http://www.pdxguide.com/sports/blazernotebook.html 8/20/03 Blazers should retain Wallace By NICK DASCHEL, pdxguide.com Unless a deal of monumental benefit comes along, the Portland Trail Blazers ought to retain Rasheed Wallace for the final season of his contract. You don't know how difficult it was to write that sentence. Me endorsing 'Sheed. Jack, meet Coke. I figured I would lock myself in a closet with only Hillary Clinton's book for entertainment before backing the contemptible Wallace. Or break bread with a University of Oregon football fan - and pick up the check. Or listen to Ozzy Osbourne sing at a baseball game. Let's be clear: there are few people in the area wanting to see Wallace in a Portland uniform this season. We're tired of his boorish act, his misdirected emotion, his uncanny sense of disappearing when he's most needed. That said, what would be worse for Blazer fans is a 32-win team. As much as Blazer fans like to gripe and moan about the team's bad characters and the playoff meltdowns, imagine backing a loser. The Blazers have rarely been great, but since the early 1980s, they've been good. Most forget what a losing team looks like. Ask Denver, which used to have a passionate fan base during its glory years. As soon as the Nuggets started losing, their fans found other interests. Or Miami, which had a good run during the early Pat Riley years. Now they're l osing games, and fans. Which brings us to Wallace. Despise Wallace's attitude and unfriendliness if need be, but you can't deny he can play. And because this is the final year of his contract, expect Wallace to give prime effort this season. That should be a selling point as the Blazers attempt to ship Wallace, but other teams aren't buying. Many teams want Wallace under fire-sale conditions, as they're offering the Blazers their garbage contracts, malcontents and unproductive players. You shouldn't expect anything else. Garbage in, garbage out. If the Blazers ship Wallace out of town, they would likely take on one, if not two ugly contracts in trade. This would stall one of the new management's primary goals, reducing the team's payroll. Keep Wallace, and the Blazers are guaranteed to clear $17 million in salary cap space when his contract expires at the end of 2003-2004 season. It's become a popular opinion among national and regional media that the Blazers' off-season cleansing is necessary in order to give the team's youngsters playing time. There's no disputing that. Zach Randolph looks like he can play. Qyntel Woods is supposed to be a player. Without Wallace, Scottie Pippen and the retired Arvydas Sabonis, there's playing time aplenty. But how do we know these guys can play for a winning team? Randolph was effective as a complementary player, but what happens when he's the go-to guy on offense? If Woods is a bust, the Blazers are suddenly depth-shy at small forward. A rotation of Woods, Randolph, Dale Davis, Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, Bonzi Wells, Derek Anderson, Ruben Patterson, Damon Stoudamire and Jeff McInnis looks like a 45-win team maximum. It's more likely to be a one-way trip to Lotteryville. It's almost like a trip to Hotel California. Once there, it's hard to leave. Ask Denver, Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta and Golden State. Keep Wallace around for one more season, and the Blazers are probably a playoff team. And it gives president Steve Patterson and general manager John Nash a year to seriously formulate a long-term plan. There's a side benefit to having Wallace around this season. If the Blazers truly are serious about holding players accountable for their actions, wouldn't it be delightful to watch them torch Wallace? Remember how in middle school you liked pressing your nose against the vice principal's office window to watch the school bully take a whipping? If Wallace stays, it would force the Blazers to prove they're serious. You know this guy is going to step over the line a time or 20. Wallace will provide plenty of opportunity for Blazers' brass to prove their 25-point mission statement is more than a marketing slogan. If the Blazers do nothing more than restore order to the employer-employee relationship, that would be a successful season. --

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