December 31, 1976 - Larry Steele Recognized by The Sporting News
December 27, 1976 - Ramsey Could Be All-Star Coach
December 23, 1976
link to story by Brent Musberger about video tape with Buffalo with Ramsay as coach
https://twitter.com/NBACobwebs/status/1518595146308272129?s=20&t=kTJXsvXitZpFzfwFJZqb0Q
https://twitter.com/NBACobwebs/status/1518595146308272129?s=20&t=kTJXsvXitZpFzfwFJZqb0Q
December 21, 1976
December 11, 1976
December 9, 1976
December 6, 1976 - Portland Makes Cover Of Sports Illustrated
The following is the article from Sports Illustrated ...
It is not merely that Bill Walton has had three haircuts and at least that many showers in the past few months. Nor that he has sworn off rutabaga omelets, lumberjack ensembles and incendiary manifestos in support of the Siamese Refrigeration Army. What has caused such a stir in the ranks of professional basketball is the fact that out there in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of clean air, pine needles and sometimes a great notion. Bill Walton has emerged as the best all-round basketball player in the world.
As the Portland Trail Blazers rushed to the Pacific Division lead with a 15-6 record last week, Walton was largely responsible for his team's 13th straight victory at home—112-108 over Milwaukee on Saturday night—and for the Blazers stealing a couple of victories on the road. The 6'11", 225-pound mountain man was averaging more than 21 points a game while leading the NBA in rebounding (16.4), blocked shots (3.19) and growing up. This last is no trivial accomplishment. Indeed, it is phenomenal to those who, for Walton's injury-plagued first two pro seasons, thought of him as some doped-up, whacked-out, weirdo, Commie-loving, acid freak hippie with lice in his hair and Patty Hearst's phone number in his datebook. |
It seems only yesterday that Walton was wearing a ponytail. burning incense in airport terminals, answering questions from the FBI, and leaving himself open to charges of faking every sort of illness this side of schistosomiasis. But it was not just yesterday, it was two long years ago. And as for his basketball, which is all that should have mattered anyway, it must be understood that before this season Walton was never 100% physically sound. Never.
Ever since he began this season by not only devastating all competition but also actually looking joyful again—the way he did while winning two national championships at UCLA—the Portland center has been subjected to various and sundry psychological investigations intended to explain "the new Bill Walton." But aside from shearing his fiery orange locks and abandoning his exotic wardrobe of woodchopper getups, Walton says he has not changed. He basks in the same counterculture life-style, has the same friends, believes in the same political theories, eats the same cucumbers. What's so different?
"I'm just healthy," Walton said last week while wearing a lavender Grateful Dead T shirt. "That's all. For two years I wasn't able to run up and down the court freely without making a conscious effort out of it. Without thinking about it. That's no way to play basketball. I love this game. I always have. And I always knew how good I was. It's just that when you're going up against guys you know you can take anytime, but you can't because of a bad ankle or too much weight or a broken hand or something else, it is too discouraging. And not any fun."
Not any fun. Another carrottopped basketball player quit the game the other day because it was no longer any fun. And of course in his mind Bill Walton must have quit, too, that first year when the hurts—bone spurs, "brain spurs," whatever—piled up, the pressure and slanders crashed down and the rains came to Portland, leaving one of nature's true sun kids in a blue funk. Walton, at 22, could not be expected to cope with something like that the way a Dave Cowens, at 28, could and did.
Ever since he began this season by not only devastating all competition but also actually looking joyful again—the way he did while winning two national championships at UCLA—the Portland center has been subjected to various and sundry psychological investigations intended to explain "the new Bill Walton." But aside from shearing his fiery orange locks and abandoning his exotic wardrobe of woodchopper getups, Walton says he has not changed. He basks in the same counterculture life-style, has the same friends, believes in the same political theories, eats the same cucumbers. What's so different?
"I'm just healthy," Walton said last week while wearing a lavender Grateful Dead T shirt. "That's all. For two years I wasn't able to run up and down the court freely without making a conscious effort out of it. Without thinking about it. That's no way to play basketball. I love this game. I always have. And I always knew how good I was. It's just that when you're going up against guys you know you can take anytime, but you can't because of a bad ankle or too much weight or a broken hand or something else, it is too discouraging. And not any fun."
Not any fun. Another carrottopped basketball player quit the game the other day because it was no longer any fun. And of course in his mind Bill Walton must have quit, too, that first year when the hurts—bone spurs, "brain spurs," whatever—piled up, the pressure and slanders crashed down and the rains came to Portland, leaving one of nature's true sun kids in a blue funk. Walton, at 22, could not be expected to cope with something like that the way a Dave Cowens, at 28, could and did.
