Oregonian Sports: How Jerry West impacted the Blazers, plus thoughts on the NBA draft and offseason

Oregonian Sports: How Jerry West impacted the Blazers, plus thoughts on the NBA draft and offseason

hello and welcome to The Oregonian Sports podcast I am Bill Oram Sports columnist The Oregonian joined as always by a glitter bomb of a personality Brena Green from coin 6 Brena how are we today you know a little tired went up to Seattle to go visit Cameron Brink last night but we got it done so uh yeah we’re we’re Trucking along uh for those of you who are listening we are repping the lovely Great Falls Argonauts today on this podcast which uh you probably have never heard of but um they not uh it’s not um it’s not uh Great Falls University anymore or the University of Great Falls anymore it’s Vanguard or something no it’s Providence Providence I was close okay not these are the old colors before they switched to the blue and green colors to once again represent Providence yes that Providence the health system you know of um cuz for whatever reason they randomly own a university in Great Falls Montana bizarre uh but anyway so we’re repping we’re repping the old school Argos today you know we I was like you know I was trying to figure out what I was going to wear and I was like that just that just feels that just feels right today for whatever reason so there you go how are you I’m good uh interested in seeing your report on Olympian Cameron Brink she’ll be on the three on three team in Paris putty but uh I do want to start Brena with a quick remembrance and I feel like we’ve had to do this too frequently over the last couple of weeks but of the great Jerry West obviously the logo of the NBA Zeke from Creek and um no Cabin Creek Creek is uh Creek is a song uh Zeke from Cabin Creek Mr Clutch and obviously Jerry West is not an Oregonian story or an Oregon Sports story save for the fact that he touched literally every corner of the basketball world yeah and that meant a lot of times particularly playing in the Pacific Division coaching in the Pacific Division and then running a team in the Pacific Division for you know 20 plus years um that there were a lot there was a lot of crossover between Jerry West and the Portland Trailblazers and just a couple of a couple of highlights I just wanted to throw out um as you know we remember Jerry West today uh after he has passed away at 86 years old Jerry West was the coach of the Lakers in 1976 77 when the Lakers led the league in regular season wins with 53 and of course that is the year that the Lakers ran into the mighty Portland Trailblazers in the in the um I guess what we consider the Western Conference Finals um the Blazers swept the Lakers in that series and I was looking back today um what Jerry West said about the Blazers in 1977 after the sweep was they’re very blessed with great person great personnel and they’re going to be very good for a long time and you know obviously um you know history did not end up going that way you know thanks largely to the unfortunate health of of Bill Walton who we also lost a couple of weeks ago Jerry West also built the showtime Lakers as well as the Shaq Kobe Lakers when I covered the Lakers over the last decade Brena I actually ended up talking to Jerry West a lot about kind of reflecting on a lot of those those um those teams and how those things came to be because you know Shaq went into the Hall of Fame called Jerry West Elgen Baylor was getting a statue called Jerry West um the Lakers were setting a team record for the fewest wins in team history called Jerry West who retired actually at the start of that 1974 75 season when they won I believe 33 games um and that was part of the reason they were bad was that Jerry retired in the pre-season but he retired after a preseason game against the Portland Trailblazers at The Forum um but I think the biggest sticking point if you are a Blazers fan and where Jerry West has probably aggravated you the most and like that was one of his you know that’s his gift he was one of the great competitors and winners he lived to to win and one time when he did that at probably the greatest expense to the trail laser I think we could agree was 2000 he R he was the um vice president basball operations for the for the Lakers he built that 99 2000 team he didn’t just build that team he in the summer of 1996 was able to woo Shaquille O’Neal in free agency and then drafted Kobe Bryant and one thing that is out there or that he had told me and I’m sure others um the summer of 96 Jerry West had to be hospitalized and treated for exhaustion because of how much pressure he was under in the summer of 96 but so the intensity just the biggest thing so one of the all-time workers and um winners in the history of the NBA and one more for you and then and then I’ll I’ll throw it to you um a few years ago on the 20th anniversary I guess it was 2020 Jason quick former Oregonian Blazers writer now at the athletic and I former athletic reporter now at the oroian uh worked worked on a piece where we did a bit like an oral history of the 2000 uh Western Conference Finals game seven it’s called 12 minutes in June I reread it today it was fun as hell to work on and uh fun to read again but the way that that 2000 Lakers team came together and the way that it ended up beating the Blazers one of the biggest takeaways from rereading that was the fact that it was Brian Shaw right um I’m sure plenty people remember this Brian Shaw came up so big in the fourth quarter of that run when the Lakers came back from 15 down Brian Shaw hit a banked in three at the end of the third quarter and then two more threes I believe at the at the start of the fourth well the irony of all that is that Brian Shaw was only on the on the lake ERS because the Blazers had in in in effect released him he was on the team with the Blazers in 99 during the lockout season did not play hardly at all in fact I don’t really recall if he played played at all um then he was basically out of the league and Mark workentine who was the Blazers assistant GM at the time called Brian Shaw and said hey I’ve got a deal for you that you can’t pass up it’s too good to pass up we are going to we need we’re going to make a six for one trade to the rockets for Scotty Pippen but we need