1978–79 Portland Trail Blazers season

During the offseason, MVP Bill Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and other players' injuries by the Blazers' front office. He did not get his wish and sat out the 1978–79 season in protest, signing with the San Diego Clippers when he became a free agent in 1979.^[1]

Before the draft, Larry Bird had just finished his junior year at Indiana State. However, he was eligible to be drafted without applying for "hardship" because his original college class at the Indiana University had graduated.^[2]^[3] He initially enrolled at Indiana in 1974 but dropped out before the season began. After sitting out a year, he enrolled at Indiana State.^[4] Despite being eligible for the draft, he stated that he would return to college for his senior season. His hometown team, the Indiana Pacers, initially held the first overall pick. However, when they failed to persuade him to leave college early, they traded the first pick to the Blazers, who also failed to convince him into signing; ultimately the Blazers used the first pick on Minnesota standout center Mychal Thompson.^[5]^[6]

As a result, the Blazers fell 13 games from their franchise-best record of the previous year, barely squeezing into the playoffs with a 45–37 record that earned them the sixth and final seed, only two games better than the Clippers.

The Blazers were ousted from the 1979 NBA Playoffs after losing their best-of-three series to the Phoenix Suns, two games to one.

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Draft picks

Note: This is not a complete list; only the first two rounds are covered, as well as any other picks by the franchise who played at least one NBA game.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	1	Mychal Thompson	F/C	Bahamas	Minnesota
1	7	Ron Brewer	G	United States	Arkansas
2	24	Keith Herron	G/F	United States	Villanova
2	44	Clemon Johnson	F/C	United States	Florida A&M
5	110	Clay Johnson	G	United States	Missouri

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	From
G	10	Brewer, Ron	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Arkansas
F	30	Gross, Bob	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Long Beach State
G	14	Hollins, Lionel	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Arizona State
F	20	Lucas, Maurice	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Marquette
F	36	Neal, Lloyd	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Tennessee State
F/C	25	Owens, Tom	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	South Carolina
F	15	Steele, Larry	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Kentucky
F/C	43	Thompson, Mychal	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	226 lb (103 kg)	Minnesota
G	13	Twardzik, Dave	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Old Dominion

Head coach

Jack Ramsay

Assistant coach(es)

Bucky Buckwalter

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Pacific Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Seattle SuperSonics	52	30	.634	–	31–10	21–20	11–9
x-Phoenix Suns	50	32	.610	2	32–9	18–23	11–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers	47	35	.573	5	31–10	16–25	11–9
x-Portland Trail Blazers	45	37	.549	7	33–8	12–29	8–12
San Diego Clippers	43	39	.524	9	29–12	14–27	11–9
Golden State Warriors	38	44	.463	14	23–18	15–26	8–12

#	Western Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Seattle SuperSonics	52	30	.634	–
2	y-Kansas City Kings	48	34	.585	4
3	x-Phoenix Suns	50	32	.610	2
4	x-Denver Nuggets	47	35	.573	5
5	x-Los Angeles Lakers	47	35	.573	5
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	45	37	.549	7

7	San Diego Clippers	43	39	.524	9
8	Indiana Pacers	38	44	.463	14
9	Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	14
10	Golden State Warriors	38	44	.463	14
11	Chicago Bulls	31	51	.378	21

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1978–79 NBA records
Team	ATL	BOS	CHI	CLE	DEN	DET	GSW	HOU	IND	KCK	LAL	MIL	NJN	NOJ	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SAS	SDC	SEA	WAS
Atlanta	–	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	2–2
Boston	2–2	–	1–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–4	1–3	0–4	1–3	2–2	0–4
Chicago	1–3	2–1	–	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	4–0	0–3	0–4	0–4	1–3
Cleveland	1–3	2–2	3–1	–	1–2	1–3	2–1	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–4	0–4	0–4	2–2	2–2	0–4
Denver	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–1	–	2–2	4–0	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	4–0	3–1	3–1	0–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3
Detroit	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	–	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	0–4	2–2	1–3	1–3	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–3	1–3
Golden State	3–1	1–2	1–3	1–2	0–4	3–1	–	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2
Houston	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	–	0–4	3–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	0–4	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2
Indiana	3–1	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	4–0	–	1–3	0–4	2–2	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	0–4	1–3
Kansas City	2–2	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	–	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–0
Los Angeles	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–2	4–0	2–2	–	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–0	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2
Milwaukee	0–3	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	–	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3
New Jersey	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–3	0–4	4–0	3–1	1–3	2–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	–	3–1	1–3	2–2	3–0	2–2	0–4	2–2	0–4	1–3
New Orleans	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	0–4	1–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	–	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–4	0–3	0–4
New York	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	1–3	0–4	2–2	1–2	0–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	–	2–2	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	1–3
Philadelphia	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	3–0	3–1	1–3	4–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	–	1–3	1–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	3–1
Phoenix	1–2	4–0	3–1	4–0	1–3	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–3	3–1	4–0	3–1	–	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–3
Portland	2–2	3–1	0–4	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	1–3	–	2–1	2–2	1–3	3–1
San Antonio	1–3	4–0	3–0	4–0	1–3	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–2	–	4–0	2–2	1–3
San Diego	1–3	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	0–4	–	2–2	0–3
Seattle	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	1–3	3–0	1–3	2–2	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	4–0	3–0	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	–	2–2
Washington	2–2	4–0	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	0–3	2–2	3–1	3–1	4–0	3–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	3–0	2–2	—

Game log

Playoffs

1979 playoff game log

First round: 1–2 (home: 1–0; road: 0–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 2	@ Phoenix	L 103–107	Ron Brewer (26)	Thompson, Lucas (10)	Lucas, Brewer (5)	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,660	0–1
2	April 4	Phoenix	W 96–92	Ron Brewer (21)	Mychal Thompson (17)	Maurice Lucas (4)	Memorial Coliseum 12,666	1–1
3	April 6	@ Phoenix	L 91–101	three players tied (16)	Maurice Lucas (16)	Maurice Lucas (9)	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,660	1–2

1979 schedule

Awards and honors

Mychal Thompson, All-NBA Rookie Team
Ron Brewer, All-NBA Rookie Team
Maurice Lucas, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
Lionel Hollins, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
Maurice Lucas, NBA All-Star

References

^ Love, Matt (2007). Red Hot and Rollin': A Retrospection of the Portland Trail Blazers' 1976–77 NBA Championship Season. Pacific City, Oregon: Nestucca Spit Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-9744364-8-7.
^ "Larry Bird Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
^ "If Blazers draft Bird, they won't wait year to sign him". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. June 6, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
^ Deford, Frank (March 21, 1988). "A Player for the Ages". Sports Illustrated. Time Warner Company. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
^ Sachare, Alex (June 11, 1978). "Thompson picked first". Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
^ "Blazers Get No. 1 Pick". Sarasota Journal. Sarasota, Florida: Lindsay Newspapers Inc. June 9, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.