On Blazer moves, Durant, Morant and the Jail Blazers, Hakeem nemesis Brickowski, LeBron and much more
Forward Cam Reddish is one of three players acquired by the Trail Blazers at the trade deadline
Updated 2/12/2023 9:53 PM
Bouncing the ball around on a load of sporting topics …
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The Trail Blazers’ moves at the trade deadline were … snooze-worthy.
They needed size and interior help. The totality of what they got is uncertain, with the status of Gary Payton II in limbo in that he failed a physical after being traded to Golden State.
What we know is the Blazers got at least two players whom they hope will fill the void left by the departures of Josh Hart, a throw-in guard, and perhaps Payton.
Hart — a free agent at season’s end — was unloaded as expected, going to New York for 6-8 Cam Reddish and 6-7 Svi Mykhailiuk along with a protected first-round pick. Mykhailiuk was then sent to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a deal that directed Matisse Thybulle from Philadelphia to Portland along with little-used guard Ryan Arcidiacono.
The Blazers will miss Hart’s grit and rebounding prowess at small forward, but hope that Reddish — who earned a start 24 hours later in his Blazer debut against Oklahoma City Friday night, scoring 11 points in 17 minutes in a 138-129 loss— can turn his career around in Portland. Reddish, still only 23, has never reached the promise he showed during a single season at Duke. Through 3 1/2 NBA seasons he carries a 10.2-points average, but he is not a shooter (.393 from the field, .323 from 3-point range) and has not played since Dec. 3. Reddish was once idled with a reported groin injury, but he also fell out of favor with Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau early in the season.
Thybulle is an Australian native who played his college ball at Washington, where he was National Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2018-19. Thybulle, who turns 26 next month, twice was named to the NBA All-Defensive team with the 76ers, but is not much of a 3-point shooter and has averaged only 2.7 points in 12.1 minutes this season.
On Thursday, Payton was returned to Golden State after what amounted to a 15-game rental by the Blazers in a four-team trade that sent small forward Kevin Knox and five second-round draft picks to Portland. Just 24 hours later came news that he had flunked his physical with the Warriors.
The former Oregon State star missed the first two months of the season following surgery for a core muscle injury. The Blazers expected him back by the start of the season, and that had coaches and teammates raising their eyebrows at his slow return. Payton II finally returned on Jan. 2 and has been in and out of the lineup with various ailments, including the core that evidently continues to give him problems. Turns out he wasn’t “jaking it” after all.
Friday’s word was that he could miss two to three more months due to the injury. Sources told The Athletic the Blazer training staff gave him Toradol shots and pushed him to “gut through” the injury. This had not been conveyed to the Warriors during the trade negotiation process.
While it’s unclear what will happen with the deal, it is clear that the Warriors want Payton and the Blazers don’t. My guess is that further negotiations will return at least a couple of the second-round picks will return to the Warriors, and they will be happy to have him recover and be ready for the 2023-24 campaign, or perhaps the playoffs if they get that far.
If the trade goes through, the Blazers get the 6-7 Knox, 23, who has averaged 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.1 minutes for Detroit this season. Knox, the ninth pick in the 2018 draft who played collegiately at Kentucky, started as a rookie with New York in 2018-19, averaging 12.8 points.
He is a career .344 shooter from 3-point range, but owns an overall field-goal percentage of .379.
The Blazers also got New York’s first-round pick this season — right now, that would be the 20th selection — in a strong draft class.
All three of the potential additions may get a shot at Hart’s starting small forward position. It’s doubtful any of the three will be a game-changer for the Blazers as they try to move up the standings in the morass that is the Western Conference playoff race.
Or do they? If they fail to make the playoffs, they keep their first-round pick this year, slotted right now at No. 13. If they make the playoffs, the pick goes to Chicago.
After the cards are played, the Blazers will likely have improved their salary cap situation and gained a couple of trade exceptions for Payton ($8.3 million) and Hart ($7.7 million) that could be used in the future. But major help for this season? I don’t see it.
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Kevin Durant yielded a high price tag — three veteran players and four first-round draft picks — for the Phoenix Suns
Four first-round draft picks?
That’s the part of the Kevin Durant trade that caught my eye.
The Phoenix Suns mortgaged their future by sending unprotected first-round picks in 2023, ’25, ’27 and ’29 to land Durant in the deal that also sent three veteran players to Brooklyn. Of course, the future is now for new Suns owner Justin Ishbia and point guard Chris Paul, who turns 38 in May.