a sixth player to make the contracts work I need to sign you to a $1 million contract and you don’t have to do anything so Brian Shaw signed a million dollar contract with the Blazers to get traded to Houston and waved by the rockets and that sort of got the wheels in motion of the Lakers looking at like hey Brian Shaw is available veteran big guard Phil Jackson loved big guards ball handling guard and uh and so the Lakers went for it and obviously they couldn’t have anticipated what a huge role he was going to end up playing on that on that 3p team and particularly in game seven against the Blazers but it kind of haunted the Blazers that this guy they had let go had been scooped up by the team that ended up beating them and as Mitch cup former GM of the Lakers told me in that story 12 minutes to June which you can find on the athletic was another brilliant Jerry West move so uh if you are still hurting over the 2000 Western Conference Finals you can thank Jerry West today for that so Brena when you think of Jerry West do you believe his impact was greatest as a player many many time Allstar um you know one Championship you know I believe lost in the finals seven times Mr Clutch um the only player to win a finals MVP on the losing side in 69 finally got a championship in 1972 as a coach only did that for a few years but very successful at that as well or as an executive I I think you have to go executive just because of the amount of different franchises he was involved in as well I mean he was um you know he was adviser for several different franchises I believe both the Warriors and the Clippers at different points um obviously that Lakers run is insane I mean you know I’ve I’ve seen a lot of things online today where it’s been like in the same week he traded VL deok for Kobe Bryant and then signed Shaquille O’Neal like is there is there a better week for a GM maybe ever you know pretty pretty good week pretty pretty good decision making going on there um so yeah I mean you know and I also realize that I’m coming at this through my own colored lens due to the fact how long I have been alive on this Earth so it’s not like I watch Jerry West as a player sure um so I understand that I don’t have uh maybe as much of the historical context as others would but um it’s just crazy for me to think that like less than a year ago like he was sitting courtside at Summer League doing his thing no problem was the kind of the center of attention I said on Twitter like he kind of had this aura about him mhm where it’s like it was this understated importance where it wasn’t like an ego thing with him when he walked into a building where I was like oh I’m a big deal but it was more just like he walked into the building and you’re like I know that person’s a big deal like I can just tell um and it wasn’t like a thing that he was projecting it was just who he was um so yeah you know it took my brain like a few like I remember when he walked in you know it’s just one of those things like my brain wasn’t connecting up to who it was and I was like I kind of turned to Sean hyen and I was like who is that he’s like that’s Jerry West and I was like yes like yep that’s the guy um so yeah uh and Jerry West by the way ever since has been my hitter photo on Twitter so there you go um probably his greatest achievement it honestly yeah um it’s up there it’s up there because of course they were like taking solo shots of him on the broadcast and talking about Jerry West being in the building and I was sitting right behind him so you know I’m getting all of a sudden I’m getting text messages like you’re a like yeah that’s closest I’m ever gonna get to this guy um and I I was right I was definitely right um yeah so yeah just just a loss for basketball fans but I I I have to say I I just I as an executive he just did so much and he did so much for so many different teams around the league so so what so what you’re talking about and I think it’s so important is the the gravitas and sort of um weight of Jerry West’s involvement um in anything he helped build after he left the Lakers and people thought he was probably done in basketball or at least as as as a you know GM basketball operations figure uh he went and built the the Grizzlies including drafting Pal Gasol he then um again retired ultimately served in advisory with the Golden State Warriors played a huge role in in them signing Kevin Durant and getting those two championships from having KD Kevin Durant has said that Jerry West’s presence was a huge part in his decision so however many championships he came away with from from that involvement with with the clip with the war Warriors and then somewhat tragically I will say and again this is from somebody who spent a lot of time covering the Lakers and imploring the Lakers to rehire Jerry West I spent a lot of time writing and arguing that the Lakers needed to make things right with Jerry because there’s a lot of acrimony over how things ended and it felt like the right thing to do for the game of basketball um and would have also been good for the Lakers in 2017 the Lakers overhauled their basketball operations and handed the keys over to Magic Johnson and what jeie bus said at the time was that she you know had not you know considered uh rehiring Jerry West because he was still under contract with the Warriors which is a bunch of hogwash of course you could have you know you could have you could have done that contracts don’t exist in the NBA and and the truth is that you know there’s still a lot of hurt feelings over the way um you know the the way Jerry had left and you know Jerry had a lot of feelings about like um the conflicts created by Genie’s relationship with Phil Jackson so there’s all sorts of reasons that they they that those sides never reconciled but I think it’s a great loss um you know one thing that I was told at the time was like Jerry wanted to come back and in fact he wanted to come back more than anything to the Lakers and I think that that would have been great to see as his swans song in some capacity but instead he’s with the Clippers ends up playing a big role in them you know bringing in Kawhi Leonard so huge gravitas gravitational pull the other thing I want to say about Jerry West is that we don’t just lose his presence