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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1982)
Page 6 Section II Portland Observer, October 27, 1982 R am sey discu sses Blazer p ro s p e c ts by J e t While The Portland Trailblazers played at times last season like a boat with leaks Holes kept popping up and the team had to work at patching many holes to prevent the vessel from cap sizing. W ell, changes were made. Gone are K elvin Ransey and B illy Ray Bates. In Ransey's place will be sec ond year man Darnell Valentine w ith number one d ra ft choice La- feyette “ Fat” Lever as his backup. The a dd itio n o f rebounders Kenny Carr and Wayne Cooper has shorn up the physical aspect o f the team. Old dependable Jim Paxson, Mychal Thompson and Calvin Natt are all coming o ff good seasons. W ith a ll these tangibles, head coach Jack Ramsay is ready to take the ship to sea again and battle. “ I think we’ re going to have a better team than last year," Ramsay said. “ We’ ll be a stronger team, a better rebounding team, a better defensive team.” Rebounding was one o f those leaks last year. It may have been the largest one. The early season retire ment o f Kermit Washington left the team w ith o u t the physical power forw a rd . Kenny C arr has solved that problem and adds a dimension that W ashington d id n ’ t —an o f fensive threat. Ramsay said, “ Kenny has a lot o f dimensions to his game at big forward. Kenny has a lot o f spread to his game o ffe n sive ly.” Ramsay explained that Washington was, “ a good*defender and rebounder but his offensive game was limited.” Cooper w ill play alongside o f Thompson at times but is mainly the backup center. The addition o f both Carr and Cooper pleases Ramsay. “ They’ ve both done very well for us,” Ramsay said. Both are good rebounders, both are physical. That’s a quality we lacked very bad ly last year.” The Blazers chalked up 42 wins last season but hope that the im proved defense w ill bring more. Thompson said his first team goal was to win 50 games and “ progress significantly in the playoffs.” Ram say said, “ I think we will score near ly as much but our opponents should score sig n ifica n tly less— and that 1 think w ill bring us more victgories.” How many victories? Ramsay is unsure becaue, “ I t ’ s too early. W e’ re too young w ith many new players. It depends on how well the team develops, if we can win on the road.” Six new players w ill open the 1982-83 season in Blazer uniforms. O f the three rookies. Lever and Au- die Norris are “ going to play some significant minutes for us,” Ramsay said. The other rookie is L in to n Townes and he’ ll be situated at small forward alongside J e ff Jud kins and behind Natt. The shooting a b ility o f Towners and Judkins is what eventually led to the release o f M ichael H arper. Ramsay called Towners and Judkins “ great shooters” and said. “ We opted for the shooting quality.” New players worry Ramsay some what but the bench strength doesn’ t. “ The bench w ill be better. We have good depth on this team,” he said. “ The biggest concern that 1 have is that we have so many new players and so many young players.” “ W inning a lo t o f games,” is what Carr expects to do. He said. “ I ’ m going to go out and p la y .” The main fu n ctio n o f his play he agrees is rebounding and “ T h a t’ s what 1 plan on doing,” he said. Thom pson wants to set a ll the way to the semifinals o f the play offs. “ We can beat teams like Seat tle and the Lakers,” he said. “ I t ’s tough thinking about getting out of the Western C onference.” I f the JACK RAMSAY Blazers do get out o f the Pacific D i vision, Thom pson would like to “ get to the semifinals and go from there.” Valentine w ill pester opposing guards all season long with his de fense. Ramsay said, “ Darnell is a good player. He goes at it 100 per cent all the time. He’ s an excellent defender." Ramsay said Valentine is a “ much more capable defender than Kelvin Ransey was,” and gives Ransey an overall edge in perimeter shooting only. “ I ’m not sure how positive a fac to r that is fo r your ball handling guard,” Ramsay said. “ Your play making guard should get the ball to ? the National Highway T raffic Safe ty Adm inistration feels w ill have a dramatic impact on American driv ing habits. J 1 FORD FOR SALES • SERVICE PARTS • REPAIRS Our New Modem Building Northeetl Broedwey el F in i L Y N N K IR B Y F O R D mn for the BEST N e w m a n p u s h e s a u to s a fe ty CARSON, C A L IF — Actor Paul Newman is making rare appear ances on television and radio this fall to carry a safety message that on the flo or and makes (he simple pass.” Valentine is s till the lead guard but his understudy will play in every game according to Ramsay, aver aging between 15 and 20 minutes a contest. As far as the race in the Pacific Division goes, Ramsay sees the Bla zers right in the middle o f it. “ We’re in the thick. We’ re in the fig h t. I d o n 't know ju st where but we're competitive with everybody.” Hopefully the momentum picked up during a 6-2 pre-season cam paign will carry into the regular sea son. other people then shoot it.” Many people in the Portland and Corvallis area were upset when the Blazers drafted Lever instead o f Lester Conner o f Oregon State. Lever could change some minds with his ball handling. His assist to turnover ratio during preseason was 5 to I while Valentine’s was 2 to 1. Ramsay said, “ Fat sees the flo o r better (than Valentine)." He called Lever’s ratio, "probably the best ra tion that anybody is going to have in the league." Ramsaydoesn’ t see Lever slacking o ff either. About Lever, Ramsay said, “ He has great instincts for finding the open people CAR Newman has lent his support to the National Safety Belt Education Campaign in combating the declin ing use o f belts by emphasizing his “ second career” as a successful pro fessional automobile racing driver. The theme o f the 30-second televi sion and 60-second radio messages is “ Belt Yourself," as developed by- Nissan U.S.A., which is sponsoring the safety program along with local Datsun dealers, including Jim Fish er Datsun in Portland. Newman, a tw o-tim e national sports car racing champion who cur rently drives a turbocharged Datsun 28OZX in competition, declares that race-car d rivin g is actually safer than driving on the street “ because the drivers are professionals and you know what to expect.” ‘•Still 1 wouldn’ t dream o f taking a lap without belting m yself,” he says. “ And, when it comes to the real tricky part—the drive home— the very first thing I do is buckle- up.” The NHTSA estimates that only 11 per cent o f the driving public uses safety belts. “ There is evidence that, if worn, belts could save as many as 15,000 lives each year,” said Tetsuo Araka- wa, president o f Nissan U.S.A. 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