In retrospect, Walton's troubled NBA beginnings were preordained when he chose to play for an expansion team wracked by conflicting personalities. Probably the UCLA graduate was a bit overrated as an instant dominating NBA center, if only because that kind of rare people—Russell, the defender; Chamberlain, the overpowering giant; Abdul-Jab-bar, the offensive genius—were specialists, while Walton simply did everything well, but nothing well enough to turn a bad team around by himself. And Portland was a very bad team.
In addition, Walton bitterly resented being thought of as the pro game's first "great white hope" dominator. So he wandered through 35 games during his rookie season and 51 last year while the resident Trail Blazer stars, Sidney Wicks and Geoff Petrie, continued sniping at each other as well as undermining management and criticizing their young pivotman's social behavior. |
"Lack of harmony keeps a team from ever really developing," says Larry Steele, one of two Blazers left from pre-Walton days, "and there was never the basic respect for one another here. I think Bill, who always enjoyed basketball only within a team concept, was overwhelmed by the atmosphere."
It is little wonder that when Dr. Jack Ramsay came from Buffalo to coach Portland this year, he cleaned house. Petrie was traded, Wicks sold. The new boss said he was "a Walton man" and, with General Manager Stu Inman, Ramsay went out and got quick, smart players, men of good will and character who could surround and complement a hale and hearty Walton as well as run circle routes, Z-outs and fly patterns and haul in his outlet passes.
Walton used to loaf up the court in Portland's setup style, but he was always, as the song goes, born to run—and Ramsay ordered it. To date, the Trail Blazers have scored 45 points in a single quarter against Atlanta (after which Hawk Coach Hubie Brown pointed to the scoreboard and screamed at his troops, "Look up there. You know what that means? That means 180 damn points at the end"). They have scored 145 points against Indiana, 146 against Philadelphia. They lead the NBA in scoring average. "If I wanted to give a clinic on how to run the break, I could show our home-game films," says Ramsay. With a pressing, shot-rejecting defense at the other end of the floor, they also are sixth in league defense.
Portland's fast start can be attributed to its favorable early-season schedule at home, where the team has drawn a succession of sellouts or near-sellouts. Still, the Blazers' success seems fairly remarkable, in that seven members of the 12-man group are brand new this year and only Maurice Lucas ever played on a winner in the pros.
"What the coach has done is treat everybody the same," says one Blazer. "He is consistent in dealing with each individual. He's concerned with team attitudes, not just the stars'. Bill never got that equal treatment, not even at UCLA. He loves that here."
It is little wonder that when Dr. Jack Ramsay came from Buffalo to coach Portland this year, he cleaned house. Petrie was traded, Wicks sold. The new boss said he was "a Walton man" and, with General Manager Stu Inman, Ramsay went out and got quick, smart players, men of good will and character who could surround and complement a hale and hearty Walton as well as run circle routes, Z-outs and fly patterns and haul in his outlet passes.
Walton used to loaf up the court in Portland's setup style, but he was always, as the song goes, born to run—and Ramsay ordered it. To date, the Trail Blazers have scored 45 points in a single quarter against Atlanta (after which Hawk Coach Hubie Brown pointed to the scoreboard and screamed at his troops, "Look up there. You know what that means? That means 180 damn points at the end"). They have scored 145 points against Indiana, 146 against Philadelphia. They lead the NBA in scoring average. "If I wanted to give a clinic on how to run the break, I could show our home-game films," says Ramsay. With a pressing, shot-rejecting defense at the other end of the floor, they also are sixth in league defense.
Portland's fast start can be attributed to its favorable early-season schedule at home, where the team has drawn a succession of sellouts or near-sellouts. Still, the Blazers' success seems fairly remarkable, in that seven members of the 12-man group are brand new this year and only Maurice Lucas ever played on a winner in the pros.
"What the coach has done is treat everybody the same," says one Blazer. "He is consistent in dealing with each individual. He's concerned with team attitudes, not just the stars'. Bill never got that equal treatment, not even at UCLA. He loves that here."
The original Sports Illustrated layout is below
November 29, 1976 - The Sporting News
November 26, 1976
November 24, 1976 - Bob Gross Proving To Be Mr. Cool
November 23, 1976
November 18, 1976 - Hollins Improving Upon His Rookie Season
November 17 - Jazz GM Not A Fan Of Wicks
November 11, 1976 - Twardzik Fine After Minor Injury
November 10, 1976 - Petrie Can't Wait To Play With Hawks
November 9, 1976 - Hollins Improving; Ex-Duck & Blazer Barnett Cut By Knicks
November 8, 1976 - Benson Tech Grad Washington Comes Home With KC Kings
November 6, 1976 - Ex-Beaver Lonnie Shelton Coming To Portland Tomorrow
November 6, 1976 - Blazers Off To Quick Start, Some With New Roles
An excerpt from the newest Sports Illustrated edition about the influence of ABA players among the NBA.
