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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Sayson: Trading Portland’s sorrow
By Homer D. Sayon
Second overtime
CHICAGO - Rasheed Wallace is every coach's dream. He is a 6-foot-11, 230-pound power forward who can score, rebound, pass and play defense. He shoots lights out from 3-point range, and on the downside, he is also terrific at cursing at the refs, collecting an NBA record 41 technical fouls in the 2000-01 season.
Although he isn't an All-Star this year, Wallace's numbers are rock solid 17 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
A player this talented, who is still at his peak at age 29, is normally labeled untouchable when it comes to trades. But the Blazers thought otherwise as they shipped Wallace and Wesley Person to Atlanta in a blockbuster five-player swap yesterday.
While the 24-25 Blazers are currently 10th in the West Conference, they are merely four and a-half games behind Denver for the eighth playoff spot. So why on heaven's name would a team very much in the post-season hunt give up its most versatile player?
There are a few reasons for the severance of the Wallace-Portland love-hate relationship. Topping the list is the fact that the Blazers no longer wanted to pay Rasheed his current $17 million paycheck. The team offered him an extension beginning at $8 million per, but Wallace dismissed the offer as a sign of "disrespect."
Then there's is also Wallace's unpredictable behavior, a mean streak that got him suspended for seven games last season for threatening a referee at the loading dock of the Rose Garden. This season, Wallace alienated himself further from both management and Blazers fans when he recently accused the NBA as a white establishment exploiting poor black athletes. It was a truly hypocritical comment that will cement Wallace's place in the dummies Hall-of-Fame.
BLAZERS IMPROVE. In exchange for Wallace and Person, the Blazers acquired
from Atlanta Shareef Abdur Rahim, Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau. Except for Dickau (2.1 pts, .07 rebs and .08 assts per), who was thrown in just to make the deal work financially, Rahim and Ratliff will assume important roles in Portland's realistic quest
or another playoff appearance.
Yes, Rahim and Ratliff's potential salaries of exceeding $50 million didn't exactly clear salary space for the over-the-cap Blazers, but with them Portand acquired two upstanding citizens, who do not possess Wallace's temperamental baggage and destructive tendencies.
Rahim easily fills the void Wallace leaves in all facets of the game. Rahim is norming 20.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per. Ratliff, on the other hand, logs 8.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and .09 assists per. More importantly, Ratliff leads the NBA in blocked shots (3.13 bpg), giving the Blazers the shot-blocking presence they had forever craved.
After a disappointing start, the Blazers have finally found their stride, winning three in a row with Utah up next today at their homefloor. With the additions of Rahim and Ratliff, let me go out on a limb here and say the Blazers will, indeed, make the post-season.
STREAKING SPURS. Good news to Spurs fans: Tim Duncan and company are
playing like defending champions after a slow start mired by injuries.
The Spurs claimed their fifth consecutive victim yesterday, edging the Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston. The Spurs yielded to the Rockets a surprisingly high 43.2 percent shooting clip (32-of-74 field goals), but they held Houston to 3-of-19 from beyond the arc, including an airball by Steve Francis as time expired.
Yao Ming continues to improve, putting 25 points and seven rebounds in a losing cause, but he couldn't contain Tim Duncan. The two-time MVP filled the stat sheet with 28 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Tiny Tim shot 10-of-23 from the field and 8-of-11 from the stripe, where he had struggled all season.
The Spurs nailed 33-of-72 (45.8 percent) from the field and 6-of-13 (46.2
percent) from three-land. Those digits are hardly surprising for the efficient Spurs.
What was shocking was that the Spurs connected 13-of-17 free throws for a mind-bending 76.5 percent.
Why the surprise?
Well, the Spurs are the worst free throw shooting bunch in the NBA, norming just a pathetic 66.1 percent clip. But great teams rectify their mistakes. And San Antonio proved that last night.
(Questions are welcome at homsay@hotmail.com)
(February 11, 2004 issue)
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