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COPYRIGHT 2001 Sporting News Publishing Co.
You know, $90 million just doesn't go as far as it used to. Nowadays, that's only enough to purchase the landing gear on a Stealth Bomber, though you could probably get them to throw in the cup holders and floor mats. It will buy you a second-place finish in a presidential campaign. And that sum, we recently learned, is just enough to field a first-round loser in the NBA playoffs.
The Trail Blazers had the best record in the West as recently as March, which surprised no one. Then they dropped 17 of their last 25 games, which also surprised no one.
On the one hand, their wretched fate can be blamed on the annual series of calamities that has befallen the Blazers for years--such as Rasheed Wallace turning into more of an incorrigible wing nut than anyone thought possible, Bonzi Wells blowing out his knee, the usual quarterback controversy as soon as Rod Strickland showed up and Shawn Kemp snorting away the last $4 8 million of his contract.
On the other hand, for those of us in the told-you-so business, the self-destruction of this dysfunctional family appeared inevitable as early as September because of the obsessive tinkering of team president Bob Whitsitt, who promised a team that was built for June only to find out it couldn't make it out of April.
Now Whitsitt goes shopping for a new coach, and I only can say this: My sympathy for Mike Dunleavy is surpassed...
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