This is the fifteenth of a planned series of threads analyzing games played, games started and transactions for the 1980-81 season. Before reading any further, see the introductory thread below:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4961
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS – PART I
SEASON OVERVIEW
The Blazers had a 45-37 record. They finished third in the Pacific Division, and were the #4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. In the First Round, the Blazers lost to the Kings 2-1 in a best-of-three “miniseries”. They therefore played a total of 3 playoff games.
The Blazers used 14 different players for the season, three above the minimum. Two additional players appear to have been on the team’s roster during the regular season, but only on the injured list (not the active roster), and did not appear in any games.
ROSTER AND TRANSACTIONS
OPENING NIGHT ROSTER
Billy Ray Bates
Ron Brewer
Bob Gross
Roy Hamilton
Mike Harper
Kevin Kunnert
Calvin Natt
Tom Owens
*Larry Steele
Mychal Thompson
*Dave Twardzik
Jim Paxson
Kermit Washington
*I believe that Steele and Twardzik started the season on the injured list; see the Notes/Discrepancies section below.
Notable unsigned draft pick: Kelvin Ransey.
IN-SEASON TRANSACTIONS
In the list below, anything which is underlined is the subject of discrepancies or guesswork, or is the result of further research beyond my usual sources.
10/10/80 – Signed first round pick Kelvin Ransey.
10/11/80 – Waived Roy Hamilton.
11/10/80 – Waived Larry Steele.
12/19/80 – Traded Ron Brewer to the Spurs for Mike Gale and a future 1st round pick.
2/2/81 – Placed Kevin Kunnert on the injured list; signed Geoff Crompton to a 10-day contract.
2/13/81 – Signed Geoff Crompton to a second 10-day contract.
2/24/81 – Signed Geoff Crompton as a free agent.
2/27/81 – Activated Kevin Kunnert from the injured list; placed Geoff Crompton on the injured list.
Note: I believe that the Blazers finished the season with 13 players on their roster, including two on the injured list (Dave Twardzik and Geoff Crompton). The 11 players who had finished the regular season on the active roster continued to make up the active roster for the playoffs.
NOTES/DISCREPANCIES
Kelvin Ransey & Roy Hamilton:
When I began assembling the Blazers’ in-season transactions, I noticed an anomaly. The Blazers had waived a player a few days into the season (Roy Hamilton), but none of my sources had a corresponding transaction showing them acquiring a player. They had seemingly started the season with one too many players. This pattern sometimes indicates that a player started the season on the IL, but that couldn’t be the explanation here. A player placed on the IL would need to spend five games there before being activated, and Hamilton was waived earlier than that.
My next guess was that a player had started the season unsigned. A Google News Archive search confirmed that this is what happened, and that the player in question was rookie first round pick Kelvin Ransey. Several newspaper articles in the Archive from 10/8/80, 10/9/80, and 10/10/80 indicate that Ransey had not yet signed, although the two sides were negotiating towards an agreement (opening night rosters needed to be set at the end of the day on 10/9). Numerous additional articles from 10/11/80 and 10/12/80 indicate that Ransey signed a contract with the Blazers late in the evening on Friday 10/10. According to an AP wire service article in the 10/12/80 Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, Ransey signed his contract at 11:22 p.m. Pacific Time, at the Los Angeles-area home of his agent, Howard Slusher. That was opening night, but obviously after the Blazers had played their game. Ransey made his debut in the Blazers’ second game of the season, on 10/12.
There’s one problem with this timeline. Multiple sources show Roy Hamilton being waived on 10/13/80, including the NBA Register, the Blazers Media Guide, and b-r.com. (It’s very possible that the NBA Register was where this originally came from, and the others used the Register as their ultimate source. From that point of view, the Register may really be the only source here.) As we’ve discussed in the past, it appears that at this time a team acquiring a new player didn’t need to immediately clear a roster spot for that player, but may have had a certain length of time to do so, possibly until their next game. So the mere fact that Hamilton wasn’t waived until a couple of days after Ransey signed isn’t necessarily a problem. But if Ransey played on 10/12, he must have been on the active roster by then. So I don’t see how Hamilton could have been waived any later than 10/12. Hamilton’s waiving never appeared in the transaction column in the Globe, and I couldn’t find any references to it in the Google News Archive, either, so we don’t have any contemporary news sources to check against.