as a as a basketball figure on its own you know and what he represented at a game of basketball we’re also losing one of the great um historians of the game and a lot of the um institutional memory of the league and what you’ve seen in recent years because Jerry did touch so many corners of the game and because he you know played against Bill Russell he played with Elgen Baylor you know he played against you know when red arbach was coaching you know he he was involved in every deck of the league from the you from 1960 on to to literally today yesterday and and so he became a go-to resource and narrator I think of a lot of the League’s earlier days so you know at any I mean I hate to you know but funeral Major League event Jerry West was you know one of the most you know was was one of the people who would be speaking who you would see who would tell the stories of why people today need to appreciate Elgen Baylor more more um and I and I think that like that is a great loss because and of course inevitable right like Time Marches On but um I did I do remember having a moment when I was writing about Elgen Baylor and talking to Jerry and I wondered who if not Jerry West would tell these stories and and now like that is gone too and so I am mindful of that loss today as well okay summed it up perfectly play we’re going to look a little more local thank you for indulging me um but over the weekend Bren like in a different world you and I might be packing our bags right now for the bright lights of Omaha Nebraska and that it did not work out that way for the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers baseball teams we’ve talked about their respective runs on the podcast in past weeks uh rough showing I would say in the Super Regional for both for both teams Oregon had big big leads in two games at Texas A&M and ended up getting you know essentially blown out in both of them um Oregon State one of the most productive offens of offenses in the entire country the most productive offense in school history got three hits in 18 Innings against Kentucky they both lose um there are different threads to pull at here but let me first ask which fan base should be more disappointed this week that they’re not going Oma I I got to go organ State I mean I think the fact that they came into that with all year they’re in the top 10 so they’re an UND seated 15 yeah they’re going into an environment the es is intense but it isn’t look Texas A&M for baseball that was going to be a rough rough climb for Oregon no matter what that is a tough place to go play baseball in right and yeah like then you you have a situation where Oregon wasn’t even hosting a regional round so the fact that they got to the Super Regional round was impressive in itself and went into UC Santa Barbara and beat a team that I believe hadn’t been beaten at home uh that year so that was impressive I is that true I don’t even know if that’s true but it was I know it was let I can I can uh I can I can fact check myself let’s not let facts get in the way here keep going it might be true yeah um so yeah I mean I have to go and and well the first game Oregon State I mean the first game Oregon State wasn’t really they were in it for a few Innings but I mean they they had a shot in that second game they they could have won that second game and forced a game three Oregon once they got to those final innings in both those games it was over yeah so um and you just never know if you’re an Oregon State fan or what things are going to look like in the future yeah and so it was like okay well this is like our last shot with this iteration of what beavers look of what our school looks like so yeah I I think it has to be them but to be fair I’ll say it we at our Sports Department talked about you know the upcoming Super Regionals my producer thought both of them were going to win Adam be arson thought one of them was going to win and I said they’re both not winning I think I kind of got swept up in the idea that at least one of them was going to win um just because hey there’s better odds you got two of them in there but I really don’t think I mean you’re talking about the number two and three teams in the country exactly and you know Texas A&M was really freaking good Kentucky has never been to the College World Series before that changes this weekend but Kentucky you know shut down an incredible Oregon State offense um my case for Oregon would just be that well there’s a few things Oregon hasn’t been to a College World Series since 1954 which you know so is somewhat enhanced by the fact that there wasn’t a program for 30 years but you know for people who are drawn to the historical component of stuff I am um I think that you know getting that you know breaking that curse I think kind of hangs over the Ducks um also I mean Oregon is playing the best baseball over this stretch really in school history you’re talking about four straight regionals and two and two straight Super Regionals last year they were two outs away from the College World Series that was the year that they should have gone right you can’t just assume that you’re going to get another opportunity I mean that Oregon team was good enough at home against Roberts yeah right um but because last year was so painful I think that you then get to this year where it’s like hey you know didn’t didn’t didn’t come through the Pack 12 tournament the same way but you go and win a regional on the road which is just very difficult to do they were the third seed in the Santa Barbara Regional and kind of dominated it um you know they had the Extra Innings win against San Diego in the first game but other than wise kind of came through that unscathed got as we talked about last week got a complete close at the end both those Santa Barbara games but they you get a you get a complete game from Kevin cider in the third game I mean you’re feeling pretty good anyhow and then I think the other the other thing that is frustrating for Oregon fans or causes extra pain is the fact that you had big leads and your and your and your Bullpen couldn’t couldn’t hold A&M at Bay and particularly that second game you’re up 8 to four in the seventh inning you know you’re looking pretty good and you give up nine runs on two hits seven walks a hit batter