Blazers make the right move.(Portland Trail Blazers basketball trades)(Brief Article)

It was only 15 months ago, but it was a more innocent time. Shaquille O'Neal still was without an NBA championship. Pets.com still existed. The guy we called "President," for all his flaws, at least knew how to pronounce "nuclear."

So innocent were these times, even the Trail Blazers were a lovable bunch.

Remember during the Blazers' stint in the 2000 Western Conference finals, when Scottie Pippen brought his championship rings to practice, drawing a crowd of gushing teammates? It was like he brought a puppy to show-and-tell. How cute.

Those Blazers were the last team to present any sort of playoff challenge to the Lakers. But then an odd thing happened. It took only two days, a measly two transactions last summer. On August 30, Portland brought in Shawn Kemp. The next day, it was Dale Davis. Just like that, the Blazers were transformed into a fetid muck of playing-time squabbles and professional jealousy, a situation that was punctuated with an exclamation point when the Lakers swept the Blazers in the first round of the 2001 playoffs.

With those transactions, the veil of good fortune that had draped over nearly every transaction pulled off by Blazers president Bob Whitsitt was lifted. Whitsitt made two boneheaded trades, then signed Rod Strickland during the season. He had lost his touch. Until he pried Derek Anderson from the Spurs last month, at least.

Whitsitt had considerable touch to lose. He had built the Sonics into a title contender before jumping to Portland in 1994. He reshaped the Blazers with a series of moves that were stamped with horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. Whitsitt fleeced Washington out of Rasheed Wallace. He swapped Kenny Anderson for Damon Stoudamire, dumped Chris Dudley on the Knicks and plucked Bonzi Wells from the Pistons. He sent out Jim Jackson and problem child Isaiah Rider and got Hawks star Steve Smith in return. Then, Whitsitt's master stroke, in October 1999: He tipped over his office sofa, collected the loose change and traded it to the Rockets for Pippen.

For the first time since the Pippen deal, Whitsitt has pulled off a trade that improved the Blazers, acquiring Anderson--with Steve Kerr--for Smith. The scenario is classic Whitsitt. Sensing a rift between Anderson and the Spurs, he offered Anderson a deal starting at the mid-level salary-cap exception ($4.5 million), less than what the Spurs were offering.