Maybe there is simply a typo in the date in the NBA Register, and the other sources cited above used the Register as their source. Then again, maybe there’s more to it; we’ve seen this pattern before – see the discussion under the Lakers concerning the waiving of Tony Jackson – and this probably won’t be the last time we see it. In a nod to the “baseball style” theory raised in the Lakers article, I’m writing up Hamilton’s waiving as having happened on 10/11. Or is there just some aspect of NBA waiver procedure in this era that I’m not grasping?
Larry Steele:
I believe that Steele began the season on the injured list, although I do not have any documentation of Steele being placed on the IL. The Google News Archive contains the following articles with references to Steele:
--An AP wire service story in the 9/11/80 Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard: “Larry Steele says he isn’t ready to join the Portland Trail Blazers’ training camp because of his injured knees but neither is he ready to abandon National Basketball Association play…[Steele] missed all but 16 games last season due to knee problems…[Steele] has one year left on his current contract”.
--An AP wire service story in the 9/29/80 Register-Guard: “Blazer Director of Player Personnel Stu Inman said guard Larry Steele, bothered with a knee injury, probably will be placed on the injured reserve list unless Steele wants to be waived in hopes of making another NBA team”.
--A column in the 9/30/80 Lewiston (Me.) Journal: “Larry Steele of the Portland Trail Blazers desires to have a trick knee operation but the club feels the nine-year NBA veteran would not come through with flying colors and is seeking to convince him that he should retire and take the disability payoff”.
--An AP wire service story in the 10/10/80 Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard, previewing the Blazers’ season, scheduled to begin that evening: “Injury-troubled Dave Twardzik and Larry Steele will begin the season on the injured reserve list and their future in the league is questionable at best”.
The transaction column in the 11/11/80 Globe says the following: “PORTLAND - placed veteran forward-guard Larry Steele on waivers. Steele, who had been on the injured reserve list since last November, will continue to serve as color commentator on locally televised games.” The Globe is my only source for this transaction. Somewhat surprisingly, I cannot find any sources in the Google News Archive covering this story. In light of the articles above, I would guess that the Blazers bought out Steele’s contract and/or convinced him to retire.
Based on the above sources, I have written up Steele as starting the season on the IL, then being waived on 11/10/80, without having been activated from the IL or appearing in any games.
Steele’s entry in the all-time player register section of the Blazers Media Guide writes up his departure from the team as “Retired in 1981 because of injury”. Meanwhile, the Media Guide’s recap of the 1979-80 season states that Steele “retired at the end of the [1979-80] season due to injuries”. In light of the information above, neither of those explanations appears to be accurate.
Dave Twardzik:
As with Larry Steele, I believe that Twardzik began the season on the injured list, although I do not have any documentation of Twardzik being placed on the IL. Unlike Steele, Twardzik appears to have stayed on the IL all year. The Google News Archive contains the following articles with references to Twardzik:
--From a UPI wire service story in the 10/7/80 Bend (Ore.) Bulletin: “Guard Dave Twardzik, who missed all the exhibition games with a sore back, is making no progress, [Blazers trainer Ron] Culp said.”
--From an AP wire service story in the 10/10/80 Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard, previewing the Blazers’ season, scheduled to begin that evening: “Injury-troubled Dave Twardzik and Larry Steele will begin the season on the injured reserve list and their future in the league is questionable at best”.
--An article in the 10/11/80 Register-Guard, covering the Blazers’ signing of Kelvin Ransey, indicates that Twardzik was “on the injured list”.