and and two hits including a grand slam and there’s you know been some discussion and like certainly social media which is not real life but you know also Beyond on on you know kind of the management of of the bullpen and you know Mark Wazowski leaving Brock Moore in there for additional batters um and I’d have to look back at how many he I think he walked in to um where I where I feel for was here and like yeah with hindsight yeah get him out of there sooner like get a different look you know everybody short on arms this time of year you have to manage a little bit at least for Monday you know who are you going to have available to pitch on Monday yeah um obviously you have to get to Monday but two Brock Moore has been like their best reliever along with Logan Marcato for a long time and he had gotten six straight outs he had induced two double play balls already in the previous Innings like it just seemed like you had the right guy on the mound even though he wasn’t hitting the strike zone um so I just think it’s one of those things where it didn’t work out in that’s baseball but I understand that it’s like oh another Bullpen meltdown oh my God you know we’ve seen this before um but I don’t know I I think I think ultimately it’s more disappointing that Oregon State’s not in College World Series cuz they were the better team Oregon um Oregon should view this year as as a success because it had no no business being in the Super Regionals again this year they graduated so many people from last year’s team yeah yeah so I mean really really great seasons for both teams Oregon State should be more disappointed about how it closed out the regular season and the Pack 12 tournament and um putting itself in a position where it had to go on the road someplace like Kentucky you know before that last inning against Arizona at the end of the regular season Oregon state was in tremendous position to host a Super Regional and to be one of those top eight National seats and they let that go that’s what they should be that’s what they should be disappointed about by the way I was right on the UC Santa Barbara thing they never they had lost just for the record they had not lost at home before Oregon beat them down twice that’s great y yeah I did that that that that particular detail had had escaped me so that’s a that’s a good piece of information I had to I had to do some I had to make sure that I was correct because it says it says 27 and two on the record like for the home record but then I was like well are they counting that Regional or not you never know it’s like that’s a postseason event yeah but yeah so I went through I went through the schedule I did my due diligence so there you go um but yeah yeah I just they they let a lot of things Oregon State left a lot to be desired out there on uh on the baseball field to say the least this season Oregon State Oregon state had a play you know they they lose 3-2 right and they have a play where the goahead run is um a wild or a pass ball and your pitcher doesn’t cover home yeah granted the runner the runner’s on second base and it was it was Kell Joo who was pitching right so I think he’s thinking I’m sure he’s thinking pass ball Runner advances and isn’t thinking scores from second but the ball was not like I mean the ball was gone it was at the back stop yeah it was far and so um I I I guess if I tried to like imagine what keljo must have been thinking in that moment it’s that the runner’s going to advance and not score still got to cover home like that was that was a really unfortunate uh mental error from Oregon state which just should be better than that at this point but there was other weird stuff like I mean you had you had bazana finally get a hit in the ninth inning runs into the first baseman and they don’t really ever address why he wasn’t awarded second base on that um you know should they have run should they should they have uh should they have had the runner on first steal so he would have been scoring position when bis was up but then what how does that affect how they pitch bazan there’s all sorts of stuff but like fr the bottom line is that Oregon state was not good enough against Kentucky to deserve to advance and and that’s where that’s where that’s where it ended up and now we uh now we go into the Summer where things are going to be much much different come next school year well and just to your point about about the Beavers as far as I know we have not seen anything uh I’m just double checking make sure I haven’t missed anything uh there’s been no news on the on the transfer portal and there are and I believe that’s open today uh for baseball where you start seeing it but like I think um it’s just going to be interesting to see what dominoes if any fall um if Gavin Turley stays at Oregon State you know that bodess extremely well for the future of the program if carway stays at Oregon State you know those are the those are the guys you want to make sure like stick around and so I’m sure Mitch Canam and you know the the damn Nation Collective and all that have have been working overtime to make sure baseball doesn’t suffer the same fate as as the other programs but you know I I don’t think anybody can say with certainty that it won’t befall the baseball program just because it has been the story of the year for every team at org State yeah it’s just uh the this the the scar is too deep at this point you can’t have at least some sort of hesitancy about the about the situation so right we we shall see what happens with that so but like you said but and the other thing is too like we’ve heard nothing and yes I don’t I don’t know what day the transfer portal opens for baseball that’s not you know top of top of mine with all the things that I got to keep up in this Noggin but people all the time you know in college basketball college football say I’m going to enter the transfer portal before the transfer portal opens so the fact that we haven’t seen anything about that either is um is encouraging yeah I think with basketball it actually it took a couple of weeks where it’s like you know we were watching Jordan Pope and Tyler Bido like are they going to stay like can they possibly keep them and it felt like that initial wave of like oh maybe they haven’t entered the portal yet