DEEP THREATS

Dear Phil, you were right, $73.9 million buys you a nice team.

Of course, the Portland Trail Blazers realize when Phil Jackson called them “the best team money can buy,” it was a compliment, at least if you look at it the right way. They note the only player they bought was Detlef Schrempf, for the low, low, bargain price of $2 million. Everyone else, they traded for.

Nor does money ensure happiness. The New York Knicks are paying their team $71.5 million, and all they have is an aging collection of lifestyles that’s struggling in the East.

“Isn’t that ironic?” says Trader Bob Whitsitt, the slick Trail Blazer general manager, laughing. “For 20 years it’s been the Lakers and the Knicks and money was never an object. They’re just allowed to spend whatever they want.”

Trader Bob is sitting behind the basket in his customary seat in the Rose Garden next to Paul Allen, who helped Bill Gates found Microsoft but took his billions and left to see how much he could spend.

Allen could really do a job on the Lakers if there were no salary cap, as in the early ‘80s when Jerry Buss, who was then Mr. Flamboyant in the NBA, gave young Magic Johnson a $25-million “lifetime contract” and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes screeched to a halt on the owner’s doorstep, as if in a Roadrunner cartoon.

There’s a $35-million cap now, not that Buss or anyone else pays attention to it. The Laker owner is holding the line at $55 million, where the luxury tax is projected to start in 2000. This season will show whether this puts him at a competitive disadvantage with Allen.

The rest of the league eyes the Trail Blazers just as anxiously.

“They have the most talent in the league,” says Gregg Popovich, coach of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. “The only question is how well they play together.”

Before a recent game, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Shawn Kemp said, “If I was to look at their roster, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. The team they have should be illegal.”

Teams can look awesome on paper and lame on the court, which is what everybody was hoping, that Schrempf, Steve Smith and Scottie Pippen wouldn’t fit and everybody would give up and adjourn to the bars.

In other words, sort of like what happened last season in Houston, where Pippen was supposed to launch a new dynasty with Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.

But that isn’t happening. The Trail Blazers fell together as nicely as you please. They play hard, defend and go about their business without any of those gestures they used to be famous for--pulling off their shirts after eliminating the Utah Jazz last spring, Isaiah Rider’s jersey tugs to show his heart after baskets.

It’s different these days in Blazermania. It’s . . . grown up.

“I knew there was going to be changes,” says Damon Stoudamire, the engaging elf and former putative savior. “I just didn’t know who was going to be here and who was going to be gone.

“I don’t think anybody, management included, thought we were going to add Scottie. We added Steve, I thought that was going to be enough right there. We added Scottie and now, it’s like we’ve got another guy who’s been there. I mean, geez, what can you say?

“I think it means that, you know, gotta win now. I mean, what they said, we’re gonna sacrifice youth for a window of opportunity. [Laughing] It has to be done in like the next three years.”

Try the next one or two or more guys will be gone. Trader Bob isn’t in the wait-and-see game.

Rise and Fall of the Jail Blazers

“We don’t take guys or sign guys to big contracts . . . that we don’t think are really good players and really good character guys that fit in our community the right way. We’ll bring a lot of guys in, we’ll work with them, we’ll give them opportunities, but before we step up to the plate, guys really have to fit in both those categories.”

--Bob Whitsitt

Well, maybe the one category more than the other. Take Rasheed Wallace, a withdrawn young man who rarely speaks to the Trail Blazer press corps but has Kevin Garnett-like gifts and an $80-million contract.

Let’s face it, character is one thing, but there’s nothing as lame as 12 good men who can’t play.

That’s where Whitsitt came in in 1994, with the brave old Trail Blazers of Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams and Jerome Kersey withering on the vine and seemingly no place to go but down after two unsuccessful trips to the finals.

So Whitsitt did what he had done in Seattle, make moves and take chances.

He gambled on Rider, who had long since exasperated the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Wallace, whose outbursts scared the then-Washington Bullets off in one season. He gave an eye-popping $35 million to Kenny Anderson, whose star was already setting, and $55 million to promising but oft-injured Brian Grant.

