If he would have been, he would have been playing for the Atlanta Hawks. The drafted him in the 1985 draft, but he was ruled ineligible for age reasons. He ruptured his Achilles's the following spring and we drafted him in the 1986 draft. We never had the rights to a pre-injury Sabonis. He could have come over a lot sooner than he did, but he chose to plain in Spain instead. He preferred the shorter schedule and warmer climate. It took less toll on his body and allowed him more time to recuperate from his injuries. BNM
I didn't know this...good insight. First time I saw him play was against team USA and he blew me away...pairing him with Strickland was maybe one my favorite Blazer combos ever...amazing passing
Had he CHOSEN to come over, we would have beaten the Pistons. He could have come over as early as 1989-90, the same year his countryman Sarunas Marciulionis and Ukrainian Alexander Volkov joined the NBA. It wasn't the Soviet Union that blocked him from coming over sooner, it was his choice to play in Spain. BNM
I remember seeing him play in the World University Games, or whatever they were calling them at the time, as a teenager and just destroying US big men like Patrick Ewing and Ralph Sampson. As a teenager, he was the starting PF on the Soviet National team (they had an older 7' 380 lb. starting center). He was much thinner back them and extremely athletic. He ran the floor like a gazelle and finished with backboard shattering dunks (seriously). I remember thinking at the time he was some sort of bioengineered freak and if that's what they were producing in their labs in the Soviet Union, the US would never win another Olympic gold medal. He was that physically dominant. Picture young Shaq, only 2" taller, faster and much more skilled. BNM
He dunks on David Robinson several times in that video. The most impressive is the follow slam at 1:28. BNM
Bill Walton has said that Sabonis was the best 18 year old he had ever seen other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. That's incredibly high praise and classic self-effacing Walton, considering Walton himself was a marvel as a young man.
Yeah I realized after I posted I had my time line wrong. That was a long time ago. I was so stoked when he came and rehabbed and worked out with the team but then he didn't play for us for a long time, like what, 8 or 10 years? Really a shame.
Hope the Blazers bring in Sabo to work with you this summer until you can shatter a backboard and block Nurkic in the paint .....homework!
Congrats on another year older Listen, we are having some financial based cutbacks. HR would like to speak with you about our exciting early retirement package.
