in NBA Betting Trends

     The Trail Blazers fired coach Maurice Cheeks last Wednesday, but if ever there were a case to be made for keeping the coach and dumping the rest of the team - or dumping the whole franchise, the way things have gone - this was it.

     Cheeks was a lame-duck coach, because everyone in Portland knew he was going to be fired. The players treated him that way, giving him the old "tune-out" we already have seen in places like Denver and Minnesota this year.
    
     But, though Cheeks is, as yet, hardly a Hall of Fame coach and did not win a playoff series in his Portland tenure, the reality is, he's never gotten a fair shake. No coach in the league has been undercut by his own front office and owner as severely as Cheeks.

     Cheeks was in the unenviable position of taking over for Mike Dunleavy in 2001. This was just after the Blazers had imploded following another pathetic playoff loss to the Lakers. It also would have been a good time for the Blazers to start over, to try to look ahead to cap space and youth - one of Cheeks' strengths is working with younger players.
    
     But Cheeks never really got to show that in Portland, thanks to a front office that, despite two different decision-makers - first Bob Whitsitt and then John Nash - went two for two, in that they both continually made dumb decisions that hurt the team and its payroll simultaneously.

     Start in the summer of 2001. With Steve Smith's contract ready to come off the books, at about $9 million, this would have been a good time for Portland to take the long, hard road to rebuilding by getting its payroll in order.
    
     Instead, the Blazers traded Smith for frequently injured guard Derek Anderson - and gave him a six-year, $42 million deal. To top that off, Portland signed the classy Ruben Patterson to a six-year, $34 million deal. Patterson was (and is) a registered sex offender stemming from a case involving his nanny in Seattle the previous year.
    
     In 2002, it was the drafting of another quality person, small forward Qyntel Woods. Several scouts thought Woods had lottery potential heading into the draft, but rampant rumors of character issues with Woods scared off all teams - until bold Portland picked 21st, that is.
    
     The Blazers apparently were not concerned with Woods' character issues. Little wonder that, since then, he has been arrested on a marijuana charge and was investigated for hosting dog fights at his home.
    
     (There ain't many things I regard as hanging offenses but forcing dogs to fight, deliberately making them mean and even feeding them black powder as a lot of these nitwits do is high on the list.  BTW, gunpowder in the diet doesn't make them warriors or even mean; it does give the dogs bleeding ulcers which quite naturally makes them cranky but these idiots can't differentiate.)

     Of course, there is more, even after Whitsitt was fired and Nash was brought in. Last year, the Blazers traded Jeff McInnis for noted loafer Darius Miles, who was considered a character problem in his days with the Clippers and Cavaliers.
    
     The Blazers signed Miles to a free agent contract this summer, for six years and $48 million despite there being no other real bidders for Miles, and thereafter, Miles just stopped listening to Cheeks - and eventually was suspended (after Cheeks insisted on it) for a post-practice altercation with Cheeks.

     Also, last year, rather than allow Rasheed Wallace's contract to come off the books - another opportunity to take a step on the long road to cap space - the Blazers traded Wallace for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a power forward. The problem there is that the Blazers had already decided to build around a young power forward, Zach Randolph.
    
     Abdur-Rahim has been classy about the situation, but what kind of move is it to trade a cap-clearing contract for a guy who plays the same position as your franchise player? That's certainly not a move that helps the coach, the team or, to be really radical, the fans in any way.

     Just to top it off, the Blazers had one of the most bizarre summers of any team in 2004. They drafted an undersized, overhyped, high school point guard, Sebastian Telfair, rather than address the team's lack of perimeter shooting. Despite edicts to focus on character and controlling payroll, the Blazers dished out the big contract for Miles. They also gave Theo Ratliff a three-year extension; possibly the only good move of this century for the franchise.  Blind hogs and acorns don't you know.

     Worst of all, they gave Zach Randolph a six-year, $83-million extension. Randolph has tremendous talent, but he also has character issues. He sucker-punched Patterson and broke his eye socket in practice, and had been arrested several times as a teenager for possession of stolen property and assault. He has also been arrested for driving under the influence.

     Even on the court, Randolph has struggled. He has also shown a lack of willingness to get in shape, work and improve. Now that he has the big contract, whatever chance there might have been for him to show some semblance of work ethic has evaporated.
    
     He has battled some injuries, his scoring, rebounding and shooting have dropped and, unforgivably, his conditioning is bad. He won the Most Improved Player award last year. He should give it back or trade it for the NBA's new award, "Player Most Spoiled by a Big Contract".

     It's been a strange and trying saga for Cheeks, who probably will get another coaching gig either this summer or next. There are several possible candidates to replace him - Clyde Drexler, Flip Saunders and, the name that will come up in connection with every opening, Phil Jackson. But whoever takes over should learn a lesson from what Cheeks went through: Beware of the front office.