Pack makes a hard run to win spot with Blazers
Oregonlive.com
10/01/03
JIM BESEDA
Coach Maurice Cheeks and others notice as the veteran point guard opens camp
with a dogged example-setting effort
TUALATIN -- The Trail Blazers' first practice on the first day of training
camp Tuesday officially ended when Bob Medina tossed the ceremonial T-shirt
and bottle of Gatorade to his "Player of the Day."
The winner: Robert Pack.
Medina, the Blazers' strength and conditioning coach, started the award a few
years ago in jest, but it soon took a serious turn.
"Guys respect it now," Medina said. "They'll come by and they'll even politic
for it."
Pack was hard to miss Tuesday, and not just because at age 34 he was the
oldest player on the floor. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound point guard who broke into
the NBA with the Blazers 13 years ago stood out because he was one of the
hardest-working players throughout the two-hour practice session.
Zach Randolph's team won a four-on-four scrimmage near the end of Tuesday's
practice, which meant everyone else, including Pack, had to run the length of
the court 10 times. Before the end of the first circuit, Pack led -- and was
pulling away.
"That's me," Pack said. "If that's making a statement, so be it. But that's
the way I approach it. I'm 100 percent all the time. I don't know any other
way."
Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks noticed Pack's effort.
"Robert's trying to make the team," Cheeks said. "After a two-hour practice,
to go out on the line and lead like that . . . guys need to see that type of
thing."
This season, NBA training camps have gone to split sessions, so the Blazers'
first practice was open to the 13 players with fewer than four years of league
experience and free agents without guaranteed contracts.
The seven Portland veterans with more than four years experience report
Thursday, and the first full practices are Friday -- four days before the
Blazers' first exhibition game against the Houston Rockets at the Rose Garden.
Pack is trying to crack a roster that has 10 players with guaranteed contracts,
including two points guards -- Jeff McInnis and Damon Stoudamire. That means
the Blazers have two to five spots available, and at least one is earmarked
for a center.
The question with regard to Pack is this: Will the Blazers carry three point
guards?
"I think we need another point guard," Cheeks said. "We need another guard who
can be ready to play. And if he's not playing, he's just sitting there, not
saying blip, but just sitting there waiting on his turn to play."
Pack has decent credentials. He made the Blazers as an undrafted free agent
out of USC in 1991 and averaged 4.6 points off the bench as a rookie on a
team that won 57 games and lost to Chicago in the NBA Finals. He later was
traded to Denver and went on to stints with Washington, New Jersey, Dallas,
Denver again, Minnesota and New Orleans.
"He's a guy that can push the ball up the floor," Cheeks said. "He's a veteran.
He understands how to play. He may be ideal for us. Time will tell. Camp time
tells a lot about players -- whether or not they're ready to play."
Pack likes his chances.
"There were some other opportunities with other teams, but I felt this was my
best option," Pack said. "It's a good team and a good atmosphere up here. I
like the area. I started my career here, and if it were up to me, I would have
never left."
Blazers general manager John Nash was in the same job in Washington when Pack
played there during the 1995-96 season, and they were together again in New
Jersey at the start of the 1996-97 season.
"I've always been a fan," Nash said. "He's a savvy veteran and, obviously,
he's in great shape. He's been here for a week, so the coaches have had a
chance to observe him, and I think they'd concur that there's still something
left in the tank.
"Physically, he's a tough guy. I think he's going to put some real pressure
on both Jeff and Damon in training camp, and we'll see if he can carve a spot
out for himself on this roster."
Pack was out of basketball at the start of last season, caught up in one of
the realities of today's NBA in which economic pressures and luxury tax
considerations often force proven veterans out of the league prematurely to
make room for younger, less-expensive talent. But Pack ended up in New Orleans
where he averaged 5.2 points and 2.9 assists in 28 games.
Pack is convinced he can help the Blazers, too.
"They have a lot of great athletes on this team, and I'm a guy who can get
the ball into the right guys' hands," Pack said. "That's one of the things
that this team may be trying to do -- trying to take advantage of the athletes
they have on the wing, getting them the ball early, and allowing them to make plays."
Notes:
The Blazers hired Dennis Johnson and Jim Sleeper as advance scouts, filling
the vacancy that was created when John Lawyer was promoted to assistant coach.
Johnson, 49, played 14 NBA seasons with Seattle, Phoenix and Boston, and
served briefly as interim coach of the Los Angeles Clippers last season.
Sleeper, 45, previously worked in the Continental Basketball Association,
including stints as head coach of the Sioux Falls SkyForce and as an assistant
coach with the Quad City Thunder under current Blazers assistant Dan Panaggio.
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