and then everybody leaves so who knows we’re all on pins and needles such as it were um such as it were speaking of pins and needles oh boy let’s talk about the Blazers offseason okay all right uh so we’ve talked previously on previous episodes that listeners can go back and find if they don’t have those top of mind about the Blazers needing to make some moves to get under the luxury tax this team is not good enough to be paying so much in tax um a lot of candidates to trade big dollar guys if you wanted to come off of DeAndre Aon Jeremy Grant Malcolm Brogden you know those are things that the Blazers could explore as they continue to build a young core around scoot Henderson Shaden sharp and whoever the Blazers bring in in the draft which I want to talk about before we run out of time but Bobby Marx who has uh who has turned being a former GM into a lucrative media career with ESPN proposed he did it actually a really um I thought was a really instructive breakdown of basically every Team every team’s offseason kind of breaking down what they have on under contract and you know what their draft situation is and who their free agents are but also a trade he would like to see for each team and the trade that that Bobby Brook Bobby Brooks Bobby Marx um proposed for the Blazers is Anthony Simons to Orlando for Cole Anthony as well as the 2025 Denver first round pick and the 2025 Orlando first round pick um how does that that strike you yeah I think it’s I think it’s just um placees have a log Jam at guard and some something’s got to give and it’s as much as you know Anthony is is great and we both know that like M if I’m him it’s probably now time for me to Exit as well you know like he doesn’t want to stay on a he doesn’t want to stay on a team like this in his prime years you know and have to figure out you know the whole the meshing of the meshing of the Guard if you will um I think that the I I I do think that the Blazers just need to go all in on Shaden and Scoot and kind of stop that they’ve been playing a game for the last year and change where they have had one foot in one world and one foot in another world and at some point you got to make a decision in terms of what you want to do and if you don’t make a decision in terms of what you want to do you’re GNA end up with a similar situation as Damen and obviously Anthony does not have the um importance to this area as Damien did but you’re going to end up in a similar situ situation where Anthony’s going to end up having to go to the franchise and say I can’t keep doing this halfin half out thing I got I gota I got to go somewhere you know and or Orlando needs shooting and they also and also that’s a a homecoming for Anthony it makes a lot of sense um and yeah I mean I I think that that would be a a great landing spot for for him and something that would work out with the Blazers in terms of the salary situation uh so yeah I mean I I would be I don’t know if I’d be super surprised if Anthony is still on this team come October but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if he was not because they they they just got to make a commitment they got to figure it out they got to they got to choose one way the other and it’s pretty obvious to me what way they should choose so yeah I don’t even think that they’re in like the choose a direction mode anymore I think it’s they’ve made they’ve chosen their Direction and it’s more kind of taking it across the finish line and I can agree with that and so I mean look Malcolm Brogden is gonna get traded this summer yeah that is that is that is a foregone conclusion um and appreciate your service Malcolm and so comes you know who’s going to offer the most draft compensation and and the least you know money that’s going to tie you up long term um you know I think you know I’m really interested to see if the Lakers get involved there but that’s a for another time um Anthony Sim is just in a weird spot like he he’s young enough that he fits the Blazers timeline sort of right like he’s 25 years old um but he’s two years away from what will be his third contract he’s going to be owed a massive payday just as Shaden sharp and Scoot Henderson in theory should be coming into their own um and his contract’s not bad it’s like 20 I should pull it up but 2025 million the next two years um which as everything is going up you know the media rights deal is going to kick in salary Cap’s goingon to go up is not is is really a great value for a guy who’s as good as as Anthony Simons is so I think his contract has a I think he has a lot of value as a player and his contract is also very appealing and so then it just becomes to me what’s the best offer and if talking about two firsts the 2025 draft is really is really strong there’s a lot there the Blazers are going to have their own pick in 2025 which should be pretty high and then you add in you know two picks that are going to be probably in teens and 20s probably the 20s in Orlando and and Denver both those are playoff teams but um I would be thinking long and hard about something that gets me to three first round picks in 20125 like Cole take Cole Anthony out of it Cole Anthony is not is not the is not the piece that matters there um you know could we just Sub in Jay to make me happy I don’t think they want to do that for jayen Suggs in the same way they would for Cole Anthony but sure if it’s if it’s gonna get you on board with the deal um but okay so I think we both think that that sort of deal makes sense whether it’s Orlando or someone else but yeah multiple draft picks for Anthony Simons who doesn’t really make sense for where you are frankly and is not and the problem with with ant is he’s he’s good he’s really good but he’s not good enough to build you’re not he’s not your your franchise Cornerstone you’re still looking for that guy and that’s why those draft picks become so valuable because it does it is a little bit of um you know opening Christmas presents you don’t know what’s beneath the rapper but you need to find out and so um that’s what makes the draft so valuable for teams like Portland and I just I don’t see a path forward for them trying to build any other way they don’t have they don’t have the foundation where they can start adding veteran pieces to win now you know like