i remember there was a lot of hype around him the year he was drafted. Unfortunately for me, the NBA on TV back then was mostly Lakers vs. Celtics games, so I didn't get to see him play. Tell me about him...
I know he went to the Magic era Lakers as a bench player. He must have been pretty good for the Blazers when he was young, no?
Heh. He was as hyped as Oden, I remenber that much. You'd think Blazers fans would have been happy to get him.
Thompson was a first round pick but actually grew into a 20/10 guy after a few years. He won two rings backing up Kareem and was the guy the showtime Lakers used to guard McHale..good defender. They made a movie of his trailblazer career a couple of years ago
There was a weird pattern back then. A team would be kind of middle of the pack in the regular season and go on to win the championship. next season, they'd dominate but fail to win it. Two-peats didn't happen. I think this was true of Portland, Washington, Golden State, and Seattle. Thompson was taken with the 1st pick in the 1st round by a team that won the championship a couple seasons prior. Looking at the roster his rookie season, there were pretty good players. Ron Brewer was a stud in college and a rookie that year. Hollins, Twardzik, Lucas, TR Dunn, Steele, Gross, and Tom Owens. In fact, Owen was so good he must have forced Dr. Jack to play Thompson at PF.
He was considered a joker with talent, who didn't take his career very seriously. As a super-serious poster, I just hate guys like that... Verbal, became the Sonics colorman for a couple of years after he retired. Great chemistry with Kevin Calabro. The Lakers acquired him in what they arrogantly bragged was a steal, but then they drafted Vlade Divac, who was better. When Jabbar retired, Thompson and Divac split the job. Thompson started the first year, and Divac the second. I was living there and watched Divac take over, which verified the Blazers opinion of him as kind of flaky. But he's a great personality and looks much better than Klay the Nose.
He went to the Lakers at age 32. It's hard to see him competing for the starting job at age 33 or 34. My recollection was the Celtics loved their white players and the Lakers were almost an entirely black team. While the Celtics had Ainge, Bird, McHale and guys like Rick Robey on the bench, the Lakers added Kurt Rambis (later Divac) as the only white player. The Celtics picked up the one and only Bill Walton, the Lakers got Thompson and McAoo (SIC, no "D"). Pistol Pete even spent time as a reserve for those celtics.
You're mixing eras a decade apart. Also, don't forget that in the 80s, Boston was a cesspool of demonstrations about school bussing.
I'm not mixing up the decades. Thompson joined the Lakers in '86. Walton won 6th man of the year for the celtics a year earlier. I remember the fist fights and brawls that occurred in Ted Kennedy's home town. Boston (Massachusetts) is far from a Southern state.
I remember the Blazers trading Thompson to the Spurs and they traded him to the Lakers. He was a Blazer for about 8 seasons and a Spur for a short stint
The celtics also refused players from the ABA dispersal draft. The 76ers got Dr. J. The Blazers got Lucas and Moses Malone. Wow!
Thompson was a clever, personable, likeable talker, but turned out to be not the toughest enforcer around. His career ended a couple of years earlier than necessary because of the presence of Divac.
You have to realize that a lot of players were playing 4 years in college then. Drafting was much different. In 1978 you couldn't take a player as a one and done as i recall, and absolutely not from High school. Lots of players were still trying to make the Olympic team every 4 years.
