Sabonis continues media blackout

Arvydas Sabonis casts a huge shadow on the little Linfield College 
campus at 7-foot-3 and 292 pounds, but he's kept a low profile in 
front of the media.

If Sabonis is doing any talking, it's behind closed doors at the 
Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

When he signed with the Blazers, Sabonis answered questions with 
the help of a Spanish interpreter.

"My English very bad," he explained.

"I probably speak Spanish better than he speaks English," said 
coach P.J. Carlesimo.

John Christensen, the Blazers' director of sports communications, 
knew just enough Spanish to handle the simple stuff at training 
camp, but Sabonis has decided he isn't speaking to the media at 
all until he learns to say "no comment" more clearly in English.

For now, we don't know if the practices at Real Madrid were 
tougher than what he's experienced at Camp P.J. II.

We can only guess.

"As soon as he gets comfortable, he'll talk," Christensen said
Monday. "It won't be long. I'd say six to eight weeks."

The Sabonis news blackout isn't surprising. In the Lithuanian 
media guide for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, it notes Sabonis 
"is renown for his unwillingness to release interviews." 

THORNTON ON SABONIS:

Blazers free agent Bob Thornton is banging bodies with Sabonis 
every day in practice, which explains the frequent ice packs he 
applies to his well-traveled knees.

"I saw him play in Europe a lot," Thornton said. "I think the NBA 
will be an adjustment for him, but not very much of one. I mean, 
he's got great skills and great talent. It's just a matter of 
getting used to all the things you can do over here that you can't 
do over there. You can be more physical here. He'll get used to 
that."

DUDLEY WONDERS WHAT'S NEXT: 

Chris Dudley is battling Sabonis for the starting center spot, but 
who will fill the other four positions on this team? Does
"Trader Bob" Whitsitt have some surprises in store for Rod 
Strickland or Cliff Robinson?

"I think the general feeling is that everybody will be relieved 
when the roster is set," Dudley said. "Then we'll all kind of know 
what's going to happen."

Dudley's personal feelings about Portland shopping its two best 
players? "Well, I like them both," he said. "I'd like them both to 
stay here. If something's going to be done, my only thing is get 
it done quickly. You don't want to go the whole season with that 
hanging over your head." 

NEGOTIATE THIS, PAL:

Buck Williams is glad to be playing basketball again after what he 
went through this summer as president of the NBA Players 
Association.

"On the court, if you don't like what someone says, you can always 
bump them hard or shoot them an elbow," Williams said. "In a 
situation where you're working at the table, it's very difficult 
to start bumping people and throwing elbows."

Williams looks around training camp and shakes his head at the 
Blazers' dramatic makeover. Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Jerome 
Kersey and Mark Bryant are gone. Williams is the last remaining 
starter from the terrific Portland teams that crashed the NBA 
Finals in 1990 and 1992.

"I feel like a stranger," he said. "You look back over the years 
and how long we've been together as the nucleus of our basketball 
team, and now I'm the last of the Mohicans. But it's part of life. 
Life is full of changes and I'm looking forward to playing with 
the younger players and hopefully having some influence on them." 

REBUILDING? NOT HERE:  

Strickland doesn't want to hear anything about the Blazers making 
a run at the lottery. "I don't like the talk about this team 
rebuilding," Strickland said. "I'm not ready to rebuild. I think 
we want to win. Everybody here needs to have that attitude. The 
guys in the media and people around the NBA may not expect much 
from us, but I think those fans sitting in the stands are expecting
a lot from us." 

ON THE SIDELINES:

Rookie forward Gary Trent, hobbled with a sore left ankle, did not 
practice again Monday. All he could do was walk through some plays, 
Carlesimo said.