Teams cannot trade first-round picks in back-to-back years, hence the every-other-year approach.
It’s rare that a team gives up four first-round picks in a trade, but not unprecedented. Not even within in the Brooklyn franchise itself.
In 2013, the Nets gave Boston four unprotected first-round picks in exchange for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. The Nets never got out of the second round of the playoffs with Pierce and Garnett in tow.
During the past offseason, Minnesota traded their 2023, ’25, ’27 and ’29 first-round picks to Utah for Rudy Gobert. The Jazz got out from under Gobert’s salary and received five players, including Malik Beasley and rookie Walker Kessler.
When the L.A. Clippers acquired Paul George in 2019, they sent Oklahoma City Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari along with five first-round picks, in additional to first-round pick swaps. With George’s array of injuries, Alexander’s emergence and all those picks, it’s looking like a steal for the Thunder.
Durant is under contract for three more seasons after this one, so the Suns should have him and guards Paul and Devin Booker together at least through 2023-24. This one has a chance to work out in the short term if all three remain healthy. That’s a big if.
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Ja Morant’s adventure in Memphis was outrageous, but not as much so as those of Jail Blazers Rasheed Wallace (left) and Bonzi Wells
The incident in Memphis Jan. 29 between the Grizzlies and Pacers was troubling, but we have seen much worse in the NBA’s past.
Memphis star Ja Morant was at the center of what was mostly a verbal altercation during the game involving Morant and Indiana’s Ruben Nembhard and Chris Duarte, the latter a former Oregon Duck. Morant’s father, Tee, got into it with Nembhard from his courtside seat.
According to reports, four or five members of Morant’s “posse” — including Ja’s best friend, Davonte Pack — aggressively confronted members of the Pacers’ traveling party following the game near the team’s bus in the loading area of FedEx Forum.
Later, someone in a slow-moving SUV trained a red laser on the bus. Three men were reported as being in the SUV, including Pack — known as “DTap” — and Morant. Pacer officials didn’t know if the laser was attached to a gun, but a Pacers security guard was quoted as saying, “That’s 100 percent a gun.”
“We felt we were in grave danger,” another Pacer rep told The Athletic.
The Pacers did not alert the police but filed a report with the NBA. After an investigation, the league issued a release that said, “We could not corroborate that any individual threatened others with a weapon.”
The NBA did ban certain individuals from attending future games at the FedEx Forum, including Pack, who had his own dispute with several Pacer players during the game. In the third quarter, he walked onto the court and directed expletives at several players. Security ushered him off the floor.
No fines or suspensions have yet been issued.
While the Memphis episode left troubling questions about the character of the Grizzlies’ star player, it was kids’ play in comparison to an incident more than two decades earlier, on Dec. 20, 2002, at Oakland Arena after the Blazers’ 113-111 win over the Warriors.
As chronicled in my book, “Jail Blazers,” Portland’s Bonzi Wells got locked up with Golden State’s Chris Mills under the basket as Rasheed Wallace knocked down a game-winning jump shot as time expired. The ensuing altercation led to Warrior Jason Richardson throwing a punch at Wells and Sheed telling Warrior Troy Murphy, “I’m going to f**k you up.”
“It was an unbelievable scene,” Blazer strength and conditioning coach Bobby Medina told me in the book. “It carried over into the tunnel. And the fans … it could have been another ‘Malice at the Palace.’ The type of guys we had on that team, they weren’t typical NBA players. Most NBA guys called a big game. These guys were like, ‘Let’s f**king go.’ They were ready to throw down.”
The big stuff happened later, though.
Mills tried to get into the Blazer locker room after the game but was restrained.
From the book:
“Mills wanted a piece of Bonzi,” Portland center Dale Davis recalled.
“Mills, Erick Dampier and Gilbert Arenas came around to try to get into our locker room to get to Bonzi,” remembers Jay Jensen, the Blazers’ trainer. “The door was locked. They couldn’t get in.”
As the Blazers’ bus prepared to leave the loading dock for the airport, Mills got into his Range Rover parked not far away.
As the bus driver pulled out, Mills pulled his car out at the same time, along with another car — presumably friends of Mills’.
“We start out toward the freeway and the cars park in front of the bus, a few yards away from us,” Jensen says. “We were blocked. We couldn’t get onto the freeway. These guys get out of their cars and start walking to us. Zach (Randolph) and some of our guys are trying to get off the bus to go fight with these dudes.”
