Over the weekend the Portland Trail Blazers honored their NBA Western Conference Champions teams from 1990 and 1992. Terry Porter and Buck Williams attended, along with family representatives of team members who had passed in the interim: Jerome Kersey, Cliff Robinson, Kevin Duckworth, Drazen Petrovic, Wayne Cooper, and Walter Davis. The Blazers even invited players who populated the deeper reaches of the bench during those years, including Ennis Whatley and Byron Irvin. Conspicuously absent was the leading player from those accomplished squads, the superstar for whom that entire era of Portland basketball is named: Clyde Drexler.
Universally acknowledged as one of the greatest players in franchise history, Drexler’s relationship with the Blazers has been on-again, off-again since he was traded to the Houston Rockets in 1995 following 12 years of service in the Pacific Northwest. The Blazers did manage to coax Drexler to a jersey retirement in 2001. Beyond that, the distance between the two parties has been pronounced.
Today longtime Portland media member Kerry Eggers published a lengthy piece detailing Drexler’s side of the story about the recent celebration and his absence from it. The essay highlights a couple of immediate causes while underlining the rift between the All-NBA guard and the Blazers.
Drexler cited his wife’s health as a major factor in his decision not to attend. Tonya Drexler is recovering from breast cancer. Clyde himself reported the good news that she was, “cancer-free,” though he is still tending to her.
Drexler also claimed that the Blazers, somewhat incredibly, did not give him the date of the celebration. He told Eggers that he heard about the event in general through Porter and didn’t discover the exact date until Eggers, himself, called. Clyde claimed that as a significant oversight, telling Eggers, “They dropped the ball, but they have dropped many balls.”
It’s worth noting that Eggers cites the Blazers’ affirmation that they did, indeed, fully invite Drexler, the primary figure in their planned celebration.
After covering that disputed point, the essay turns to Drexler’s long-term grievances, including and especially with Vulcan, Inc. executive Bert Kolde, a key figure under former Blazers owner Paul Allen since Allen purchased the team in 1988. Kolde remains in power to this day under the ownership of Paul’s sister, Jody.
Eggers points out that Kolde was an influential voice in the Blazers firing former head coach Rick Adelman, which in turn led Drexler to request a trade from the only NBA franchise he had ever played for to that point. Emphasizing the failures of the Blazers to maintain close bonds with their former players, Drexler excoriated Kolde:
“As I understand, Bert has had carte blanche to run the franchise from behind the scenes,” Drexler said. “Look at what he has accomplished — very little. They have not been good at putting together a competitive team year after year. I look forward to the day when we get some new management and get Bert Kolde out of there so they can bring some of the past and merge that with the present. That is what franchises should be about.”
Drexler also offered an olive branch or two, including light praise for current Blazers General Manager Joe Cronin, but Clyde seemed to make clear that he and Kolde would not be sharing the same philosophical—or apparently physical—space anytime soon.
“I have had conversations with Joe and he seems to be a nice guy, but he can only do so much,” Drexler said. “Until the franchise is sold and they get rid of Bert Kolde, they will struggle.”
Eggers’ article goes into much more detail, including quotes from Porter and thoughts about the future of the Drexler-Blazers relationship. It’s worth a read.