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R iw iiar y
22. 1995 • T he
P ortland O bserver
Blazers Send Drexler To Houston
feels sad to m iss som eone.
D rexler was nothing but a class
act in all my interactions with the
humble Blazer. D rexler had a huge
am ount o f success as a Blazer and
this truly was his town. M ore im por
tant than his success on the court was
his achievem ents o ff the court as a
quality person and dedicated family
B y E ric N oon
The PortlandT rail Blazers made
the biggest trade in franchise history
last w eek, trading Clyde D rexler and
Tracy Mun-av to the H ouston R ock
ets for pow er forward O tis Thorpe.
1993 s e c o n d - ro u n d d r a f t p ic k
M arcilo N icola and a conditional
1995 draft pick
For D rexler, the trade was a
dream com e true.
Not only did D rexler get his
wish to be traded to a team in conten
tion for a cham pionship, h e 's re
united with his old college team
mate. Hakeem Olajuwon and back in
Houston with his family.
D re x le rs contributions to the
franchise are rem arkable and in the
same note his contributions also led
to his departure. Drexler felt he w asn’t
treated fairly by m anagem ent and his
contributions to the organization
w eren't appreciated.
“It was the nature o f the beast at
the tim e," said Blazer radio play-by-
pla\ announcerBillSchonley. “Clyde
wanted to move on and it's time for
this franchise to move on.”
And Shonz went on to say, “and
w hatever trade Bob (W hitsitt, gen
eral manager) does 1 think it's going
to benefit the franchise dow n the
line.”
W hitsitt claims he made the trade
w ith H ouston in rec o g n itio n o f
D rexler's contributions to the team
over the years. N ot the case, Trader
Bob had his back against the wall
with D rexler dem anding a trade and
got the best player he could for
D rexler and by chance it happened to
be Houston.
Cham pionships have dom inated
conversations betw een D rexler and
O lajuw on for years now. Sure a lot o f
these folks focused on the one chance
man.
Trail Blazer General Manager Bob Whitsitt (from left) newly acquired forward Otis Thorpe, and coach P.J. Carlesimo at a press conference
following the trade of Clyde Drexler.
(Photo by Eric Noon)
that slipped away in the 1983 NCAA
title game against North C arolina
State.
M any o f those exchanges be
tw e e n th e lo n g tim e frie n d s
nodoubtably surrounded the thought
that som e day they could win the big
one together.
“I'v e learned how to lose. Now
I w ant to learn how to win the big
one,” said the anxious eight-tim e all-
star Drexler.
It’s probably pretty safe to as
sum e that O lajuw on put in a good
w o rd w ith m a n ag e m en t for the
D rexler trade, know ing his talent and
w hat he could bring to the Rockets as
they try to defend their NBA title.
“Clyde, h e’s a professional.”
O lajuw on said. “You always know
what to expect o f him. H e’s a w orker
every night.”
D rexler and M urray had to wait
a little extra longer to play in their
first gam e as R ockets as T horpe had
to pass his physical in Portland be
fore the trade was finalized. They sat
on the Rocket bench for the firsth«jU,
until the trade w ent through last
Thursday.
“I was jum ping up and dow n,
the coaching staff was very happy,
the play ers were all hugging," Drexler
said, o f the half-tim e announcem ent.
“It was great, and it’s a great feeling
to be w anted.”
I ’m happy for D rexler and M ur
ray being able to go where they can
contend for a cham pionship, but ju st
like it feels good to be w anted, it also
Murray was also a talented player
and got lost in the shuffle as a player,
but not as a person. Murray kept his
head up and w orked hard and now
it’s going to pay o ff for the young
man who never got a lair shake as a
Blazer.
Losing D rexler in this trade will
hurt the team in many ways as Drexler
did so m any things for the team with
his all-around play. On the other hand,
the team needs to m ove on and play
some of the young guns o f the future,
like Jam es R o b in so n and A aron
M cK ie, who will lead this team into
the new Rose G arden next year.
O tis T horpe (32) isn 't exactly
young, but he brings a lot o f skills to
the court and can score in the paint,
som ething the B lazers have been
lacking for years.