The security man, Steve Warner, instructed everyone on the Blazers’ traveling party to get on the left side of the bus, opposite of Mills and his comrades. The bus got by the two cars, “and we were bobbing and weaving, and those guys got back in their cars and started chasing us as we made our way to the airport.”
Said Medina: “It was the wild, wild West.”
Jensen called officials at the “FBO,” the private terminal in which the Blazers were to fly to Portland.
Said Jensen: “I told them, ‘We’re coming in hot to the airport. We have to make sure the gate is open.’ We went cruising into the FBO to get into the airport, and the two cars were behind us. Outside the gate as the gate closed, the guys shaking their fists at us.”
Jensen later appraised the situation this way:
“We almost got hijacked. It was a scary deal. Some of the players who knew Mills said he was packing (a gun). It could have escalated. It was chilling. Very easily there could have been something stupid that happened. For somebody to try to hijack an NBA bus and stop it from getting to the freeway, that’s just unconscionable. Some serious things should have happened. Those guys should have been been banned from the NBA for life.”
The NBA gave Mills a three-game suspension and a $15,000 fine. Wells drew a two-game suspension and Wallace a $15,000 fine for attempting to go into the stands after the game.
Later, when asked if the incident further tarnished the Jail Blazers’ reputation, head coach Maurice Cheeks smiled and shook his head.
“Is that possible?” he asked.
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I watched the extravaganza at Crypto.com Arena Tuesday night impressed with the accomplishment but not so much with the scene.
LeBron James needed 36 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar atop the NBA career scoring list, not a paltry number even if James entered the game with a 30-point average. And he gets it done before the third quarter ends, even though Oklahoma City defenders weren’t impersonating matadors.
James had indicated prior to the game that he would like to pass the record with a skyhook a la Kareem. When he was two points away late in the third quarter, James was looking to do it, but a help defender cut off his left side. After a couple of feints, LeBron passed the ball away. On the next possession, he knocked down the step-back jumper that got him the record.
Nike was well-represented, including kingpin Phil Knight, who offered a gift — four four-year scholarships a year, worth more than $38,000 a year, to graduates of James’ iPromise school program in Akron.
LeBron didn’t seem too broken up over the Lakers’ 133-130 loss to Oklahoma City, dropping them to 25-30 and 13th place in the 15-team Western Conference.
I thought the pomp and circumstance went on a little too long, really. I felt for the Thunder, who were a captive audience. Twenty-some minutes later, play resumed and they pulled out an important win that pulled them into a tie with the Blazers for 11th in the packed West playoff race.
Afterward, the debate over who is the greatest player ever — LeBron or Michael Jordan — continued. The answer is neither. It’s Wilt Chamberlain, followed by James, then Jordan.
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When Hakeem Olajuwon was asked the most difficult defenders to play against he mentioned two. One of them was Frank Brickowski
In this month’s issue of Sports Illustrated, Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon is asked which defenders gave him the most trouble.
“The really challenging ones were heavy and mechanical,” Olajuwon answered. “Like Greg Kite, and Frank Brickowski.”
I reached out to Brickowski, a rugged center-forward who enjoyed a 13-year NBA career from 1984-97. “Brick” never played for the Blazers but lived in the Portland area for 18 years, mostly while serving as an NBA Players Association representative in charge of the union’s mental wellness program. He sold his Lake Oswego house 2 1/2 years ago and now divides his time between homes in Polson, Mont., and Palm Desert, Calif.
Frank’s initial reaction to the Olajuwon comment was quick and to the point.
“I don’t like being mentioned with Greg Kite,” he told me. “That’s not fair.”
The 6-11, 250-pound Kite was a journeyman who played in 680 games across 12 seasons with seven NBA teams. He averaged 2.5 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting .438 from the field and .486 from the free throw line. Kite was a full-time starter only one season, with Orlando in 1990-91, when he averaged 4.8 points and 7.2 rebounds. He played in 61 playoff games, averaging 0.9 points and 1.6 rebounds.
The 6-9, 240-pound Brickowski started in 404 of the 731 games he played with six teams across 12 seasons. He averaged 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting .519 from the field and .740 from the line during his career. In 1987-88 with San Antonio, Brickowski averaged 16.0 points and 6.9 rebounds, and in 1992-93 with Milwaukee, he averaged 16.9 points and 6.1 boards. Frank played in 37 playoff games, averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds.
So yeah, I get it, Brick.