While I don’t have any absolute proof that Twardzik remained on the IL all season, I can find no evidence suggesting that he didn’t. Note the following:
--The 1981-82 NBA Register has an entry for Twardzik. His career stats show him with Portland in 1980-81 with the notation “Missed Entire Season – Back Injury”.
--The Blazers Media Guide has a 1980-81 team photo which includes Twardzik. The rest of the players in the photo reflect the Blazers’ roster as it looked after the All-Star break (Geoff Crompton and Mike Gale are in the photo), so it must have been taken in the later part of the season.
--According to three newspaper articles in the Google News Archive – the 10/2/81 Reading (Pa.) Eagle, the 10/2/81 Milwaukee Journal, and the 10/3/81 Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review – Twardzik announced his retirement during the 1981-82 preseason, on 10/1/81. The most extensive of the three, an AP wire service article in the Eagle, states that Twardzik “missed last season and much of the 1979-80 campaign because of a back ailment”.
--Twardzik’s entry in the all-time player register section of the Blazers Media Guide writes up his departure from the team as “Retired because of injury, 1981”, which is consistent with his having retired in the preseason before the 1981-82 season. On the other hand, the Media Guide’s recap of the 1979-80 season states that Twardzik “retired at the end of the [1979-80] season due to injuries”. In light of the information above, that doesn’t seem to be accurate.
Draft pick in Brewer/Gale trade:
Although modern reference sources typically show the 1st round pick going from the Spurs to the Blazers in this trade as “1982”, the write-up in the Globe’s 12/20 transaction column states that it was in “either 1982 or 1983”. Several other newspapers in the Google News Archive also have transaction columns on 12/20 with similar wording. An AP wire service article on the trade, which the Google News Archive has in the Reading (Pa.) Eagle and Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette, provides a more detailed explanation. The pick was Top-7 protected in 1982. If the Spurs’ pick fell into the top seven that year, the Spurs could defer delivering the pick to the Blazers until 1983. The Spurs’ 1982 pick ended up being #16 overall, so the Blazers got that year’s pick.
Kevin Kunnert & Geoff Crompton:
On 2/2/81, the Blazers placed Kevin Kunnert on the IL and signed Geoff Crompton to a 10-day contract. This was reported in the transaction column in the following day’s Globe, and is also in several 2/3 papers in the Google News Archive. pst.com has Crompton signing a 10-day contract on this date, but not Kunnert going on the IL.
While I can find no documentation of it, Crompton must have signed a second 10-day deal about 10 days after the first one, because he continues to appear in box scores beyond the point where the first 10-day deal would have expired. In addition, two of the newspaper articles covering the 2/24 transaction discussed in the next paragraph, in the Eugene (Ore.) Record-Guard and the Gadsden (Ala.) Times, note that Crompton had been playing under his second 10-day contract.
On 2/24/81, the Blazers signed Crompton as a free agent. This was reported in the transaction column in the following day’s Globe, and is also in several 2/25 papers in the Google News Archive. pst.com has this transaction as well, likely sourced from a newspaper. Crompton appears to have been signed to a regular free agent contract continuing beyond the end of the 1980-81 season, not a “remainder of the season” deal, as these sources describe what he signed as a “multiyear contract”. The Blazers ultimately traded Crompton to the Bucks in the offseason, which is consistent with the idea that he had been under contract to the Blazers for the 1981-82 season.
On 2/27/81, Kunnert returned to action. While I have no documentation of this, he must have been activated from the IL on or shortly before that date. The Google News Archive has an article from the 2/27/81 Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard which states, “Portland Trail Blazers officials had not decided as Kevin Kunnert worked out with the team on Thursday [2/26] whether the center would play in tonight’s [2/27] game against the Phoenix Suns”. The article notes that Kunnert had been on the IL since 2/2.