“W ell, like I alw ays said, I like
to take one gam e at a tim e,” said the
new Blazer, as he got acquainted
with his new locker room .” Anything
can happen and th a t's my attitude,
th a t’s been my attitude, and that al
w ays is going to be my attitude."
Not only did the Blazers get one
o f the best pow er forw ards in the
gam e, the Blazers got a man who
know s how to win and brings a w in
ning attitude night in and night out.
There's gcxxl players, there's great
players and there' s w inners and in Thorpe
I think Portland has not only a great
player, they have a winner.
Benson Falls Short To Cleveland
B y D anny B ell
BRIEFS
Drexler, Walton
Lead In Vote
B ill W a lto n and C ly d e
D rexler led all vote-getters in
balloting for the Blazers L eg
endary Line-up and Sweepstakes,
presented by Bank O f America.
M ore than 23 ,0 0 0 votes
were cast throughout O re g |n as
fans and m em bers of the media
were asked to select their 100
all-tim e favorite Blazers players
and coach in honor of the team 's
25th Anniversary season.
The following players com
prise the Blazers Legendary Line
up: Bill W alton and M ychal
T ho m p so n , centers; M aurice
Lucas, Buck W illiam s, Calvin
Natt and Sidney Wicks, forw ards;
C lyde D rexler. G eo ff Petrie.
Terry Porter and Jim Paxson,
guards; and Jack Ramsay, coach
The players and coach have
been invited to attend the Blaz
ers home game against the Se
attle S uperS oncis on Friday.
M arch 24 where they will be
formally introduced at a special
halftim e ceremony.
Athletes
Sought
O regon's Colum bia chapter
of Special Olympics has launched
preparations for the spring sport
season and is recruitng athletes
for X to 10 training program s in
four sports to start in late F ebru
ary and early March. G ym nas
tics. pow erlifting, track and field
and volleyball coaches arc also
being sought Interested athletes
and coaches should call 230-
1146 lor more inform ation.
T he C leveland W arriors, the
P IL 's also rans this year, sent the
state 'sn u m b e ro n e team ree 1 i ng to i ts
first defeat o f the season, 59-58.
An exciting fourth quarter rally
saw B en so n 's 11 point lead evapo
rate in the last six m inutes o f the
game.
Senior Leonard Prescott, who
scored all 20 of his points in the
second half, m ade a five-foot ju m p er
to register the upset victory. C leve
land outscored Benson 18-8 in the
final period and brought their win-
loss record to 15-5 overall and 11-5
in league. They will face Marshall
and Roosevelt in their last two games
o f the season.
"W e h aven't beaten any of the
ranked team s in our league and I kept
telling the kids they needed to beat
one o f them if they expected to be
anything more than just aso-so team,"
said C leveland coach Tom Beatty,
w ho was bouncing around like a
M exican ju m ping bean am id the
throng of players and fans when the
gam e ended.
“The kids really stepped up and
played their hearts outs," Beatty said.
Prescott, w ho scored the team 's
last seven points, com m ented, “this
should show the rest o f the state
w e're acham pionship-caliber team ."
Senior guard Gary Burks scored
14 points to lead the Techm en, whose
record now stands at 19-1 and 15-1.
“It's hard to keep (an unbeaten
seaso n ) g oing esp ecially in this
league," said coach Don Emry of
Benson. "W e'v e had several gam es
we might have lost but we m ade the
big plays to win the game at the end,
we just d id n ’t get the big plays here."
The gam e was close until late in
the third quarter when Benson went
on a 9-0 run to gain a com fortable
lead at 50-39. That m argin cam e with
6:49 left in the gam e as B en so n 's
Edw ard Lincoln connected for two
free throw s.
Then. Prescott, a 6’-1" guard, hit
from the field and senior forward
G abe Stew art stole a pass, drove the
floor and was fouled in the course of
scoring. H e m ade the free-throw
w hich ignited the hom e crow d. The
score now was 52-48, Benson.
