Page 6 The Portland Observer May 23, 1990
T he L ocker R o o m
Terry Porter: “Determined To Win
At All Cost”
Regardless o f the outcome in their
quest fo r an N B A T itle , the members o f
the Portland Trailblazers w ill remem­
ber this season as one fu ll o f adversity,
personal tragedy, and an extreme test o f
character or intestinal fortitude.
Blazer star guard Terry Porter has
learned a great deal about him self and
his running mates this season. Porter
uses words like supportive, love and
determination when he describes his
teammates. This team has watched a
fe llo w teammate recover from a near
fatal car accident, lost tw o mothers
(M ark Bryant and Porter) and played
during critica l periods w ithout centers
Wayne Cooper and Kevin Duckworth.
M alcolm X coined the phrase " . .. by
any means necessary,” but the Blazers
live by this statement and have found
ways beyond reason to snatch victory
from the jaws o f defeat.
* ‘O ur team has really been through a
Kevin Johnson
lo t,” said Porter. “ When you have 12
guys on a team, you have got to fig h t for
each other and support each other to get
the jo b done. Despite all that has hap­
pened to us, we have remained focused
on what we have to do and it w ill stay
that w ay.”
W ithout a doubt, Terry Porter is the
heart and soul o f the team. W hile Buck
W illiam s, Jerome Kersey and Clyde
D rexler have played w ell, it is Porter
who came through w ith the best per­
formances o f his career against the San
Antonio Spurs. He scored 38 points,
including five three-pointers and dished
out five assists in game five. He also
scored 36 points and had nine assists in
game seven.
Porter realizes that nothing w ill come
easy against the Phoenix Suns. He has
won playoff battles against Derek Harper
o f the Dallas M avs and he took Rod
Strickland to point guard school. Kevin
Johnson is in a class all by himself.
Porter knows that “ K J” can present
problems fo r his teammates as seen by
his play in the first two games. Prob­
lems are what this team overcomes
best.
“ Kevin and Phoenix are tough,”
saidPorter. “ T he yjustke e pco m in ga t
you w ith so many people. A t this stage
o f the season, neither team is going to
lay down or go away. We all have the
same objective and that’s to make it to
the finals.
A first round draft pick (24th selec­
tion) out o f the University o f W iscon­
sin-Stevens Point in 1985, Porter has
tallied more than 700 assists in each o f
the last four seasons and was voted the
team’ s M ost Improved Player by Blazer
fans last year. He came back this sea­
son to average 17.6 points per game
(second behind Drexler) and in the
process established him self as one o f
the better p oint guards in the N BA .
Porter’ s assist totals (ranked 4th w ith
9.5) m ight not be as high as John Stock-
ton, Magic Johnson or Kevin Johnson,
but when you consider that Drexler
averages six assists per game from the
big guard spot, that’s great production
from the backcourt. “ We w ork really
w ell together,” he said.
When questioned about the type o f
individual it takes to overcome adver­
sity or periods o f uncertainty, Porter
was quick to point out that it takes guts
and determination. He believes, also,
that the same principles apply in real
life.
“ L ife is not always fa ir but you’ve
got to hang in there anyway,” said
Porter. “ When your back is against the
w a ll, the last thing you want to do is lay
your head down. No one in this locker
room is going to do that. W e are a
Walker Awarded Allstate Good Hands Award
Point Guard D arrell W alker o f the
Washington Bullets was named the
winner o f the Allstate Good Hands
Aw ard for the N B A ’ s 1989-90 regular
season, after totaling 714 rebounds,
652 assists, 139 steals and 173 turn­
overs in 2,883 minutes played over 81
games. W alker, who won the m onthly
Good Hands Aw ard in February,
compiled 1,298 Good Hands points.
Good Hands points are based on a
ratio o f statistics that includes assists,
rebounds, steals and turnovers.
W alker was one o f tw o guards in
the league — Fat Lever o f Denver was
the o th e r- to finish in the Top 20 in
rebounds, assists and steals. During
the course o f the 1989-90 campaign
W alker posted career highs in m in ­
utes played, rebounds, assists and FG
percentage (.454).
A llsta te Good Hands Leaders fo r Regular Season
GH
Player
Darrell Walker
Fat Lever
John Stockton
Magic Johnson
Muggsy Bogues
Akeem Olajuwon
Michael Jordan
Charles Barkley
Larry Bird
Alvin Robertson
Team
Was.
Den.
Utah
LAL
Cha.
Hou.
Chi.
Phi.
Bos.
Mil.
