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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1982)
1 Page 12 Portland Observer, April 1, 1982 Sport Talk by Ron Sykes, Sports Editor Through the years the P ortland Trailblazers have gained the reputa tion o f being softies. It has been widely known throughout the N B A that all you have to do is give the Blazers a few hard knocks and they have a tendency to back away like Count Dracula at the sign o f a cross. It is for sure that D r. Jack Ramsay is not an advocate o f passive resist* ance. So the question now is why do the T ra ilb lazers seem to fa ll into that pattern. Aggression is a necessary evil in the wards o f the N B A . W ithout it you are relegated to the bottom o f the pack and making the playoffs is nothing more than a dream. This current team has obviously signed a non-aggression pact with the other members o f the P acific division. Perhaps Blazer brass should start thinking o f a wholesale change in personnel. The feeling around town is that they (Blazers) have stayed pat too long. It seems that this Blazer team is making su perstars out of the ordinary oppon ents that they face. A case in point is Seattle Supersonics’ backup center, James Donaldson. When you play Seattle you expect big plays from allstar Jack Sikma, but when a James Donaldson comes and and plays like Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, then you know v o u ’ re in trouble. Donaldson’s play was quoted by one P o rtlan d player as being 125- 126 per cent better than last year. One should be reminded that these are not N B A statistics but only hold true against Portland. P o rtla n d ’s fro nt line has a ten dency, for some strange reason, to treat loose balls the same as they would the bubonic plague. They stay far, far away. A t six-ten , tw o -h u n d red -an d - th irty pounds, M ych al Thompson should be a force fo r the team . However, Mychal has a tendency to shy away when the going gets tough. In prior seasons he was heard asking fo r rebounding help fro m the six- eight K erm it W ashington. T o ask fo r help is n 't bad, but to beg for help is. Thom pson seemingly has not learned that life in the N B A is not as easygoing and laid back as the is land he is accustomed to. Against Portland Donaldson had sixteen points, eighteen rebounds, and fo u r blocked shots which prompted Thompson to say, " H e ’s a different player and he’s so strong that there’s not much that you can do.” The belief here is that a statement like that indicates a defeatist a tti tude and a pessismistic review of an opponent’s skills. Donaldson said, " I t was clear in the beginning that even M yc h al couldn’t handle me. From then on, I tried to post him .” Whereas an optimist never built a town and a pessimist never tore one down, it doesn’t take an Einstein to understand that one will surely pro gress further w ith the form er than with the latter. All the focus, however, shouldn’t be on the shoulders o f Thompson. This lack o f aggression is a team p roblem . L a te ly , due to in ju rie s , P ortland has been forced to start s ev en -fo o t-tw o -in ch Peter G u d mundsson in the middle. Peter fits in well w ith the T ra ilb la z e rs laid back attitude, for he is the epitome o f non-aggression. Gudmundsson is everything that you w ouldn’t want in an N B A center. In fact the only thing that he has in common with an N B A player is his height. H e is neither agile nor mobile. In fact, he would be hard pressed to beat the Statue o f L ib e rty in an obstacle course. It is in cred ib le that the Blazers could go into a season with Gudm undsson and even m ore so that they could fin ish the season with him as a starter. Portland will need three years o f good drafting to gain parity with the higher echelon o f the N B A . Today’s pro game dictates that you not only have a strong starting unit, but also a strong bench. To gain a strong bench, one has to be ready to shell out some bucks. The good teams, Philadelphia, Bos ton, Milwaukie, and Los Angeles all have talent fro m one through twelve. Los Angeles has players like Michael Cooper and Bob M cA doo coming o ff the bench; Philadelphia has Harvey Catchings and Andrew Toney; Boston has Larry Bird and Tiny Archibald; and Milwaukee has Junior Bridgeman and Brian W in ters. These are all quality players. Whereas counters with such house hold names as Peter Verhoeven and Jeff Lamp. In order to have a team o f cham pionship caliber, the chem istry o f the team must be rig h t. W ith this team , it is n ot. C a lv in N a tt, 6 -6 , small forw ard is the only positive force presently bounding a basket ball for the Portland Trailblazers. Kelvin Ransey, second year guard out o f Ohio State, like G udm und- son and numerous other Blazers is also a charter member o f this non aggression pact. T h at old cliche tells us th a t, " W h e n the going gets tough, the tough get going.” That in itself tells us why these 1981-82 Blazers are go ing nowhere. J im Paxto n fires up an o ff-b ala n ce shot la ta In the B lazers' 106 96 w in over H ouston. Paxton reached a career-high 33 points In Tu esd ay's w in o ver K an sas C ity . H a h it 13 o f 17 s h o ts fro m th a f ie ld , s c o re d 10 s tr a ig h t points, and h it 7 o f 7 fre e th ro w s. A good n ig h t fo r P axto n l (P h o to : J im m y R obinson) Rating the offense. . . shoots better than 50 per cent and has a range somewhere up there in the stratosphere. 3) Andrew Toney— Philadelphia 7 6 e rs -6 -3 guard. Toney, like Free, is a great pure shooter. He is great when he’ s hot but needs im p ro ve ment in shot selection; however he will improve as he gains experience. 4) B rian W in te rs — M ilw a u k e e Bucks— 6-4 g u ard . W in te rs is strictly an o ffensive player. His range is unlimited and he can light them up from any spot on the floor. 5) A lla n D u n lea ve y — H ouston R ockets— 6-3 g uard. D unleavy makes no pretense of being anything other than a shooter. W hen Houston needs perimeter shooting, Dunleavy gets the call. He, too, can It is well known that to win in the N B A , you can play defense u n til you're blue in the face. But without o ff*n se, y o u ’ ll never win a game. Therefore any team that’s worth its weight in bears must have a shooter who can f ill the hole. W e w ill a t tempt to rate some o f the better o f fensive players in the NBA: 1) George G ervin — San A ntonio Spurs— 6-7 guard. George is a pure shooter who because o f his height can take opposing guards either in- aide or out and is capable o f scoring big numbers whenever he wants. 2) W orld B. Free— Golden State W a rrio rs — 6-3 guard. Free is per haps the best pure shooter in the game to d ay. W o rld consistently Sw ing into Spring —Spring fever gets under w a y a t J e ffe rs o n H ig h d u rin g a p re -s e a s o n b a s e b a ll gam e b etw een the D em ocrats and M adison H igh. nil the hole. 6) Moses M a lo n e — H o u sto n R ockets— 6 - 1 1 center. A -w -e - s-o-m-e. M alo n e, o ffensively, can do it all. He currently averages over thirty points per game. Moses has emerged as the top offensive center in the N B A . 7) Kareem A b d u l-J a b b a r— Los Angeles Lakers— 7-2 center. Abdul- Jabbar is still the premiere center in the N B A . A n y tim e he wants to score, he still has the a b ility to do so. 8) Gus W illiam s— Seattle Super sonics— 6-2 guard. Some will w on der why Gus is rated so lo w . The answer is strictly because o f his one- year le ay o ff. G us’ tim ing has suf fered due to his 1980-81 layoff. J e ffe rs o n s lu g g e r N a th a n M o s le y c ra c k s a soled single bagger in th e early innings. 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