PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Trail Blazers hired Maurice
Cheeks as coach Wednesday night, hoping his easygoing manner and
emphasis on defense will motivate Rasheed Wallace and the rest of
the underachieving team.
"My strength as a coach will be dealing with the players,"
Cheeks said at a news conference following the NBA draft. "I'm
aggressive. My style of play will be aggressive, particularly on
the defensive end. I like to let the team play a little bit,
because I think when you have veteran players, they know how to
play."
Cheeks, an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers the past seven years, signed
a four-year contract. Terms were not disclosed, but his salary is
believed to be $2 million to $3 million per year.
Blazers general manager Bob Whitsitt managed to keep the
interview process mostly a secret during the nearly seven weeks
since Mike Dunleavy was fired. But Zach Randolph, the team's
first-round draft choice, let it slip during a conference call
earlier Wednesday night when he referred to "Coach Cheeks."
The coaching search was delayed when the first choice, Flip
Saunders, turned down a five-year, $30 million offer and stayed
with the Minnesota Timberwolves for less money.
"I wanted to look at some of the younger assistants that have
worked very hard in this league and are ready to be a head coach,"
Whitsitt said. "When I started getting down to the short list of
those guys, Maurice just jumped up to the top."
Cheeks, 44, has no head coaching experience, but he has
something that might be more valuable: the respect of Wallace, who
was a boy growing up in Philly when Cheeks was the starting point
guard for the Sixers.
Wallace, who last season broke his own league record with 41
technical fouls, didn't get along with Dunleavy, especially late in
the season as the Blazers were losing 14 of their final 22
regular-season games.
Dunleavy suspended Wallace for one game on April 16, after
Wallace threw a towel into the face of teammate Arvydas Sabonis
during a dispute. After the game, Wallace argued with his coach and
had to be restrained by teammates.
Cheeks doesn't really know Wallace personally, but said his
emotions are part of what makes him a great player.
"I'm not going to try and harness him as a player," Cheeks
said. "Actually, I'll try to talk to him in a way of trying to
keep him on the court, because it's a better team with him on the
court than off the court."
Dunleavy was fired May 8, nine days after Portland was swept in
the first round of the playoffs by the Lakers.
Another leading candidate for the Blazers' job was John Lucas,
who also had Philadelphia connections and specialized in dealing
with troubled players. Lucas interviewed with Whitsitt, but when an
offer wasn't forthcoming, he took the Cleveland position.
Cheeks is known as a mild-mannered coach, and Allen Iverson has
praised him for helping him mature as a player and a person.
Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said he and general manager Billy King gave
Cheeks high marks when Portland asked to interview him.
"Billy and I told Bob Whitsitt it's the greatest decision he
could make," Brown said.
The Blazers are counting on him to motivate a group of aging
veterans and ego-driven former stars who fell way short of their
preseason goal of reaching the NBA Finals. In addition to dealing
with Wallace, Cheeks must deal with several other simmering issues:
Sabonis, 36, is a free agent and reportedly is deciding
whether to retire, play in his native Lithuania or return for
another contentious season with the Blazers.
Steve Smith, 32, never was happy about being demoted to backup
shooting guard behind Bonzi Wells.
Scottie Pippen, 35, might not be ready to start over with a
new coach, even one who works hard and preaches defense like
Cheeks. Pippen also has been injury-prone, and last season averaged
only 11.9 points.
Cheeks had said it would be a difficult decision to leave his
beloved Philadelphia. But after helping lead the Sixers to the
Eastern Conference championship, he got an opportunity he couldn't
pass up.
The city feels the same way about Cheeks, who played 11 of his
15 seasons with the Sixers. The four-time All-Star was the league's
career steals leader when he retired in 1993.
He was instrumental on the great Philly teams in the early 1980s
that also included Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Bobby Jones and
Darryl Dawkins. The team won the 1983 title, sweeping the Lakers
and going 12-1 in the postseason, a winning percentage that was the
NBA's best until the Lakers went 15-1 this year.
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