Drexler takes a look back

Some random thoughts from Clyde Drexler, the future Hall of Famer, on 
basketball and the NBA. The Blazers will retire Drexler's number 
during a home game on March 6 against the Vancouver Grizzlies. 

On today's players vs. past players: "From one through 12, the 
offensive skills were so much better then. Back in the day, we had 
guys who were awesomely skilled, like Adrian Dantley. He was 6 foot 5, 
but he had no weaknesses. Guys like Bernard King, Rolando Blackman, 
Mark Aguirre or Alex English, nobody even talks about him. Every team 
had about four or five guys who were just awesome, not one or two." 

On the best players ever: "There are only five guys who qualify: 
Julius Erving, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and 
Michael Jordan." 

On Kiki Vandeweghe, friend and teammate: "I think I learned how to 
play the game from Kiki, to be more efficient. He is one of the most 
efficient players ever to play in the NBA. He doesn't get any credit. 
He was one of the best offensive players to come through our league." 

On the 1972-73 Knicks: "They were my favorite team of all time. They 
had so many intangibles to their game." 

On dealing with defeat: "You talk about a madman. I was a madman 
because I hated losing. Every time I lost, and this was up until I 
retired, I wouldn't sleep. If I got into bed at 1 o'clock, I would be 
up until 3 o'clock thinking about every single play." 

On Charles Barkley: "Charles is Charles. He's funny and all that. But 
when you have to play with him, being a guy like myself who believes 
in peak physical conditioning and giving it 200 percent, and you see 
a guy like Charles who is kind of lazy, the two didn't go well 
together." 

On Jerome Kersey: "He loved contact, doing the banging and the dirty 
work. And he had a smile on his face. He just liked to hit people. He 
brought a football mentality." 

On Arvydas Sabonis: "I think we would have had two to three banners 
up there if we had gotten him earlier, especially in '89-'90, when he 
was supposed to come with us." 

On Jack Ramsay's daybreak tutorials. "Back then, we flew commercial. 
We used to get up early and leave cities on those 7 o'clock flights 
and that is when Jack would always want to have his skull sessions. 
At 7 o'clock in the morning, I was a zombie and I would always have 
to hide from him. I never used to sit by the gate because I knew Jack 
would come for me." 

On pregame rituals: "My ritual before the game was to read. Everybody 
else would be out there working out, but I would be in my street 
clothes until about 15 minutes before the game. It drove coaches 
crazy but it used to relax me." 

On the 1992 Dream Team: "We had some of the best practices I've ever 
seen. We played East against West and we'd go at it. There would be 
fights, the whole nine yards. There will never be a better Dream Team. 
They need to drop that phrase, Dream Team. 

On Paul Allen: "Paul Allen has always been a gentleman and a friend 
to me. I think Paul has legitimate intentions to do the best for that 
organization." 

On why the NBA has changed: "The money. When you go in for a new deal 
now, it's not how did the team do, it's how did you do. You have to 
look at the nature of the beast. And that is what guys have to pay 
attention to. When we were playing, Terry Porter could sacrifice his 
scoring to do more passing because he knew they would take care of 
him if the team won. Buck Williams could be unselfish because he knew 
he wasn't getting paid to score." 

On retirement: "The first couple of months, my wife didn't like 
having me around every day. She was like, 'Don't you have something 
to do?' You know it's bad when your wife is telling you to play golf."