Anthony Simons Jeremy Grant and DeAndre Aton can all help teams that have that they can all be win now players elsewhere but together they don’t make up that kind of team in Portland and Portland is on a different path with these young guys they have two lottery picks in the draft in a couple of weeks we’re gon to talk about in a second but just Anthony Sims doesn’t make sense for them anymore he has said that winning and and being in the playoffs is his top priority you know he doesn’t have any leverage to go demand a trade or like to declare where he wants to go but I also do think that putting him in a situation in Orlando which you said would be a homecoming for him an Orlando team that is Young and exciting and on the on on the come up would be a would be a great way of like taking care of him too because he’s he’s uh he’s given a lot to this franchise and and has has been a joy to watch grow and develop I think another thing that is appealing about Anthony for other teams that is actually not appealing about Anthony for other players or for sorry for the Blazers not the players for the Blazers is that he can play both point guard and shooting guard mhm so he offers that flexibility but the but for the Blazers it actually makes things more confusing because nobody’s like knows for sure where to put him and so it’s not like it’s a straight up like okay it’s either going to be Anthony or shayen or it’s going to be anony or scoot there’s no like or going on there because nobody knows where he kind of fits there and so I think that that is something that for the Blazers in terms of seeking Clarity makes things more confusing actually whereas for another team they’re like oh I got a guy who can you know play two but if I need him to move over to the one and run the offense for a little bit he can do that that’s awesome so so I I that’s another layer to the uh the the clarity situation that the Blazers need to have that actually makes it more murky but like I said that’s that’s you know 80% of the teams in the league that’s a huge Advantage yeah position positionally he’s in the way and and that doesn’t even mean that the Blazers couldn’t draft another guard in the upcoming draft like I don’t think it’s ideal but I don’t think it’s that you couldn’t like if if if you decide you want Nia topic you know he’s a 69 guard like fine you put him out there with Shaden and and Scoot and it’s sort of like a you know the best the best man wins then we’re gonna trade the other one but like you know this what you saw with the Kings with halberton and fox like you can do that because they’re all kind of at the same stage of their careers ant is just on a different level so like when all is said and done he may not be as good of a player as Shaden or scoot like he actually might be the best of the three but like let’s say he doesn’t um but he commands more time and opportunity on the court right now because he’s a better player right now and the Blazers don’t need a guard who is that much further along in his development than where Scoot and Shaden is for where they are so I just think that that is a um I don’t want to say a no-brainer because you don’t want to give them away but I really think that’s what the Blazers need to be exploring this this this offseason um but to the draft I think that there are a lot of interesting elements to this draft the Blazers have the number seven and 14 pick very disappointing lottery for a team that should thought it was going to be in the top four um this draft is all over the place like I couldn’t sit here and say here are the three play players that I think the Blazers could draft do you why yeah it’s kind of fun it’s kind of fun to go into a draft and just be like man I don’t know what’s gonna happen and neither of like neither you or I really need to sit here and like have a take on what needs to happen because it is so all over the place so I think it’s going to be actually like kind of a fun draft night to see how it all plays out I think it I think it might be a little a little chaotic which you know I’m I’m down for a little chaos let’s go so I don’t know I think it’s got of fun but you know that’s my own little that’s my own little two cents since seems that you you do you do not agree I don’t mind the chaos I like I like chaos and I like that uh there’s options and I also think that the uncertain leads to and I think I’ve said this before gives the Blazers a better chance to actually find a guy at seven or 14 because teams at one through six and seven through or 8 through 13 they’re not totally sure either so it becomes a little bit more of a crapshoot um I’m also so it seems like uh Zachary rishes and Alex SAR are going to go in the top two and then after that like there’s just a lot of disagreement over you know whether it’s Donovan kingan Reed Shepard dton neck Ron Holland from the g-league you know there’s just kind of talent all over the place and kind of becomes a little bit of what you want the Blazers again have seven and 14 is it a is it a draft where it makes more sense to say hey because nobody really knows and there aren’t clear-cut tiers among these players that it makes more sense for us to take two swings at it with seven and 14 or you know does it help a team like the Blazers that still needs guys right like still needs to find like its core player um or core players to say we’re going to package seven and 14 and and see if we can engage with you know uh I think Houston’s at three right like get up to three or get up to four um you know and maybe you get a player back as well to move up a few spots to have a better shot at a guy a guy you want in the draft um I don’t know it probably just depends on who’s there and who you actually want because I could probably argue it both ways um do you have a feel for like what the Blazers might do or like knowing the knowing how they’ve operated in the past of like what you think they’ll do yeah I mean historically they haven’t been Super Active on draft KN in the last few years um so that I think that they probably attempted it last last year but you know like they couldn’t get they couldn’t get what they needed back in that return um right so yeah they they haven’t been super active in terms of that which would lead me more so to believe