Perplexing Trade Delights Rivals

PORTLAND - It is a perplexing deal from both ends.

A defending NBA champion makes a major adjustment in midstream, probably the biggest move made by a club in the Houston Rockets' position. Meanwhile, the other team, the Portland Trail Blazers, bolsters a position that already was its strongest.

Clyde Drexler for Otis Thorpe. What were they thinking?

"It's a hard trade to figure out," Phoenix Coach Paul Westphal said.

The deal is most confusing from the Rockets' end. The foundation of their championship team was the Thorpe-Hakeem Olajuwon combination up front. Those two allowed Houston to bully the finesse teams, mainly the Suns, who can barely contain their enthusiasm for the swap.

"It looks good to us," the Suns' Dan Majerle said. "I was kind of glad it happened, because Otis always gives us a lot of problems, with his rebounding, scoring and defense."

Now, Majerle said, the Rockets lack protection if Olajuwon gets into foul trouble, and a forward who can guard Charles Barkley.

"I think Clyde is going to play great, because he's back home," Majerle said. "But I think it hurts their defense. Clyde is not the greatest defensive player."

The trade also had a positive spin from the standpoint of another primary Rocket rival in the West - the SuperSonics, against whom Thorpe will make his Blazer debut tonight.

"Rudy (Tomjanovich, Rocket coach) always had the luxury of having two guys who could cover Shawn (Kemp)," said Sonic Coach George Karl. "When Hakeem was in foul trouble, or they wanted him free as a shot-blocker, they had Thorpe."

Now Carl Herrera and Pete Chilcutt, and possibly Robert Horry, are the Rocket power forwards. Horry, whose trade to Detroit last season was overturned by the NBA, was not happy.

"I hate it," he said. "Whenever we lose a few games around here, they start to panic. We didn't trade position for position."

But during the final weeks before the All-Star break, the Rockets concluded they couldn't defend with last year's crew. One of the critical developments was Thorpe's getting fleeced for 33 points by Loy Vaught in a Clipper win over the Rockets.

And although the Rockets weakened a weakness - rebounding, in which they rank last in the NBA - they did create a more explosive, less predictable offense; get an insurance policy for the mercurial Vernon Maxwell, and add a marketable player in a city that hasn't exactly embraced even a team of the Rockets' caliber. And though he isn't Thorpe on the boards, Drexler is one of the top rebounding guards in the NBA.

"I've always felt rebounding was the No. 1 playoff fundamental," Karl said. "But the Rockets won the championship last year not being that good a rebounding team. Maybe the style of the game is changing with the three-point shooting and hand-checking rules. Rebounding is being neutralized with quickness and outside shooting."

Drexler gives Houston a star to pair with Olajuwon and makes the Rockets more explosive, which Danny Ainge says "makes Houston a scary team."

Laker Coach Del Harris agrees, saying, "Before, they were either an inside team or an outside team. Now, with Drexler, they've got something in-between."

As he often did in Seattle, Blazer president Bob Whitsitt deftly ferreted out a team to accomplish his mission, which was to accommodate the trade request of a Portland icon, and jettison Drexler's $8.75 million balloon payment and $1 million in insurance next year.

Most expect this trade to be a prelude to others, possibly including even Thorpe, before the NBA's Feb. 23 trade deadline. The Blazers also got the rights to forward Marcelo Nicola and a conditional 1995 first-round pick in exchange for Drexler.

But Whitsitt might choose to wait. With this deal, Whitsitt has followed the philosophy he and Bernie Bickerstaff established in Seattle. That is, deal from strength by stocking up on talent, even if it's at the same position, and shape the salary cap for the future.

Today, the Blazers have precisely the type of bruising, half-court- oriented team that P.J. Carlesimo was used to coaching at Seton Hall, which can wreak havoc in the playoffs. It's the type of team the Lakers used to nearly upset Phoenix in the first round two years ago and Denver used to oust the Sonics last year.

Heck, it's the type of team the Rockets used to be.

So the Blazers could make a little hay in the postseason, and Whitsitt still would be poised to continue rebuilding. Guard Terry Porter and forward Mark Bryant become unrestricted free agents this summer, opening slots of $2.6 million and $500,000, respectively, with which Portland can go shopping for younger talent. After next year, Thorpe also goes unrestricted.

Whitsitt still has a stable of eight front-line players to work with. It's conceivable he could swing a minor deal now because the Blazers are almost dangerously thin in the backcourt. Even if he doesn't, Whitsitt will have the league thinking and talking.

And that's right where he likes them.