From: edrury@3cpu.rain.com (Ed Drury)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Blazer News
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:55:44 GMT
Reply-To: edrury@3cpu.rain.com (Ed Drury)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Garden Lane Software


 For the displaced Blazer fans who don't even have to admit it, here is
what's been up of late in  Portland.  Yes, they signed David Johnson --
what a thrill .... here's the rest and , as you might guess, things are
slow and not much to report on until  at least the upcomming intrasquad
game. (No believable trade rummors, sorry) :

     			   COOPER RETIRES
        
     Wayne  Cooper announced his official retirement  from  basketball 
    earlier this week. The 36 year old Cooper played 14 seasons in the 
    NBA  - but said he knew he was through playing when he walked  off 
    the  court after the Blazers were eliminated from the  NBA  finals 
    last year in Chicago. Cooper said the highlight of his career  was 
    going  to  the NBA finals for the first time in 1990  against  the 
    Detroit Pistons. 
        
     Wayne  will take a front office position with the   Blazers  this 
    year. Cooper was free to go with any team and while there may have 
    been  a team who could of used his experience as a backup  center, 
    Wayne did not want to move his family again.
    
     		SEASON TICKETS PRICES GO UP (AGAIN)
        
     Season ticket prices went up by 12%, however 99% of Blazer season 
    ticket holders renewed.  You beat some  of that  increase  if  you 
    purchased two years at the reduced rate offering. Only six out  of 
    12,219  tickets  were  returned.  Previously,  tickets  had   been 
    increasing  an average of about 6% per year. About 66%  of  season 
    ticket owners renewed for two years. 
    
     Parking  at the Coliseum will also go up $2 for Blazer games  and 
    $1  for  other events according to  the  Metropolitan  Exposition-
    Recreation Commission who controls it. Parking is not expected  to 
    be as much trouble as anticipated since talks between the city and 
    the  Blazers concerning the new arena have broken down  and  there 
    will not be construction going on during the season.


                      BLAZERS INSIDE SPORTS
        
     The  Blazers and their General Manager Bucky Buckwalter were  the 
    subject of an article in the NBA preview edition of Inside Sports. 
    The article is titled "Close But No Cigar" and discusses the moves 
    made  by the Portland management after loosing the NBA  finals  to 
    the Chicago Bulls in six games.
    
     The  article poses the question, "How much do you want to  tinker 
    with  a  team that almost went all the way?"  Buckwalter  replies, 
    "Good  question. Look, we built this team a consistent way -  with 
    running-type   pure   athletes  without,   perhaps,   the   purest 
    fundamental  skills  - not necessarily because we wanted  to,  but 
    because  we had to. Just look where we picked these guys from  and 
    where we picked them up in the draft."
        
     This  is very true. Portland has not had a high draft pick  in  a 
    long time. And picking late in the draft, Portland has looked  far 
    and  wide  to pick up players from places no one else  thought  to 
    look at. Jerome Kersey from Longwood College with the 46th pick of 
    the 84 draft. Kevin Duckworth was acquired from San Antonio  where 
    he  was their 33rd pick out of Eastern Illinois. Terry Porter  was 
    the  24th pick out of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Cliff  Robinson,  a 
    36th  pick out of Connecticut. Buckwalter says, " We  danced  with 
    the girl we brought to the prom. Considering the material we  were 
    given,  I think we've done pretty well." The writer  asserts  that 
    amazing  is  a better description than pretty well. And  the  real 
    challenge for Portland to "take the next step" seems to be one  of 
    over coming a too consistent past. What is the next step. Portland 
    looked  at it's options closely. They could dismantle the  current 
    team and look a rebuilding project or they could try and trade  up 
    in  the  draft.  What  they did do was  settle  on  a  compromise. 
    Buckwalter  expresses some concerns. "You think you take the  last 
    step,  and you fall down. Still we decided to stay with the  basic 
    core of our team, but also add some fundamental basketball  skills 
    in the shooting and ball-handling areas."
    
     That's not to say they didn't try to pull off a package deal  for 
    a  lottery  pick. Buckwalter says , "We worked our butts  off  but 
    couldn't quite pull off a package deal. But, you know what? That's 
    OK."  The  article  seems to share that  appraisal  based  on  the 
    Blazers record of getting the most out of low first round and high 
    second round picks.
    
     The article speculates about the events of the summer in terms of 
    steps toward and away from the Championship. First the acquisition 
    of  Tracy Murray is seen as a tiny step toward. The loss of  Ainge 
    is  rated as possibly a giant step backwards. The signing  of  Rod 
    Strickland  is  seen  as a giant  step  toward  the  Championship. 
    "Strickland, one of the top dishers in the NBA, is bound to have a 
    positive  impact  with the penetration and selfless  court  vision 
    he'll bring to such a poor passing team."
    
     Finally,  the article speculates that with Strickland and  Ainge, 
    Portland  would  have been the favorite for the  title.  But  with 
    Strickland,  Murray  and Johnson, their "still a darn  good  team. 
    They'll be close."
        

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