When Kunnert was activated, someone must have been placed on the IL to make room for him on the active roster. While I have no documentation of who it was (the article discussed in the previous paragraph makes no suggestion of how the Blazers might make room for Kunnert), by all appearances it was Geoff Crompton. Crompton did not play in any games after 2/27 – in fact, he didn’t play in any games after 2/19 – but I can find no evidence suggesting that he didn’t remain with the team through the end of the season. So he appears to have been placed on the IL.
The above sequence raises a few questions. If Crompton was originally picked up as a fill-in for Kunnert, why would the Blazers sign Crompton just a few days before Kunnert returned? Did they sign Crompton mainly to get him under contract for the following season? That sort of thing is more common today, but would have been an unusual move in 1981. Note that Crompton didn’t play in any games after 2/19 – was he already injured when the Blazers signed him on 2/24? Or did he get hurt right after he signed that contract on 2/24, perhaps forcing Kunnert to come back sooner than expected? Did the Blazers know Kunnert was coming back soon, but were concerned about his durability, and wanted to stash Crompton on the IL just in case?
The NBA Register simply shows Crompton signing outright with the Blazers on 2/3/81, with no mention of it being a 10-day deal or of any subsequent contracts. As we’ve discussed in previous installments in this series, the Register typically wrote things up that way whenever a player who initially joined a team on a 10-day deal stuck around for longer than that, and shouldn’t be read as inconsistent with what the Globe and pst.com show. b-r.com and the Blazers Media Guide show the same thing as the Register. They likely used the Register as their source.
GAMES STARTED INFO
MEDIA GUIDE
With the Blazers, we find ourselves in a position we’ve been in once before, with the Pistons. The 2012-13 Blazers Media Guide has regular season games started stats going back to the 1970-71 season, the franchise’s first year in the NBA. But the figures for 1980-81 can’t possibly be accurate, because they don’t add up correctly. For an 82-game season, the games started totals for a given team’s players should add up to 410 (82 times 5). The totals in the Blazers Media Guide add up to 404, which is six games short.
For the record, here are the totals in the Blazers Media Guide (bearing in mind that these can’t possibly be 100% accurate, since they don’t add up correctly):
Paxson 79
Thompson 75
Natt 62
Ransey 57
Owens 47
Washington 45
Gross 24
Brewer 10
Bates 4
Kunnert 1
TSN BOX SCORES
All but three of the TSN regular season box scores for the 1980-81 Blazers appear to list the players in “starters first” F-F-C-G-G order. The three exceptions were games on 11/26/80, 2/15/81, and 2/22/81.
The game on 11/26/80 falls at a transition point between two changes in the starting lineup. For the previous several games, the Blazers had started Tom Owens at center, Mychal Thompson and Kermit Washington at forward, and Jim Paxson and Bob Gross at guard. By the time of the next game after the one on 11/26, Calvin Natt had replaced Washington, and Kelvin Ransey had replaced Gross. So who started on 11/26? The three starters who remained in the lineup (Owens, Thompson and Paxson) presumably did. On the other hand, Washington couldn’t have started on 11/26, because he didn’t play in that game (or the next four that followed). And who started at the other guard slot, Gross or Ransey?
The first five players listed in the 11/26 TSN box score, in order, are Thompson, Owens, Gross, Paxson and Natt. I am assuming that these five players were the starters, with Natt shown out of order. This means that Natt replaced Washington beginning with the game on 11/26, while Ransey did not replace Gross until the following game.
The game on 2/15/81 falls at another transition point. For the previous several games, the Blazers had started Tom Owens at center, Mychal Thompson and Bob Gross at forward, and Jim Paxson and Kelvin Ransey at guard. By the time of the next game after 2/15, Kermit Washington and Calvin Natt had taken over as the starting forwards, with Thompson moving to center, and Owens and Gross going to the bench. The two starting guards (Paxson and Ransey) remained constant and presumably started on 2/15, but who made up the starting frontcourt on 2/15?
The first five players listed in the 2/15 TSN box score, in order, are Natt, Washington, Paxson, Thompson, and Ransey. I am going to assume that these five players were the starters, with Paxson and Thompson shown out of order. This means that the lineup change described above took effect starting with the game on 2/15.
