 Col 3)
amendments to the C onstitution
dealing with the role o f Governors
in the National Economic Council.
They are automatically members o f
NEC and attempts are being made
to expand the membership to
others.
Observer: What are some o f your
im m ediate co n trib u tio n s to the
Legislatures as a result o f your visit?
Chrest: Everyone asked us lots o f
questions about political processes
and most o f the Legislators wanted
us back next year to continue the
dialogue. By the way, we reminded
the Legislators repeatedly that there
are no easy answers to nationhood
and we wanted only to share our ex
periences. We indicated that unlike
tota lita ria n ism , democracy is an
inefficient form o f political process
but it leads to more equitable
results. One glaring observation to
us, is the fact that everybody in
Nigeria is in some form of business.
It seems like there is some form of
Socialism but it will be hard to en
vision a Soviet-type government.
Observer: What are some o f the
obvious problems in the society?
Chrest: Large population size in
the cities, rampant inflation, due to
import restrictions, tra ffic jams in
Lagos and Abeokute, lack o f
housing in the large cities, lack o f
waste disposal. I must add that the
government is making a great effort
to overcome these trememdous
problems and only time w ill tell.
Observer: Was there any remin
der o f Oregon in Nigeria?
Chrest: Yes. Not far from Lagos,
is a cement factory which used to be
a subsidiary o f Portland Cement
Company. It is now under Nigerian
ownership and making a good con
tribution to building projects.
Observer: A ny business oppor
tunities f o r Oregonians?
Chrest: Tremendous oppor
tunities in im porting all kinds o f
m anufactured goods. Due to the
population d rift to the large cities,
farms are not being attended to,
thus, creating a market for almost
a ll farm products from Oregon.
There is a need for setting up fac
tories, however, the government
insists on 60% Nigerian partnership
arrangements. Lots o f people makes
for excellent market opportunities.
M oney to pay fo r goods is no
problem. I cannot understand why
w ith gas costing about 37C in
N igeria and w ith car assembly
plants Volkswagon and T oyota,
none o f the U.S. automakers have
rushed into this open market with
small cars. It seems very myopic to
lose all those cars.
Observer: Recently, N igerian
President Shehu Shagari indicated
that he was displeased with the
apartheid situation in South Africa
and wants the U.S. to use its in
fluences, financial and political to
expedite changes or possibly see a
reduction in o il export. D o you
think, with the ever-present energy
problem s o f this co u n try some
foreign policy changes towards this
should be envisioned?
Chrest: Yes. I think we need to
m o n ito r that situation
very
carefully.
Observer: What sound advice did
you leave the Legislators?
C hrest: Parties should not be
specific in the C o n s titu tio n but
allowed to evolve in to a few.
Amendments should not be rushed
in to , and in the fu tu re , a more
general and flexible C onstitution
should be encouraged to withstand
the shocks o f democracy.
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