Ast
652
517
1,134
907
867
234
519
307
562
445
Reb
714
734
206
522
207
1,149
565
909
712
559
Stl
139
168
207
132
166
174
227
148
106
207
TO
173
156
272
289
146
316
247
243
243
217
Pts
1,298
1,275
1,210
1,115
1,114
1,099
1,044
1,026
1,000
984
Early Entry Draft In 15th Year
The 1990 N B A D raft w ill mark the
15th year that the Early Entry rule fo r
d raft e lig ib ility w ill apply.
Since 1976, the N B A has not had a
“ hardship” draft. Instead, the league
and the Players Association agreed to
specific rules to govern college under­
graduates’ e lig ib ility for the N B A Draft.
That agreement called fo r the N B A
to grant e lig ib ility to any athlete whose
high school class had graduated and
who notified the league in w ritin g at
least 45 days p rio r to the N B A D raft
that he wished to be eligible.
Since that tim e, a total o f 124 play­
ers have applied to the N B A fo r early
entry. O f those, 88 were drafted by
N B A teams, 35 were not selected and
one player was permitted by the N C A A
to w ithdraw his name due to unusual
circumstances.
Some o f the league’ s brightest stars
have entered the N B A early, including
the likes o f C hicago’s Michael Jordan,
Magic Johnson o f the L A Lakers, Akeem
Olajuwon o f Houston, Cahrles Barkeley
o f Philadelphia, Utah’ s Karl Malone,
A tlanta’ s Dom inique W ilkin s and Isiah
Thomas o f the defending N B A cham­
pion D etroit Pistons.
From last year’ s N B A D raft, college
stars Nick Anderson (now with Orlando),
J.R. Reid (now w ith Charlotte) and fo r­
eign star Vlade D i vac (now w ith the L A
Lakers) were a ll early entry candidates.
But fo r every success story, there are
players who apply fo r early entry and
are not selected. They find themselves
unable to compete at the N B A level and
ineligible for competition under N C A A
U llysses T ucker , J r .
P eninsula L ittle L eague
IT *
T eam of the W eek
determined group and we want to get
the jo b done.”
One last thing about Terry Porter.
He has never been afraid o f hard work
and competition. You learn those things
when you are the youngest child. Por-
Mathew M arine
P E N IN S U LA L IT T L E L E A G U E
Cleans G oodlow , Coach
1990
Terry Porter
Portland Trailblazers
ter, who has his mother’ s initials in ­
scribed on the N IK E shoes he plays in,
said that she (Louise Porter) always
stressed hard work. She died A p ril 6,
1990. Porter and M ark Bryant got
together this past Mother's Day for some
male bonding. It was the firs t Mother's
Day o f their life w ithout “ m om s”
around. It was an emotional moment
for both young men. Deep inside his
heart, Porter knows that his mother is
enjoying the success o f the T ra il Blaz­
ers and cheering her son on to victory.
“ M om is giving h igh fives in heaven, ’ ’
he said w ith a smile. So are the local
fans.
S hort Shakes: Buck W illia m s was
named to the Master Lock A ll N B A
Defensive team. Congratulations Buck
... E lvin Hayes, Earl “ The Pearl”
Monroe, and Washington, D.C. native
Dave Bing are now members o f the
N B A H all o f Fame. What high school
has two members in the N B A H all o f
Fame? Spingam High in Washington,
D.C. (Dave Bing & Elgin Baylor)! Sher­
man Douglass o f the M iam i Heat also
attended the famous high school bas­
ketball power.
“Doc” Rivers Wins
Citizenship Award
Darrell Walker
The four other Good Hands w in ­
ners this season were John Stockton o f
Utah (November), Magic Johnson o f
the Lakers (December), Charles
Barkeley o f Philadelphia (January) and
Muggsy Bogues o f Charlotte (March).
by
Glenn "Doc"Rivers,
Atlanta Hawks
Glenn “ D o c” Rivers o f the Atlanta
Hawks was named the recipient o f the
1990 J. W alter Kennedy Citizenship
Aw ard by the Professional Basketball
W riters Association o f Am erica. Since
1975 the award has been presented to
an NB A coach, player or trainer fo r out­
standing com m unity service. He w ill
receive the award at the Hawks’ home
opener next season.
Rivers was cited fo r active partici­
pation in com m unity service in the A t­
lanta area. A frequent visitor to A T -
tlanta’a children’s hospitals, Rivers also
serves as Chairperson o f the Autism
Society o f Georgia; Chairperson o f
“ Hugs not Drugs” ; and Spokesperson
fo r the Brauner Psychiatric Institute.
Rivers, a flag carrier at the 1989 Geor­
gia Special O lym pics, was also named
as that organization’ s “ Person o f the
Year.”
The balloting for this year’ s award
by P B W A A members was very close,
w ith Rivers edging out Rick Mahom o f
the Philadclpha 76crs and Bob “ Chop­
per” Travaglini, trainer o f the Denver
Nuggets, by four votes.