What was the alternative? This wasn’t La-La Land. The sun was a rumor all basketball season and nobody was calling their agents, demanding to be traded to Portland to further their movie careers.

Not all the new guys worked out, on the floor and off. They stopped short of felonies, but several--Rider, Gary Trent--had a weakness for memorable outbursts that disturbed the peace of their happy community where the Blazermaniacs were used to doting on their players.

Even last season, after Mike Dunleavy turned their fortunes around by getting them to accept a 10-man rotation, trouble seemed to bob just beneath the surface, with Rider’s pouts, no-shows and impromptu dashes to the dressing room and Stoudamire spicing up the Western finals by vowing he’d “never forget” sitting out fourth quarters.

They went out in a 4-0 puff of smoke against San Antonio and, turnaround or no, nobody went home happy, starting with Whitsitt, who started calling around to see if he couldn’t find some of them a nice home elsewhere.

“I guess,” Whitsitt says, “quite candidly, we wanted to sort of get in the ring with the big boys.”

One thing about Whitsitt, every time you think he’s out of moves, he thinks of something else.

He found a taker for Rider with the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks, who wanted cap flexibility and gave up Smith for Rider and Jimmy Jackson, each of whom has one year on his contract and can be let go next summer.

Then Whitsitt got Schrempf, who wanted to stay near his Seattle home, to take the Trail Blazers’ $2-million exception instead of San Antonio’s.

Then, after a nervous summer of watching the Lakers and Rockets circle each other, Whitsitt jumped in when the Lakers went thumbs down on Pippen and got him--giving up six reserves but not a single starter.

Voila! The Trail Blazers are one of the big guys now.

“I wish it was that way, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to buy any of those guys,” Whitsitt says. “The only free agent we signed was Detlef Schrempf, and he signed for $2 million. I think everybody in the league had that available to them. The other guys we traded for. They had those contracts in place.

“I like to think we had a deep, flexible roster which allowed us to make the moves, because without it, you can’t go get those guys.”

If It’s Early, Pippen Must Like His New Team

Last season, Pippen went to Houston, proclaiming his love for the Rockets, whom he was supposed to help put over the top.

Now he’s in Portland, proclaiming his love for the Trail Blazers, whom he’s supposed to put over the top.

What happened?

Nothing that does anyone any credit.

The Rockets convinced themselves that Barkley and Olajuwon were still young enough to win a title with Pippen and two rookie guards.

Barkley told Pippen, his friend from their Dream Team days, they’d be dynamite together. They hired the Bulls’ strength coach and worked out every day, as Pippen, Michael Jordan and Ron Harper had in Chicago.

Barkley even worked for $1 million to make cap room for Pippen. Unfortunately, in what should have been the tipoff, Barkley signed his contract on the 10th tee at Tamarisk, where he was playing in a tournament with Jordan, missing the first three days of camp. Charlie was going to be Charlie.

So they had their disastrous season, which reflected badly on Pippen, who blamed the offense and plotted his escape.

As when he left Chicago, his first choice was the Lakers, but the Rockets weren’t inclined to send Shaquille O’Neal help--so Pippen’s people let word of his unhappiness seep out to force Houston’s hand, as rumors surfaced that Pippen was house hunting in the South Bay.

“No, not exactly,” Pippen says.

What was it, exactly?

“I don’t know. There were expectations every time I was in L.A., that I was shopping for a house.”

So he was in Los Angeles over the summer?

“Was I hanging around L.A.? Yeah. My wife is an actress and I was with her. I’m free to go to any city in this world.”

Finally, the Rockets acquired rookie Steve Francis from Vancouver and began thinking about a future without the remaining $68 million on Pippen’s contract in it, while Barkley and Pippen got into it.

Barkley said Pippen was trying to get himself traded and owed Houston an apology.

Pippen said Barkley owed him the apology for showing up “with his fat butt,” adding he “wouldn’t apologize at gunpoint.”