that they would ultimately not do that and also I just wonder if they can get a good Roi with those two picks because as we’ve talked about this draft is such a such a bizarre one that those picks become even less valuable because everybody views this draft as weaker I personally do not see a team that it’s three that is at three or four being like Oh yeah those two picks we’ll take those and trade back um just because the fact that like that’s this draft like in a nutshell that that sound is like this shit’s like what is going on here I just think that the the the counter to that well I guess here’s my point I have multiple thoughts on this a guy you like a guy you think is the number one player in the draft could conceivably um you know be available at eight you know or a guy that you’re hoping to get at eight could go three um you know like the Athletics mock draft has Donovan kingan from Yukon as you know going to the Blazers at seven and you know ESPN um Jonathan gavone from Draft Express on ESPN says that Donovan kingan is the would be the right pick for Atlanta one um you know I don’t think aay thinks that that’s where he’s actually going to go but he could go as high as three and and so does does it make sense to drop down because the talent pool is flat or does it make it even that much more important that you’re at the top so you can get the guy you want because who knows where he’s actually going to go off the board by the way big Donovan kingan fan I’d be I’d be very happy if the Blazers drafted him um this is this is the same person who when they went and watched I went and watched Gonzaga play Yukon in Seattle um in December and when he was announced during the starting lineup I turn to all my friends and I go that’s the guy that’s going to absolutely destroy us tonight get ready and then he had like I forget what the statline is but had an insane first half against them just murdered them and I was like yep all right I feel I feel I feel smart right now even though it really doesn’t take uh take a scientist to to it really doesn’t take anybody with with much of a uh inkling of basketball to realize that that guy was gonna absolutely destroy my alma mater just when you look at Heights but um but yeah I mean the it I guess you know I guess in one in one way this feels like a draft where there’s no really wrong moves not until three years from now we’ll know what the wrong moves were yeah yes so there’s not going to be a lot of like like Joe Cronin is not going to deal with a lot of it’s not going to be as uh as tense on draft night as it was last year let’s put it that that room is going to be we are not going to be having to have a um Zoom with a player that’s drafted and asking them about another player on the team almost the entire time which was you know bizarre and I felt for scoot in that situation because he shouldn’t like you have to ask the questions but it’s like this is his draft night it should be about him not Damen Lillard but you can’t help it um so I’m sure that there’s a lot of options there but if I were to take a if I were to bet right now I would say that the Blazers don’t end up moving okay but that’s that’s not that’s not on any intel that’s just based off of history and based off of the fact that I just think that the the ROI in this draft is not going to be uh what they’re looking for um the Blazers also have picks sorry I have to pull this up 34 and and uh a lot of picks where did the other one go they don’t really need 34 34 and 40 so I don’t expect the Blazers to draft four players and bring four rookies into Camp no um I suppose they could but I I I do think they probably consolidate somewhere in there um and I also think it’s going to be interesting and just because we’ve never had this before where the draft is split over two days which is just you know the NBA I roll sure I do I definitely dislike it but what it does do by creating like this like 18 hour gap it gives teams a lot of time to have conversations about the second round and to make moves like if a guy you like in the first round is still available you know with a 31st pick you know is somebody or let’s say you think a guy is going to be available at the 34th pick you know that gives you time to prepare an offer to get to 34 from the Blazers and and go get the guy you want so um I think there’s a lot of more potential for movement in the second round especially at the top of the second round in this draft that we’ve seen before because front offices are gonna have you know night and a day to to come up with a plan so that’s something to watch too with the Blazers having two of the 10 two of the first 10 picks in the second round yeah it’s uh it’s going to be a really interesting draft this year at the very least that’s that’s all I know I think it will be one of those where we you know it I just can’t really think of a draft that was this wide open since the 2013 draft when Anthony Bennett went first overall the Blazers drafted CJ 10th Trey Burke went to Utah ninth Giannis went 15th and Rudy goar went 27th so um you know you can find guys I don’t know if you’re going to find I don’t know if you’re going to find two-time MVPs and four time defensive players of the year and you know whatever else but um you can certainly find guys and that’s the Blazers Mission and I’m I’m really interested to see because you know the Blazers have really beefed up their scouting department since Joe Cronin took over they’ve hired a lot of people Mike Schmitz is there now as the assistant GM um you know a a a former draft Guru with the SPN this is sort of his moment to shine um you know and again we won’t be able to judge it for year until years down the road but um I don’t know I’m I’m oddly excited about this draft because I think there is potential for for guys to slip through the cracks yeah and we won’t we won’t know if if that excitement was worth it until a few years from now but at the very least it’s going to be a it’s going to be an adventure over those two days I know that Brena I went to the office yesterday The Oregonian Newsroom at first in clay in downtown Portland and I checked my mail and I periodically get mail sent to me in The Newsroom this is the life of Bill Oram segment now by the way if we want to call it that I