The NBA : Gervin Trade Seemed Inevitable

From the time he joined the San Antonio Spurs in 1974, George Gervin outlasted 87 teammates and 5 coaches, but he couldn’t get past Cotton Fitzsimmons, who needed a full year to rid himself of Gervin.

Gervin, 33, had been the oldest starting guard in the NBA for the last two years, and Fitzsimmons finally managed to convince the Spurs that Gervin was a defensive liability who just couldn’t play anymore.

The San Antonio fans weren’t in the mood to see Gervin traded, although Fitzsimmons had certainly worked hard to prepare them for that possibility since he became head coach of the Spurs before last season.

Fan reaction to Gervin’s trade to the Chicago Bulls was very negative, but surprisingly, most of it was against owner Angelo Drossos and not Fitzsimmons.

One irate fan called the Spurs’ offices and left a message on the answering machine threatening to kill Drossos. Minutes later, the same voice called back to cancel season tickets after the caller gave his name and address.

Another woman spoke to General Manager Bob Bass and told him she would no longer use her four courtside season seats, but would instead put anti-Spur signs in the vacant chairs.

Although both Gervin and Fitzsimmons were quoted saying only nice things about each other after the trade, both parties privately conceded during the summer that they would never work together again. At the same time, Gervin even confided to friends that he would wind up in Chicago, where ex-Spur Coach Stan Albeck works.

Albeck, who dislikes Drossos almost as much as Drossos dislikes him, would dearly love to show up the former boss with whom he tangled over the terms of a new contract.

Drossos couldn’t pass up a final shot at the departing Gervin. Drossos unloaded when he was asked whether Gervin’s poor attitude was caused because he didn’t get along with Fitzsimmons.

“I don’t know why people keep going back to Gervin’s attitude or his mental state,” Drossos said. “Do they really believe that his playing problems were just in his head? He just can’t do it anymore.

“Was it just in Larry Holmes head when he lost that fight to Michael Spinks, or was it because he simply couldn’t do it anymore?” Drossos asked.

The interesting part about the Gervin trade is that it was probably the correct move for the Spurs, who are obviously rebuilding. Besides, Gervin told the Spurs last season that he wanted to be traded. Perhaps they’re both better off without each other.

In the aftermath, the trade would have been much more easily accepted if the Spurs had been more honest in the beginning.

Fitzsimmons should have come right out and said Gervin could not play for him and had to go, instead of whispering that he was washed up, then after running down the product, trying to get something good for him in a trade.

Actually, in the end, Fitzsimmons even gets his ultimate wish, or at least the next best thing. Unable to retire Gervin, the Spurs will retire his uniform before a game Dec. 6.

In case you’re keeping score, here’s the season’s first one-liner from the Clippers’ Cedric Maxwell after he played 42 minutes in a double-overtime victory Saturday night:

“If I have to play this hard to win, I’m going back to Boston.”

Kevin Loughery has left Chicago, but it only took one game for him to be remembered, and not in a positive way.

Loughery’s successor as the Bulls’ coach, Stan Albeck, was ejected from the team’s opening game when he argued with Detroit Coach Chuck Daly after Albeck asked that the Pistons’ Bill Laimbeer be thrown out for fouling Michael Jordan.

“Kevin Loughery would never had fought for us like that,” said Bulls’ center Jawann Oldham.

And from Jordan: “It was nice to see a coach stand up for us. Stan really showed me something.”

As you might guess, Loughery was not very popular with his players. Even the mild-mannered Jordan, who didn’t like the way he was being used last season, was unhappy but kept it basically to himself.

The NBA, concerned about violence in its games, announced fines and one-day suspensions for both Daly and Albeck on Monday.

Commissioner David Stern found himself in the uncomfortable position of defending the NBA’s 82-game regular season and its playoff qualifications which were questioned by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The unusual exchange of views happened at what was supposed to be a routine interview session following a luncheon promoting the NBA’s All-Star game in Dallas.

Abdul-Jabbar, long a critic of the length of the season and the number of teams in the playoffs, said he remembered that when the Milwaukee Bucks won the title in 1971, the last game of the championship series was April 30. The Lakers won their title last season on June 12.

“To play an 82-game season to eliminate six or seven teams is kind of absurd,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s only the really poor teams that don’t make the playoffs. The playoff situation could be determined by February.

“Even the commissioner would probably tell you the regular season doesn’t count for that much,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

All right. Commissioner?

“No, I don’t agree,” Stern said. “I think the 82-game schedule is a fact of life. If we could be in the NFL and only have to sell eight games, then maybe it would be different.”