And he hasn’t.

For all Pippen’s fame, he’s probably the Trail Blazers’ third option behind Smith and Wallace. Pippen’s numbers are pretty much what he posted in Houston, 13.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Dunleavy says he’s more of a “glue guy,” than someone he expects to score a lot of points.

In fact, getting his own shot may be the weakest part of Pippen’s game. That was why Jackson drew up that famous play in the ’94 playoffs for Toni Kukoc.

Aside from that, it’s all good. Pippen is one of the best ballhandling, rebounding and defending small forwards the game has ever seen. Whether he’d have been named a top-50 player without the halo effect of playing alongside Jordan on six champions is arguable, but he’s definitely great to have around.

“It’s probably more because of everything he’s probably brought with him, instead of maybe what he’s actually doing,” Stoudamire says.

“Not that he’s doing bad or nothing. . . . He’s just that guy, if we kind of lose it a little bit, he pulls us in and, ‘C’mon now, we gotta maintain our dominance.’ . . .

“It’s like last game, talking to him at half-court, he’s like, ‘We gotta get our dominance back. We haven’t been dominating teams for like the last three-four games.’

“And it was like, damn, we’ve been winning, you know? I think with stuff like that, that’s why it’s been real big, having him around.”

On the rocking-chair Rockets, Pippen, a high-energy defender, was a stranger in a strange land. Now he has plenty of teammates who chase the ball just as doggedly: Grant, Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, even Wallace when he’s into games. The defense, which was good a year ago, is better, No. 2 in points given up, No. 1 in opponents’ shooting percentage.

Questions remain. There’s an NBA axiom that great teams require a great player, rather than a collection of good ones. The Spurs go to Tim Duncan. Dunleavy selects from a committee.

That’s what happened in last week’s fizzled grudge match between Barkley’s Rockets and Pippen’s Trail Blazers. With Olajuwon missing the second half, the Trail Blazers stalled on offense, couldn’t find a shooter and struggled to beat the woeful Rockets in overtime.

“They’re not as good as I thought they’d be,” Barkley said. “They’re going to win a lot of games. There’s a lot of bad teams in the league, but they ain’t like no juggernaut. They can be beat.”

They can, indeed, but check around, no one else has a juggernaut.

The Trail Blazers may still have a kink or two, but when you look at where they’ve come from--and what glamour franchises they’ve caught up to--they’re doing OK.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Putting It Together

A look at how the Trail Blazers were built:

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DRAFTED (1)

x-Jermaine O’Neal--Drafted in first round (17th overall) of 1996 NBA draft.

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FREE AGENTS (7)

Arvydas Sabonis--Signed from Spanish league on Sept. 29, 1995.

Brian Grant--Signed as free agent on Aug. 23, 1997.

Greg Anthony--Signed as free agent on Jan. 22, 1999.

Detlef Schrempf--Signed as free agent on Aug. 2, 1999.

Gary Grant--Signed as free agent on Aug. 5, 1999.

Joe Kleine--Signed as a free agent on Oct. 6, 1999.

Stacey Augmon--Signed as a free agent on Oct. 14, 1999.

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TRADES (5)

Rasheed Wallace--Acquired from Washington with Mitchell Butler on July 15, 1996, for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant.

Damon Stoudamire--Acquired from Toronto with Walt Williams and Carlos Rogers on Feb. 13, 1998, for Kenny Anderson, Alvin Williams, Gary Trent and two first-round draft choices.

Bonzi Wells--Acquired from Detroit on Jan. 21, 1999, for a conditional first-round draft choice.

Steve Smith--Acquired from Atlanta with Ed Gray on Aug. 2, 1999, for Isaiah Rider and Jim Jackson.

Scottie Pippen--Acquired from Houston on Oct. 2, 1999, for Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Ed Gray, Brian Shaw and Carlos Rogers.

x-on injured list

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TONIGHT

LAKERS VS. TRAIL BLAZERS

Staples Center, 7:30, Fox Sports Net