The public relations move finally happened ... just like they promised.
When president Steve Patterson and general manager John Nash took over the Portland Trail Blazers this summer, they promised they would clear the Rose Garden of the troubled vibes of the franchise.
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| Shareef Abdur-Rahim scores 27 points against Dallas and then gets traded to Portland.(AP) |
The shipping out of Wallace makes it three months in a row the Blazers have traded key members of the rotation.
It began with Bonzi Wells going to Memphis for Person and a draft choice in December, followed by Jeff McInnis being sent to Cleveland for Darius Miles last month.
But the timing couldn't have been worse for the Blazers, who had won seven of eight and eight of 10, and had finally gotten their chemistry in order. A lot of that had to do with the 29-year-old Wallace, the 6-foot-11 power forward/center, who is averaging 17.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
When Miles was acquired to play small forward, it freed Wallace to move his inside/outside game to center and provided more room to operate for young star Zach Randolph.
"It's working great," said center Dale Davis, who went to the bench so Miles could start and Wallace could move to a more natural position. "The team's playing better now because of it."
And while the coaching staff and teammates love his approach to the game and on-court leadership, the perception of Wallace was grounded in ugliness.
Until he finally calmed down last season, he was best known for garnering bushels of technical fouls. Wallace also was busted for smoking pot with teammate Damon Stoudamire last season while driving home from a game in Seattle, and the front office made a big splash of fining him over blowing off a sponsor function.
For public relations sake, they felt obligated to do something, and Person was just a throw-in for the $7.7 million that will come off the Atlanta cap this summer.
And considering Wallace's $17 million comes off the books this summer, they went for the jugular with Atlanta, a team in the process of being sold and ready to hold a fire sale for its players. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the entire franchise will be blown up, piece by piece, analyzed and reshuffled.
Wallace, meanwhile, will have his choice of teams, ranging from big money to play in Denver or with the Los Angeles Clippers, to taking the mid-level exception so he can play where he'd like, in Houston or New York.
That's the simple analysis.
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| Rasheed Wallace is averaging 17 points and 6.6 rebounds.(AP) |
They went after the affable 27-year-old Abdur-Rahim, who has the infamous tag of having lost more games than any other player in the NBA today and will earn more than $28 million ($13.5M and $14.6M) over the next two seasons.
But along with that comes a 6-9, 230-pound talent averaging 20.0 points and 9.3 rebounds who was named an All-Star two years ago and was a member of the United States 2000 gold-medal winning Olympic team.
In Ratliff, they have a 30-year-old shot-blocker, averaging 8.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.13 blocks. But his body has broken down considerably over the past few seasons due to a serious hip injury and he's not the active player he once was. Along with the body baggage, comes another hefty price tag of more than $21 million ($10.15M and $10.93M) the next two seasons combined.
Dickau grew up across the Columbia River from Portland in Vancouver, Wash., and was a star for Gonzaga, so his popularity is unquestioned.
Yes, it's a nice tidy package for the Blazers, except ...
How is this going to work on the floor for coach Mo Cheeks? What had just become a nice chemistry because of the way the pieces fit up front now becomes a mass of large bodies cluttering the lane.
Davis stays on the bench. Miles goes to the bench. Abdur-Rahim, Ratliff and Randolph all play in the post. Sure, they can each slide outside on occasion -- particularly Abdur-Rahim -- but they aren't comfortable out there. Slap a 2-3 or 2-1-2 zone on them, and that leaves only Stoudamire and the injury-waiting-to-happen Derek Anderson as the only players that can hit a perimeter shot.
Teams will be throwing a sardine defense at them they'll be packing it in so tight.
Besides, they have now acquired a combination that didn't work in Atlanta for the 18-35 Hawks (35-47 a year ago), while they now have three different types of post players expecting to play at the same time.
Indeed, Messrs. Patterson and Nash felt obligated to trade Wallace after all the noise they made before the season. Their warm and fuzzy theory coming in was all about winning press conferences, with smiles and cameras flashing, media members cracking jokes, all things being happy in the Rose City. And after next season, virtually all of the big contracts will be completed.
But all of that is overrated unless there is a bigger plan.
With 21 consecutive seasons of making the playoffs -- just one shy of tying the all-time record -- now in peril for the 24-25 Blazers, this may be a bigger gamble in the big picture of the franchise rather than extending Wallace's contract would have been.
Make no mistake about it, Abdur-Rahim is an excellent talent and a good guy who will never make waves. Ratliff, too, is a good guy and still effective defensively.
But the impact it will have on the players and the fans if this team that had just turned it around doesn't make the playoffs, could have lasting ramifications by the end of next month and for years to come.
