Nash in charge of enforcing Portland's cleanup act

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In the summer of 1995, John Nash was the general manager of the Washington Bullets, trying to determine who that franchise was going to take with the fourth pick in the draft.

The Bullets didn't really need a front-court player because they had Chris Webber at power forward, Juwan Howard at small forward and Big Gheorghe Muresan at center.

But Nash was awestruck when he saw a kid from North Carolina with a white spot on the back of his head sprinting up and down the court like a gazelle, effortlessly covering ground in long, breezy strides.

The team needed a point guard, but Nash could not pass up Rasheed Wallace, a player with such physical grace that he nearly made Webber look like a lummox.

After one season with Wallace, though, Nash resigned from a team that always seems to be in disarray and never got to see close-up the matriculation of the player he fell in love with that summer.

Now, Nash is the new GM of the Portland Trail Blazers, once again reunited with Wallace.

Only, this is a different Wallace. It is not the Wallace full of hope and potential, but a dour malcontent, a player many fans love to hate because of his boorish, on-court behaviour -- a player who, in many ways, is the face of an organization that is a public relations nightmare and the face of a league that is in great need of an infusion of positive press.

In a league where everybody runs across one another at some point, it remains thickly ironic that Nash is now in charge of trading Wallace -- as well as many of his teammates -- once again being forced to part ways with another native of Philadelphia.

When Nash took over for Bob Whitsitt, this is what he was told: Get the payroll under control.

Improve the image of the team.

Win as many basketball games as possible.

"Those are really the marching orders," Nash said.

And, so, everybody expected that at this point, Wallace would be gone, Ruben Patterson would be history, Bonzi Wells would be elsewhere and Damon Stoudamire would be toast.

Instead, at a time when the top five teams in the West are refortifying, the Blazers are doing, well, nothing. In their case, all truly is quiet on the western front.

What Nash is discovering is that the three directives he received are not complementary -- and, of course, winning as many basketball games as possible is at the top of the list, especially in a city that has seen an NBA-best 21 straight postseason appearances.

"The three-pronged goal is to win as many games as possible," Nash said. "Our hope is to make trades that make basketball sense, while at the same time improving the character of our squad. It's not easy sometimes to trade players with baggage for players with equal ability without baggage.

"I think that it is safe to say we could have traded every player on the roster within the first week or two. But we would have been taking players of lesser value back. There are teams out there who would take our players, some of whom might have baggage, but they are not willing to give you back equal talent in return."

Still, Nash said he has been busy. He said he has been in discussions with every team, gauging their interest in Blazers players. Mostly, teams are offering schlock for studs.

He said that before Terrell Brandon was sent to Atlanta in a three-way deal, he had talks with Wolves GM Kevin McHale about acquiring Brandon, which would have lowered Portland's exorbitant payroll.

"We could have acquired that in exchange for a couple of our players," Nash said. "But then we would not have had the service of those players. So while it was financially desirable, it didn't enable us to maintain our ability to win games."

It would have been great if McHale had offered Rod Strickland for Wallace. That was the offer that Nash faced -- and turned down -- several times when he was in Washington and Strickland was in Portland.

"I would have never traded Rasheed for Rod Strickland," Nash said.

After he resigned, though, Wes Unseld pulled the trigger on the deal. Asked about dealing Rasheed today, Nash says, "Not for Rod Strickland."

OK, then, for who?

"Give me a top 10 or 15 player in the league and I would consider it. I don't want to trade Rasheed Wallace, or any other player on our team, for significantly less talent."

At some point, though, if the Blazers are going to accomplish the first two of their three objectives, as they promised the fans, they are going to have to submit on the third portion.

"I think we have to measure how does any transaction affect all three of our criteria," Nash said. "I don't know that we will always be able to register equal value across the board, but we have to get something."

In other words, the Blazers will deal, but don't insult them.

Nash said most of the interest has been in Wallace, Wells, Qyntel Woods and Zach Randolph. He said Randolph is virtually untouchable.

Though Nash said it is not fair to say anybody is being shopped more aggressively than any other player, a league source said Patterson is the player Nash is more trying to push. It is because of the confrontation Randolph and Patterson got into last season. Also, the team is clearly committing to Randolph.

What happens if he can't deal Patterson?

"I don't think they have any other choice than to co-exist," Nash said. "We don't intend to trade Zach. It is very possible they will be on this roster together, and if so, that is the only choice they have."

Nash is talking with several teams about trading Arvydas Sabonis, who has a $7 million salary that is not fully guaranteed. Basically, a team could trade for him, cut him and get cap relief. If that cannot be accomplished, the team will have to make a decision on whether to cut him itself.

"Basketball-wise, we would love to keep him," Nash said of Sabonis. "Salary-wise, that is a significant luxury that is going to have consequences as it applies to the luxury tax."

In short, a fan base that last season began boycotting the team's games is going to have to show patience. The overhaul is going to take two to three years, not two to three months.

"I think the fans are in favor of it," Nash said. "They are applauding the initiative that Paul Allen is taking in addressing the issues. Like everybody else in this league, instant gratification is something that we've come to expect; and yet we are not sure we can do this instantaneously. Our message to the fans is we are aware of the problems, and we are addressing them, but we are not able to cure the problems overnight."

[veruca salt]

Damn, I really wanted to see Steve down there giving them the "Drugs are bad" talk. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]