The award is dedicated to the mem­
ory o f the late J. W alter Kennedy, who
served as N BA Commissioner from 1963
until his death in 1975.
3
*ay w hat you owe and you
w ill know w hat you own
Row 1 - Brandon Branch, Marshall Hart, Chris Sutton, Sean Johnson, Tiante Tims, Gabriel Branch, Andre Goodlow;
Row 2 - Joe Johnson, Andre Moore, Kom ar Harvey, Theotis Cason, M att Crum , Massie Johnson, Sean Sutton, Cleatis
Goodlow.
P eninsula L ittle L eague
M id -S eason R eport
by Dennis G. Payne
League President
Our L ittle League Baseball season
has reached its half-w ay point and I ’ m
w ritin g to the com m unity to present a
status report on our activities.
Peninsula L ittle League covers the
area between Lom bard and Burnside
(north to south) and Albina/M ississippi
and 15th Avenue (west to east). We
have 13 teams competing in 4 different
divisions o f play. There are 6 M in or
Teams (ages 7 to 10 years old), 5 M ajor
Teams (ages 10 to 12 years old), 1
Junior Team (age 13 years old) and 1
Senior Team (ages 14 and 15 years
old).
The M in o r and M ajor Teams play
w ithin the league against each other
within their divisions, whereas the Junior
and Senior Teams compete district wide
(D istrict Number 1) w ith teams form
other leagues. M in o r and m ajor teams
play their games on Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturdays at Peninsula Park and
Junior and Senior Teams play district
wide w ith some games at Irvin g (Irv ­
ington) Park.
This year the number o f youth who
are participating in baseball equals ap­
proxim ately 200. Assisting in support­
ing the league efforts are over 50 adults
who serve as Coaches, Managers,
Umpires, Scorekeepers and Board
Members. We have also reactivated
the Parent A u x ilia ry this year and have
several parents who in addition to league
o fficials are providing support o f our
youth development through baseball
and citizenship training.
We have been supported in the com m u­
nity this year by sponsors who assist in
paying the necessary bills to run the
league. O ur sponsors are:
Minor Teams
Major Teams
Dr. Reynolds
Special Mobility
Trailblazers
Pacific Lloyd
Properties
Mathew Marines Southwest Marines
Burger King
Ketiv
Intel
Local 296
Ho use warmers
O ur Board o f D irectors includes my­
self, Dennis G. Payne, as President;
Omar Sahbazz as Vice President, Jay
Hernandez as Secretary, M ark M ills as
Treasurer, A.J. Mashis as Player Agent
and Larry Porter as U m pire In Chief.
We invite the com m unity to come out
and support the teams and our youth at
the ball parks. Y o ur w illingness to
show your concern w ill mean a lot to
our youth as they strive to learn team­
work and sportsman skills.
Rodman: NBA Defensive Player Of The Year
Dennis Rodman o f the D etroit Pis­
tons, the 6-8 forward whose defensive
tenacity was a major reason why his
team allowed the fewest points in the
N B A this season, was named the 1990
Master Lock N B A Defensive Player o f
the Year, beating out Akeem Olajuwon
o f the Houston Rockets.
Rodman, one o f the league’ s lop
sixth men before stepping into the Pis­
ton’ s starting lineup fo r the final 42
games o f the season, received 49 out o f
a possible 92 votes from a nationwide
panel o f sports writers and broadcast­
ers.
O lajuw on finished second in the
balloting w ith 35 votes, follow ed by
Detroit’s Joe Dumar’s and Dallas’ Derek
Harpet w ith two votes each, and C hi­
cago’ s Michael Jordan, New Y o rk ’ s
Patrick Ew ing, M ilw aukee’ s A lv in
Robertson and Utah’ s M ark Eaton w ith
one apiece.
Rodman led the Pistons in rebound­
ing w ith 9.7 per game, and his defen­
sive prowess helped D etroit surrender
ju s t 98.3 points per game, the lowest
figure inthe league.
“ W e’re a defensive-minded club to
begin w ith ,” said Coach Chuck Daly,
“ but he sets an integral part o f our
defensive tone, particularly down the
stretch o f games. Dennis is probably as
hard a w orker as there is in the busi­
ness.”
A fte r M ark A guirre was injured in a
game against the L A Lakers on Jan. 21,
Rodman stepped into D etroit’ s starting
lineup and sparked the team to 25 wins
in their next 26 games, and he remained
there for the rest o f the season.
“ When you’re a scorer,” Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Detroit Pistons
said, “ you take pride in leading the
league in scoring. I ’ m a defender, so
this (Master Lock Defensive Player of
the Year Aw ard) is the biggest tribute
you could pay to a player like m e.”
—
ANNOUNCING
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