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Will the Blazers
Win the NBA Championship?
Science Tells
All
By Paul Minard
paulminard@hotmail.com
A GM's job is to bring together the
"elements" of a successful team. The
coach works on "chemistry."
When Portland's Bob Whitsitt and Mike Dunleavy
were working in the lab late one
night, juggling hometown point guards and
Lithuanian Centers, they decided
to add a little power forward to the mix.
So here come Shawn Kemp and Dale
Davis, two players with some muscles and
experience. Will these changes
give the Blazers the critical mass required
to win the title? Such weighty
talk may hit one of Kemp's many soft spots,
but while the former Sonic may have
lost some vertical, he's got plenty of
other skills that should be a nice,
snug fit in Portland.
The man Kemp replaces, Brian Grant,
made but sporadic contributions last
year. He was tentative in
the Laker series, unwilling to take the mid-range
jumper and unable to do much else.
Granted, this team has plenty of guys
who are willing and able to fill
it up. But note that the team improved
last year because of the additions
of Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith, two
veterans who could not only score
but loved to play the team game. Center
Arvydas Sabonis and forward Rasheed
Wallace subscribe to a similar
philosophy. They balance
points and assists, keeping the ball moving like
an electron in Dunleavy's search
for the perfect bond. And if you know
anything about atoms, you know that
while they look solid on the outside,
things are always in motion inside,
revolving with a clockwork precision.
This state describes the Blazers
at their best. The occasional problem (see
4th quarter, game 7 versus Los Angeles)
has been to find some direction to
all this unselfish talent.
Now, with Kemp in the picture, there should be
even fewer stalls on offense.
Kemp can hit from 15, put it on the floor and
throw it down, and find the open
man; all of them without hesitation, and
all of them better than Grant.
This team's top seven players are
so good they don't need anyone at the
helm to beat most teams. It's
up to Dunleavy to keep them spinning together
for the whole season before they
detonate on the Lakers. But beware - in
anything but expert hands this could
be an embarrassing mixture for a coach.
If things implode, Whitsitt should
start looking for a new lab partner.
Oct 24
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