suppose that is fine um I got mail I had a letter from someone telling me I was too young to understand the the impact of Bill Walton and then I had a small tube that was delivered to me probably about six inches and I thought this is a strange poster I also worried about it being some kind of poison um when I opened it Brena green it was a spring-loaded glitter bomb from a website that among other things sends people poop and silly stinky glitter poop so I guess all things considered it could have been worse yes but it cost $19 .99 to send someone a glitter bomb I don’t think this was meant as a uh as a as a positive thing am I wrong I don’t think so but did you it said did you check for a message because wasn’t there a thing on there it’s was like if you go to this website there may be a message for you as well I hate to address this because it is going if if the person who sent me the glitter bomb uh happens to be a listener of this podcast but then again this person sent me a glitter bomb they’re not listening to my podcast um also my apologies to the um to the uh the cleaning crew that hits the hits The Oregonian Newsroom from time to time I had no way to uh clean up the glitter so I will take this one but I just it’s there so I apologize uh I did go to the website Brena um and I discovered that no a note was not left for me and in fact the website does not even offer that service it was just a Rick Roll I got Rick Rolled I got glitter Bond and Rick Roll although I will say I was with I was in The Newsroom and I was I was sharing this experience with Julia Silverman our excellent education reporter and I was telling her about it because sometimes she enjoys giving dramatic readings of my fan mail in the middle of The Newsroom and um I was sharing all this with Julia and she’s like well let’s go to the website you know whatever it is SL Revenge and then she clicks on it and I immediately see Rick Ashley’s face and I’m like oh it’s a Rick Roll ha got me and Julia hits play I’m like you don’t need to hit play on the Rick Roll we know how the song goes we’ve already been rickrolled I don’t need to hear the song to reinforce that we’ve been rickrolled so um double whammy yesterday in The Oregonian Newsroom but I do appreciate uh the engagement of of listeners and readers who take the time to write us who take the time to engage with um you know what I’m writing in The Oregonian so if that’s responding with a tweet if that is you know sending a letter you know an old uh ink and paper you know that’s certainly appreciated and if you are so moved that you want to send me a glitter bomb well I guess that means that you at least uh read it and you were moved moved remov to pay $20 to respond just send me the 20 bucks next time I’ll I’ll sprinkle some glitter on my head for you I mean it’s cheaper than 20 bucks I’ll take I’ll take I’ll take the I’ll take the money I wish there was video of you opening that glitter bomb um you know I was more concerned about like yeah being or something um that I I was I was caught off guard I will say in that moment um but well played to whoever my hater out there is um well played congrats on the haters and by the way I will not stop whatever it is I’m doing that you hate so much I will not stop doing it so you will not be deterred it did not work um okay oh interesting word choice today deterred mhm oh yeah we’re out here we’re out here giving you all the only child words that you learn growing up I hesitate to say why that’s an interesting word because most of our listeners probably won’t be listening to this on Wednesday so I feel okay saying it but like I don’t know if you play the same Daily Word puzzle that I do I I I haven’t played that in a few months oh okay well there’s oron there is an Oregonian Wordle group uh and I would like to tell you that I solved today’s whle in two look at you I know I’m so proud quite proud I’m glowing okay we’ve played all the hits we’ve played them we’ve played them we’re playing ourselves out with all the hits uh Brena thank you for your insights and time today it is always appreciated it’s always lovely having you along um I think we’ll be back next week are they gonna have us back next week for another week I I I believe so yeah yeah we haven’t heard otherwise so we’ll be back next week with more stories from around the uh Oregon Sports landscape and Beyond and how those stories intersect with the Oregon Sports landscape uh Brena has your has your cam Brink piece package aired because that can be available on the internet don’t think that will be out until Friday I have a feeling so interested in seeing you catch up with the former prep star Stanford star number two pick in the WNBA draft New Star for the Los Angeles Sparks and soon to be an Olympian pretty darn cool glad you made it up there to check in on her we’ll be looking for that in the meantime continue to read The Oregonian oregonlive.com uh send mail send letters send packages uh to coin 6 and Brena green y we have C every night at coin 6 except for Fridays and Saturdays so you know try to try to make it so that I get it on a when I’m in the office I’m normally in the office Tuesday through Thursday when the cleaning crew is there so just try to get it make make sure that I get it one of those days so that it can get cleaned up quickly I hope I hope you’re taking notes on this okay with all that being said I am Bill Oram thank you for listening to The Oregonian Sports podcast we’ll be back next week we hope [Music]

When the Portland Trail Blazers swept the NBA’s best regular season team on their way to the 1977 NBA championship, the first-year head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers declared that the Blazers “were blessed with great personnel and they’re going to be good for a very long time.”

That was just one of the times Jerry West’s seven-decade life in the NBA intersected with the Trail Blazers. The man who built both the Showtime and Shaq-Kobe Lakers could reasonably be seen as one of the greatest obstacles to the Blazers ever winning a second championship.

On this episode of the Oregonian Sports podcast, Bill Oram and Brenna Greene discuss West’s legacy and how it intertwines with the history of the Trail Blazers.

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