The Portland Trail Blazers, while getting a UCLA-era, superhuman effort out of the Mountain Man, Bill Walton, have filled out their lineup with two key ABA graduates, Maurice Lucas and Dandy Dave Twardzik, who enable the Blazers to run like nobody else in the NBA and to lead the Pacific Division. What happens when an opposition shot goes up is that Walton and Lucas head for the defensive board while Twardzik and the other Blazers sprint in the other direction. Thus Portland barely edged Philly's juggernaut by the amazing count of 146-104. Before that, the Blazers got 80 points in a half against Atlanta, and Hawk Coach Hubie Brown wailed, "What is this, a track meet?" |
November 5, 1976 - Ex-Blazer Hawes Won't Need Surgery After All
November 4, 1976 - The Sporting News Looks At The Early Blazers
November 3, 1976 -
November 2, 1976 - Hawes Sent Back To Atlanta
Atlanta Hawk forward Steve Hawes was sent back to Atlanta this morning after the knee injury he sustained was found to be more serious than thought. The former Blazer is expected to have minor surgery within the next two days and will miss four to six seeks. Hawk coach Hubie Brown said the loss “Really hurts because he was playing the best of anyone on the team”
The Hawks are 2-4 while the Blazers are 3-1.
The Hawks are 2-4 while the Blazers are 3-1.
November 1, 1976 - Stats After 4 Games; Blazers To Show Election
Results At Hawks Game
November 1, 1976 - Hawes Is A Starter As A Hawk
Steve Hawes was injured in last nights game in Seattle and spent most of the evening on the bench
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Steve Hawes will be making first trip back to Portland since being traded by the Blazers along with Geoff Petrie on August 2. Whether he can play is another issue. Hawes suffered a knee injury in the Atlanta Hawks loss in Seattle yesterday evening. “Another player fell onto my knee. The knee is swollen but I’m hoping it is not something that will keep me out. I want to keep playing.” Hawes won the starting position for his new team and is averaging 15.4 points and 6.5 rebounds in the first five games. Last season in Portland, Hawes averaged 7.2 points and 7.3 rebounds in 66 games with the Blazers. The Hawks are 2-4 after the loss to the Sonics coming into Portland but Hawes notes that the Hawks "personal has changed a lot, and we have a new coach (Hubie Brown) It takes time to get everything together.” When asked about Petrie, Hawes says is looking forward to playing with him again. “His outside shooting threat will be a big help to us. Geoff has been out to our recent home workouts, shooting and getting back into shape. He hadn’t started running yet when we left on this road trip. I don’t know just when he will be able to start playing” |
October 31, 1976 - Neal Recovering Quicker Than Anticipated
The Pacific Division leading Blazer will soon have more firepower up front as Lloyd Neal will resume practicing with the team today, much sooner than was expected. Neal had knee surgery on October 4 and was expected to be out a minimum of 8 weeks, with early December as the target date for return. Team doctor Robert Cook has said Neal’s recovery rate has been far above average. Cook and Neal each attribute a tireless exercise routine for his quick return. “I’ve been running up and down steps for the last week” said Neal. After watching the 131-97 victory yesterday against the Detroit Pistons Neal added “I don’t know whether I can run that fast” Coach Jack Ramsey said he expects Neal to ready to play by the time the Blazers embark on their next road trip which begins on November 11 in Atlanta. Former Blazer Geoff Petrie, who had knee surgery in September, was expected to be available for the Hawks by then but was recently put on injured reserve list and is not expected to play before January |
October 29, 1976 - Knicks Looking To Ex-Blazer Layton For Scoring
October 27, 1976 - Barry Impressed With Blazers, Down On Warriors
The two-time Pacific Division Champions leader is questioning their commitment at an early stage of the season. Rick Barry, the MVP of the playoffs when the Golden State Warriors won the 1975 NBA title said after the 110-96 loss to the Blazers “We are a far cry from last year’s team. The way we’ve been playing, you have to question our dedication and determination.” The Warriors are 0-2 on the young season and face the Blazers tomorrow in Oakland.
Barry does give some credit to the new-look Blazers. “Portland finally has a team that plays together. The players are running well and getting back well on defense.” In previous seasons, the Blazers have had trouble running with Barry and the Warriors. During last evening’s game, it was the Warriors playing catch-up to the Blazers speed.
Barry does give some credit to the new-look Blazers. “Portland finally has a team that plays together. The players are running well and getting back well on defense.” In previous seasons, the Blazers have had trouble running with Barry and the Warriors. During last evening’s game, it was the Warriors playing catch-up to the Blazers speed.