The NBA : Injuries Hurt as Trail Blazers Blaze a Trail in Wrong Direction

The trail the Portland Trail Blazers have been blazing this season isn’t exactly the one they were figuring on.

For one thing, the direction is all wrong. The Trail Blazers began with high hopes but, so far, they have been one of the biggest disappointments in the NBA.

What’s gone wrong?

“Somebody has got to ask that question,” said forward Clyde Drexler.

Coach Jack Ramsay blamed too many injuries and too many new players trying to blend into his complicated offensive system.

Center Sam Bowie missed most of training camp with cracked ribs, forward Kenny Carr has twice had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and Ramsay has five rookies on a 12-player roster.

Kiki Vandeweghe, whose off-season acquisition was supposed to put Portland in position to bump off the Lakers in the Pacific Division, has not only been injured, but he has also been one of those players having difficulty finding happiness in Ramsay’s offense.

Vandeweghe has a bad back, a sore arch and a bruised knee. Trying to play through his physical problems, Vandeweghe has experienced only limited success.

His confidence level sank to the same level as the Trail Blazers’, who have lost 11 of their last 14 games. “He’s a basket case,” said one Portland teammate, and Vandeweghe recently expressed his unhappiness in Portland to an outsider, Dave Corzine of the Chicago Bulls.

At this point, Denver has to feel pretty good about the trade that sent Vandeweghe to Portland for forward Calvin Natt, center Wayne Cooper, guard Lafayette (Fat) Lever, all of whom are starters, and two draft choices.

Ramsay, however, said he has no regrets about the trade.

“It’ll take time,” Ramsay said. “I’m certainly not despairing over the trade. We got a very, very good player in Vandeweghe.”

With Carr playing in only 21 games because of his knee problems, Vandeweghe has played more of the big forward position with its post-up moves. That’s not his style.

At Denver, Vandeweghe was at his best in an open-court game that allowed him to drive or pull up and shoot jump shots. Vandeweghe also has not been shooting many free throws lately, which is another indication that his game is sick.

Ramsay said he has made a few changes in the offense to help Vandeweghe’s offense. “We do more things for him than for anybody,” Ramsay said.

Jim Paxson wishes somebody would do something for him, too. The Trail Blazers’ All-Star guard is also missing his offense and he’s not very happy about it.

“I don’t have any quick cures or anything, but I sure wish I did,” he said. “We just don’t have any purpose offensively. It’s frustrating for me because I’ve been here in both good and bad and I certainly didn’t expect this year to be one of the bad ones.

“But in times past, I knew what was going on with our offense and what I could get out of it,” he said. “I don’t know that anymore. Part of it is the new players. With Kenny out, Darnell (Valentine) and I are the only ones who were starters here last year.

“We’re not stopping anybody and we’re not getting any fast breaks. I don’t know if it’s a terminal illness or not. But I do know it’s up to Jack to figure it out.”

Owner Jerry Buss of the Lakers is considering playing one exhibition game next fall in San Diego, the city the Clippers, Buss’ cross-town competition, fled for lack of fan interest.

“San Diego fans deserve to get something in the way of NBA basketball,” said Buss.

If everything goes right, what they might get instead is to watch the Lakers’ games at the Forum on cable television.

The Lakers are planning to be part of a cable system called Box Seat, which would televise Laker home games and end ON-TV’s exclusive rights to the games.

Buss wants to create interest in potential cable subscribers in the San Diego area, so playing an exhibition game would help.

A Laker exhibition game in San Diego is not yet assured, though. There is also a chance that the Lakers will be part of a four-team NBA contingent that would play exhibition games in Japan. If that goes through, a game in San Diego probably would be ruled out.

The Chicago Bulls, who lost starting center Caldwell Jones for at least a month when he broke his hand, may go with 11 players until Jones comes back.

If they decide to add a center, Chicago has expressed interest in three players from the Continental League. They are Geoff Crompton, who has played with the Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Bucks, Spurs, and Cavaliers; Joe Cooper, who has been with the Lakers, Bullets and Clippers; and Steve Hayes, formerly of the Spurs, Pistons, Cavaliers and SuperSonics.

Mike Fratello, 5-6 coach of the Atlanta Hawks, when asked what his biggest change has been from his rookie year last season: “I’ve grown up as a coach.”

Anybody need a backcourt bargain? The Washington Bullets are marketing four-year veteran guard Frank Johnson.

Johnson is making $232,000 this season, $158,000 up front, and will earn $255,000 next season, $180,000 up front, in the final year of his contract.

Bullet Coach Gene Shue wants to play only three guards and Johnson isn’t one of them. The three are Gus Williams, Jeff Malone and Dudley Bradley.

When the Bulls’ Michael Jordan scored 32 points against the Celtics recently, he did so without having to go against Boston defensive star Dennis Johnson, who missed the game with a sprained ankle.

That did not escape Jordan’s attention, who explained his success: “I took advantage of the absence of his presence.”