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The Trail Blazers and Deal Flow

It’s easy to get stuck on the Trade Machine, looking for that one deal that not only makes sense for the Blazers, but for the other team as well.

That sort of thing really should be left to fans of the big-market teams and the occasionally lucky punter franchise (here’s looking at you, OKC).

Portland gets their goodies through deal flow. Two such examples stand out. TL;DR: Bill Walton cast a 27-year-long shadow over the Blazers’ personnel moves.

Trade № 1: Tom Owens from Houston, 1977

The Blazers sent their young backup center to the Rockets for Owens, who had done a star turn in the ABA. As Bill Walton’s backup, then replacement, he was a stalwart for the Blazers for four seasons.

Trade № 2: Bill Walton to San Diego, 1979

Walton and his tale really need no introduction. He wanted out, so off he went in what we would consider a sign-and-trade today. The players that came back from that trade don’t matter to this narrative.

Trade № 3: Tom Owens to Indiana, 1981

This trade is famous for what it brought the franchises involved in the long run, and the opportunities both neglected—in Portland’s case, for the best of reasons. Owens played a season in Indiana, then was traded to Detroit for a second round pick and retired, having become a bucket of injuries.

Portland for its part got a 1984 first-round pick. I’ll skip the beginning and middle of that story; what matters here is the end of that story.

Trade № 4: Cedric Maxwell from Boston to the Clippers for Bill Walton, 1985

Walton’s injury troubles hadn’t abated, but he still had enough to establish his presence on the Celtics’ bench and help take them to two more Eastern Conference titles.

Trade № 5: Darnell Valentine to the Clippers, 1986

Valentine—himself drafted with a pick conveyed in trade—had been a steady producer for the Blazers and was well-regarded by the fans, but demanded a trade after Dr. Jack was fired and replaced by the acerbic Mike Schuler. The Blazers netted the first round pick from the Clippers that had been conveyed with Cedric Maxwell for Walton and used it to draft Arvydas Sabonis, whose story is well-known.

Trade № 6: Sam Bowie to New Jersey, 1989

With this trade, the deal flow comes to an end, with the departure of the № 2 pick yielded out of the second Tom Owens trade. The player who came back was Buck Williams, whose contributions to Portland’s frontcourt led the team to three consecutive Western Conference Finals… finally fulfilling at least some of the promise that was stolen by Bill Walton’s injuries.

…And for that we fans got a bonus: despite an infamous injury history of his own Sabonis eventually came to Portland, and even in the twilight of his pro career was instrumental in taking the team to two more Western Conference Finals.

When you look down the Blazers’ roster, ask yourself what might come back in trade when one of those players moves on. Neil Olshey’s been quite direct that—however unwise their salaries might be—the three overpaid players on the roster can still make three excellent trade assets… and there are tales from the Blazers’ annals that illustrate exactly why he feels that way.

Postscript

This entire piece came about from the sort of stream of consciousness that you can only indulge on the Internet. After seeing the story about how Charlotte shellacked Memphis last night, I went and looked up comparable games (one of which raised some rather sour memories). I noted an awful loss suffered by Houston the season after their ’86 Finals appearance, and after double-checking the Rockets’ roster I realized I’d stumbled on another piece of deal flow. Thus this story.