Marty Blake a Good Scout and Towering Basketball Know-All

The voice that answers the phone indicates no time for idle chatter. The greeting is abrupt and not in keeping with traditional phone etiquette.

“Marty Blake,” Marty Blake says in a tone that seems gruff and unfriendly. The message is clear: Ask your questions and don’t take much of my time.

It’s only a front, part of the act. Anyone who has had any contact with Marty Blake knows Marty Blake always has time to talk. The sound may be gruff, but Blake always is cooperative.

He has to be. Blake knows that at this time of the year, all of his callers want to know who the future National Basketball Assn. stars are. They want to know if the guys from big schools will be as good in the NBA as they were in college. If there are guys from small schools who might become the next Dennis Rodman or Scottie Pippen. If there are more Soviets or Yugoslavians who can play in the league.

They will get information because for 19 years Blake has been the source of scouting information for the NBA. Sharing that information with writers and broadcasters and, ultimately, the public is the essence of his job as the chief scout for the NBA.

But before Blake imparts knowledge he has gathered from a network of scouts stationed literally all over the world he sheds the sound of unfriendliness and, like anyone whose job resembles that of a talk-show host, launches into the monologue.

“I’m glad you called,” Blake said last week. “I’ll be in New York Saturday, and I’ll be speaking at the Waldorf. I’m sure you’ve read about it in the papers.” No.

“Oh. It’s a meeting for the Society for the Preservation of the Cigar-Store Indian, of which I’m a member. And that’s a legit organization.”

What else?

“I have a meeting with the appreciation society for (an unpopular NBA general manager). There are two members, maybe three. . . . And then I’m making numerous appearances at free restaurants, and I’m hoping the FAN takes me to lunch.”

Anything else?

“On March 22, 1992, it will be my 65th birthday, at which time the great columnists in the country will write their funny columns seeking gifts for one of the great people. Do you realize that for my 60th birthday, I got 23 sweaters and a television set?”

You done anything interesting lately?

“Yes, I judged a dunk contest in Sri Lanka.”

And so it goes with Marty Blake, who might have one of the most familiar basketball names in the country . . . and one of the most misunderstood jobs. Although Blake evaluates college talent and even sends rankings to all NBA teams, he is not necessarily considered a draft expert.

“It’s not my job to tell teams who to pick,” Blake said. “It’s my job to tell them who is out there.”

“He’s good and he knows a lot of people and he’s got a good gift of gab,” New York Knicks General Manager Al Bianchi said. “He does a hell of a job sifting out stuff. He has his hands on a lot of information. He has stats, all the stuff on junior colleges . . . foreign stuff and does a great job distributing that information. But his job is not to turn you on to someone. He provides a secretarial service. If you didn’t have him, you’d have to hire a secretary to do all the stuff he does.”

“Marty keeps everything up-to-date,” Phoenix Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “He’s right on top of things. He saves you a lot of time and money. He’s a talent scout, but he’s more of a guy who just lists the talent. . . . He’s another tool, but when you make your choice in the draft, it’s based 90% on what you want and 10% on Marty.”

Which sometimes is a mistake. Last year, Blake had Yugoslavian center Vlade Divac ranked as the No. 1 center in the draft. But because Divac did not speak English, he lasted until the 26th pick, where he was taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. Divac went on to make the all-rookie team, and he was the best center taken in the 1989 draft.

At other times Blake’s assessments are ignored. When LSU guard Chris Jackson announced he was leaving school after his sophomore year, Blake said Jackson was not ready to play in the NBA. Other scouts have disagreed, and it appears Jackson might be taken as high as the third pick, and no lower than sixth in Wednesday’s college draft.

Blake is sensitive about criticism he has received. Although he said, “I like Chris Jackson,” Blake has not changed his assessment.

“I don’t dislike Chris Jackson,” Blake said, “but I’ve got to take into consideration that he can’t guard anybody. He has to learn how to distribute the ball. And the biggest thing is that he played for a team with eight draftable players, four lottery picks and they finished third in their league. And when he played somebody tough, like (Georgia Tech’s) Brian Oliver, he was five of 16 from the field. I like Chris Jackson. I think he’s a great personality. I just think there are some questions.”

How did Blake become the person most quoted about college talent entering the NBA? It began 50 years ago when he kept score for the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Barons in a minor league that evolved into the Eastern League and eventually the Continental Basketball Assn.

Blake went on to jobs with the Cleveland Indians and a minor-league football team, and promoted boxing, wrestling and auto racing. He eventually was hired by Ben Kerner, owner of the Milwaukee Hawks, a franchise that moved to St. Louis and then Atlanta.

He was a general manager of the Hawks for 17 years and later worked for the Pittsburgh Condors of the American Basketball Assn. While he was with the Hawks, they won eight divisional titles and were one of only two teams to defeat the Celtics and win a world championship during the Bill Russell era. And in 1970, he was the first general manager to draft foreign players when he selected Manuel Raga from the Mexican National team and Dino Meneghin of Italy, who in 1984 was voted the best player in Europe.

Blake’s bosses thought he was goofy for drafting foreigners, and they would not allow him to sign Raga and Meneghin. Blake still believes if they had, the Hawks would have won three or four more divisional titles and maybe another championship.

In 1971, Blake formed Marty Blake and Associates, a scouting service, and in the next couple of years, he achieved what he calls the highlight of his career. During the most bitter part of the NBA-ABA wars, Blake scouted for both leagues.

Blake compiles all the reports, scouts all the best players himself, sets up postseason all-star games and scouting camps and is aided in his evaluations by a creative mind and photographic memory.

“He’s one of the funniest people I know,” Fitzsimmons said, “but I like him because he’s honest and he’s a critic. He’s not going to write a report on Dwayne Schintzius and say he’s worth a damn just because somebody wants him to. He tells his strengths, but he also will tell you the guy is a dog and has been kicked off every team he’s been on. Then he says, you make your decision. That’s his job, and he does it well.”