Oct
04
This Week In Trail Blazers History: October 3rd-October 9th
By sarahhecht Posted in: jeromekersey
Oct. 7, 1970- The Trail Blazers sold guard/forward Pat Riley to the Los Angeles Lakers. Riley was selected in the 1970 expansion draft by Portland but never played a game scarlet and black. Following his nine years as a player—averaging 7.4 ppg—Riley went on to coach for 24 years. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach in 2008 and is currently the president of the Miami Heat. Riley went on to win five NBA Championships after his brief stay in Rip City, one as a player and four as a coach.
Oct. 8, 1980- Portland traded Jim Brewer—who played in the NBA for nine seasons, one for the Trail Blazers—to the Los Angeles Lakers for a 1984 2nd round draft pick. That draft pick resulted in the selection of Trail Blazer great Jerome Kersey—a selection that came down to the final moments on draft night.
From BLAZERMANIA
By: Wayne Thompson
“Buckwalter and Inman also disagreed in 1984 on when to take unranked Jerome Kersey in the draft. Both had scouted Kersey and liked him, but Buckwalter worried that too many other NBA scouts were at Portsmouth, Virginia, that spring, when Kersey had had a breakout tournament. Someone else was sure to see Kersey’s potential. The Blazers had two first-round draft choices and four seconds that year, and time was running out on their final pick of the second round—No. 46 overall. Inman insisted that the Blazers could get Kersey in a later round, but Buckwalter felt that Kersey wouldn’t be there later. General manager Harry Glickman recalls that when the phone call came in from the New York draft center to tell the Blazers they had less than a minute to make a selection, Inman shouted across the room, “Okay, Bucky, you can have Kersey, but I’m winning the next round.”
Inman’s concession to Buckwalter on
the selection of Kersey turned out to be incredibly fruitful. In 11 seasons with Portland Kersey averaged 12.1 ppg and 6.1 rebounds. More importantly, his consistency of heart and night-in-night-out dedication to the success of the Trail Blazers contributed to the achievements of Rip City during the early 90s.