Notice Bob Whitsitt Former Portland Trail Blazers GM Talks Trading Clyde Drexler & Damian Lillard Parallels

Never knew Trader Bob was an attorney;

https://whitsittenterprises.com/services/whitsitt-law-pllc/

 

Hmm shows that LLC was formed in 2021.

 

I used to talk with Bob during the summer league when it was in SLC. He was always willing to chat about players. He was much more personable than some of the other GMs/coaches that were there. Mo Cheeks on the other hand.....not so much.

 

Getting rid of Trader Bob was the worst thing this franchise has ever done.

And that’s not hyperbole.

 

I've been wanting to bring him back for years. I think Bowie over Jordan, and Oden over Durant probably are both larger errors, but I do love me some Trader Bob. Easily the best GM of my lifetime.

 

Trader Bob did what he did because he had a rich owner and no salary cap...the CBA has changed since his heyday.

 

Whitsitt took full advantage of all the rules at the time.

He also convinced his owner to spend the big bucks to maximize the chance to win.

He convinced players and agents to sign in Portland; Brian Grant, Detlef Shrempf, Jimmy Jackson, Greg Anthony, Rod Strickland, Kenny Anderson, Derek Anderson. All of them in just a few short years.

Those few years are much better than the decades before or since.

 

The GM with the highest winning percentage was Buckey Buckwalter from '87-'92 at .650. Whitsett was a close second from '95-'01 at .603 and Geoff Petrie from '93-'94 at .598.

 

Bobs biggest move was drafting The Glove. Nobody wanted him in Seattle because he could not shoot. Used to listen to Sports babe up there and callers were having fits when they drafted GP.

 

Whitsitt about Clyde Drexler:

Clyde did not want to report to training camp. He wanted a new contract. Paul didn't want to do that.
After Clyde calmed down they had a good set of meetings.
Whitsitt said he would find Clyde a new home, but Clyde could not be a jerk and not show up to camp. It would drive his value down.
He was not going to do a deal that was bad for the team. He wanted to do a deal that was good for both parties.
Clyde came into camp and he was great. But then Clyde was not going to get on the airplane for games in Japan.
Whitsitt gave Clyde the same speech and said "these deals don't get done in 5 minutes."
Just be Clyde Drexler. There are teams that I'm talking to that you don't know about. And they want to know that as you're getting older you're still Clyde Drexler.
Clyde ended up playing very well.
Clyde actually wanted to go to a bad team, because he figured he'd have more leverage there to get a better contract.
I said to Clyde, I disagree with you, you need to go somewhere where you can win a championship.
And your legacy, somewhere when you're wearing a championship ring 20 years in the future, I hope you call me up and say "good thinking."
And being a part of a championship team would make it more likely to get the extension.
It would have been difficult for me to look at him post trade deadline (if a trade hadn't been made).

It was very real that Clyde Drexler could have been traded to Seattle.
the Blazers could have obtained Kendall Gill in that trade.
Bob and Paul talked about it, and agreed to make an offer to Seattle.
However, new GM Wally Walker was hesitant to get fleeced, thinking that Whitsitt was up to something.
Whitsitt says the trade offer was straightforward, the Blazers were rebuilding.

What did Whitsitt get for Clyde?

Otis Thorpe, Marcelo Nicola, and their first round pick in the 1995 NBA Draft (which was used on Randolph Childress) to the Blazers.

 

About the Jermaine O'neal trade:

I knew he was going to be good, but the coach hated him and wouldn't play him.
I talked Jermaine into a 4-year deal with the understanding that if he didn't get to play I would trade him.
(O'Neal signed a 4-year deal with the Trail Blazers in 1999. After getting 12.3 mpg in the 1999-00 season, he asked for a trade).