The game on 2/22/81 fell during a period when the starting lineup adopted on 2/15 was still in effect. The first five players listed in the box score, in order, are Natt, Washington, Paxson, Thompson, and Ransey (same as the 2/15 box score). I am again going to assume that these five players were the starters, with Paxson and Thompson shown out of order.
With the above assumptions, this is how many games started I am getting for each player:
Paxson 79
Thompson 77
Natt 62
Ransey 59
Owens 48
Washington 44
Gross 25
Brewer 11
Bates 4
Kunnert 1
NOTES/DISCREPANCIES
The games started figures from the TSN box scores (with the above assumptions) and the Blazers Media Guide don’t match for a number of players. That’s not really a surprise, though, since the media guide is short six games. The TSN box scores credit several players with an extra start or two, which makes perfect sense. These include Thompson, Ransey, Owens, Gross, and Brewer.
There is one discrepancy where the numbers between the two sources can’t be reconciled, however. Kermit Washington is credited with one fewer start in the TSN box scores (44) than he is in the media guide (45). If the numbers in the media guide are merely incomplete, not outright inaccurate, that makes no sense. In other cases where we’ve had discrepancies in games started totals, I’ve tried to narrow down the source to a specific game or group of games. I am not really able to do that here. Due to the incomplete data in the media guide, I can’t even figure out which player is getting credited for the start in question on the other side of the ledger. Note that the discrepancy cannot be resolved by adjusting my guesses as to who started the three games whose box scores do not appear to list the Blazers’ players in “starters first” order. Washington only played in two of the three, and I am already assuming that he started both of those games. Those games can’t be the source of the discrepancy.
I also tried to figure out if there was any pattern to the six starts the media guide is missing. For example, do the media guide numbers appear to omit one specific game, which would account for five of the six missing games? This doesn’t seem to be the case. There were a number of games that four of the affected players started (Thompson, Ransey, Owens, Gross), but my analysis of the TSN box scores doesn’t show Brewer starting any game that Ransey or Gross did. Paxson and Bates collectively occupied one backcourt slot for every regular season game, but neither of them have any “missing” games. Ultimately, your guess is as good as mine as to which games started are omitted in the media guide, and why.
In Part II below, I have used the games started numbers from the TSN box scores, noting the media guide numbers in the text (if different), and the discrepancy in Washington’s case. With the incomplete data in the media guide, and the issue with Washington’s total, these games started numbers can’t be held out as definitive. They should be good estimates, though, which have to be close to accurate.
PLAYOFFS
As far as I can see, the Blazers Media Guide does not have games started stats for the playoffs.
The Blazers have a playoff game whose TSN box score doesn’t appear to list the players in “starters first” F-F-C-G-G order, the second time we’ve encountered this. The game in question was on 4/3/81, Game 2 of the series against Kansas City.
The box score for Game 1 shows the starters as Natt, Washington, Thompson, Paxson and Ransey. That makes sense, as that was the Blazers’ normal starting five in the later part of the regular season. Game 3 shows the same lineup expect that Bates replaces Paxson. That also makes sense, as Paxson didn’t play in Game 2 or Game 3, and Bates was his usual fill-in.
So who started Game 2? I would expect to see the same lineup as game 3, the usual starters down the stretch but with Bates filling in for Paxson. The first five players listed in the box score are Washington, Natt, Thompson, Bates and Kunnert. The first four make sense, but the fifth (Kunnert at guard) doesn’t. The next player listed is Gale, followed by Ransey. One possibility is that Kunnert and Gale are listed out of order, but I’d be surprised if the Blazers started Gale in this game. I am going to assume that the Blazers actually used their expected lineup in this game, with Ransey starting at guard. That leaves us with the following numbers:
Natt 3
Ransey 3
Thompson 3
Washington 3
Bates 2
Paxson 1