T he T echm en had num erous
Cougars Blast Ducks
B y D anny B ell
The scuttlebutt before the game
by both sides was that it m ight be an
im portant game, but it w asn 't a piv
otal game.
A win or loss for Oregon wasn't
going to determine the rest of the season
or jeopardize their first ever NCAA tour
nament appearance in 34 years.
H ow ever, after a 76-59 shel
lacking by W ashington S tate on
O reg o n 's hom e court, a rude aw ak
ening daw ned on the Ducks. Facing
ranked A rizona and A rizona State
this weekend (to put it m ildly) is an
uphill battle, if th ey 're going to keep
their playoff hopes alive.
O reg o n 's perform ance w asn’t
exactly NCA A tournam ent caliber as
they shot a dism al 2 9 .1 percent from
the floor (21 of 72) and 9.5 percent
from 3-point range (2 o f 21).
“A big surprise to m e." said UO
Coach Jerry G reen. “1 really d o n 't
know what to tell you. I think this is
the worst basketball game we played
all year We probably h av en 't done
anything like this at home since our
first year."
B efore 10,0X6 fans. O regon
played too jittery and too much in a
hurry, missing 20 of their first 24
shots That dug them an early and
deep hole from which to extricate
them selves.
“The heat was on them, more
than it was on us," W ashington State
Coach Kevin Eastman said.
M ark Hendrickson, the Cougars
standout pow er forward, said W SU
fed o ff the cro w d 's noise and chal
lenged the student section during the
warm-ups.
“ It kind of got us m otivated.”
H endrickson said. "I think we kind of
surprised them (Oregon) with the
intensity we cam e out with A lot of
team s com e in here and get scared. If
you act intim idated in this place,
th ey ’ll really get on you."
O regon played such a lackluster
game that Eastman spoke in defense
of the Jerry Green program.
“ It's already been a (great) year
for O regon." he said. “ I hope one
gam e for the local people d oesn't
take away from some trem endous
accom plishm ents already gathered."
The Ducks, trailing by as many
as 15 points in the first half, went into
the break down. 35-23. Oregon made
one mini-run to pull within nine, but
the Cougars were able to respond
and extend their lead to 24.
‘There's a lot of ways to take tlie
crowd out of a gan ic I -'irst. m) three' s. the
place explodes after a three. And no high
energy plays,” was how he explained
coming into Mac Arthur Court and domi
nating No. 19-ranked Oregon.
The tell o f the tape was ju st as
disappointing. The D ucks' box was a
disaster. Starting forward Darryl Por
ter w as 1 for 8 from the field. F or
ward Jeff Potter follow ed suit with 2
for 8. The Ducks leading scorer O r
lando W illiam s was 2 for 9 and point
guard Kenny W ilkins, who plays an
im portant role in their offense was 2
for 11 with 3 assists.
T h at's a recipe for failure when
four o f the starting five are 7 for 36
from the field.
“O ur offense just w asn 't click
ing tonight, said D amon Runyon of
O regon. "W e cam e out flat. This was
an important gam e we needed to win
and these guys feel pretty depressed
But what I love about this team is the
fact w e'll use this as m otivation and
just work that much h a rd e r.'
Said Green, “no excuses W SU
deserved to win They were the bet
ter team They were really ready to
play, mentally and physically."
O regon was sitting on top ol the
bubble for an NCAA bid. Has the
bubble burst ’ Slay tuned, stranger
things have happened
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opportunities to win the gam e but
w eren 't able to take advantage of
them. They were only 1-12 from the
field and six for eight from the free-
throw line in the final quarter.
B e n s o n 's la st lead ca m e on
tw o free th ro w s fro m E arl C la rk ,
w h ic h m ad e it 5 9 -5 7 w ith 1:12
r e m a i n i n g in th e g a m e . B u t
P re sc o tt re sp o n d e d w ith tw o from
the fie ld . C la rk m issed a to u g h
sh o t on th e in s id e an d his p a ss to
S te v e F ra n k lin w en t aw ry w ith
th re e se c o n d s le ft in the g am e -
an d th a t w as it.
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