Was he surprised Olajuwon considered him one of the toughest guys he faced?
“Yes and no,” Brickowski said. “I scored 32 on him one time, but he was more of a roaming shot blocker than an individual one. He was always tough, but I didn’t let players get the position they wanted a lot of times. I would fight for every foot on the court. I’m sure it wasn’t much fun for him, but no one liked playing against me. My dad told me one time, ‘If someone is having fun playing against you, you ain’t doing s**t.’ ”
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As the late Bill Schonely was laid to rest on Friday at Willamette National Cemetery, let’s enjoy a moment of levity provided by his former broadcast partner, Dave Twardzik. Twardzik, starting guard on the 1977 championship team, had
This from a column I wrote after a Trail Blazers game against New York on Feb. 7, 1982, during Twardzik’s first season as Schonely’s analyst:
“The repartee came … after Blazer Jim Paxson had been ejected for his part in an altercation with a Knicks player.”
Schonely: “I’m told now that Paxson won’t be our post-game guest, but instead, we’ll have Sam Bowie.”
Twardzik: “Now wait a minute, Schonz. It’s bad enough that Jimmy’s thrown out, he’s fined, and now you’re not going to have him on post game?”
Schonely: “Well, I understand he’s in the shower …”
Twardzik: “You are a cold human being, Schonz.”
Schonely: “They told me no, man. It’s not me.”
Twardzik: “I’ve never seen this side of you before.”
Schonely: “Hey Twardzik, take a walk.”
Twardzik: “That’s cruel. Hey Jim, I know you’re listening in the locker room. It’s not my idea …”
Schonely: “It’s not my idea, either.”
Twardzik: “I want you out here, Jim.”
Through four years calling Blazer games together, Dave’s comic genius was often on display as Schonely proved a perfect foil. Schonz was a good sport about it, if internally occasionally miffed at being the target of his partner’s mirth, and the chemistry was terrific. It made for fun radio.
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Hard to believe the situation at Iowa, where offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz was recently hit with a $50,000 paycut and also received a new contract clause. The Hawkeyes must average at least 25 points next season while the program wins at least seven games. If he doesn’t reach either mark, his contract with be terminated.
The money is insignificant, dropping Brian’s annual salary from $900,000 to $850,000. The brainlessness of the terms is not.
Brian is son of Kirk Ferentz, who will be entering his 25th season as Iowa’s head coach and is an institution in the state. What is in question are problems with the Hawkeyes’ offense under Brian, who will enter his seventh season as the OC. The last two seasons, Iowa has ranked 120th and 129th out of 130 FCS programs in total offense.
Last season, the Hawkeyes averaged a paltry 17.7 points per game. The gravity of that situation was mitigated by an excellent defense. Iowa went 8-5, allowing only three opponents to score more than 13 points, and beat Kentucky 21-0 in the Music City Bowl. The Hawkeyes, incidentally, have won at least seven games 13 times over the last 14 full seasons. Kirk Ferentz can probably have his job as long as he wants.
But there is plenty of displeasure with the junior Ferentz, who nevertheless doesn’t have to achieve great success next season to keep his position. What athletic director Gary Barta should have done was fire him after last season. Instead, almost surely to not tick off the head coach but to also appease disgruntled fans, Barta set minimum standards.
I’m all for installing an incentive clause for victories in a coach’s contract. A clause for points, however, is illogical. It gives incentive for running up the score or trying to tack on meaningless points with an outcome already decided. It’s an arbitrary number, too. If Iowa averages 24.9 points and wins 10 games, they’re saying Brian is gone?
It’s a half-baked measure that makes Barta and the Hawkeyes look small-time and, in another way, nepotistic.
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I am continually amazed how much major sporting events cost these days. On Tuesday, the average ticket for Sunday’s Super Bowl game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., was going for $8,145, according to SI Tickets on the secondary market. That makes Super Bowl LVII the second-most expensive in history (next to Seattle-New England in 2015).
I recall buying a ticket for one of my sons from the NFL for the 2000 Super Bowl in Atlanta, a game I covered for The Oregonian. If memory serves, face value was $175 for a mid-level seat, and that’s what I paid.
I went Wednesday to the NFL website, and it sent me to Ticketmaster, which showed the lowest price available at $3,700 for upper level on the goal line. Best seats? Section 108, row five, 45-yard line, for a cool $24,692 apiece.
Discretionary cash notwithstanding, I prefer the view from my living room.
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