In trying personal times, Blazers show an amazing strength
Cancer. Again.
This time, it's Paul Allen, the owner. Assistant coach Maurice Lucas: cancer, too. Brian Grant, the retired power forward, popular wherever he's been, still a resident of the Portland area: Parkinson's.
What a cruel convergence for the Blazers. This was supposed to be the team's most dramatic season in years. But not like this, with players and coaches in pre-game prayer for their own.
The owner. An assistant coach whose number is retired. A former player and unofficial Greg Oden tutor.
All since spring.
"To be honest, there's definitely an emotional impact there, because there's that connection," said Brandon Roy, the All-Star guard. "Coach Luke, we practiced with him every day and now he's not around. We text him. You just feel for him. The same with Mr. Allen. I talked to him a lot this summer. It's definitely something that we talk about privately. I don't think it's carrying over on the floor. We're trying to do our best out there. But we definitely feel that emotional connection to them because they're fighting for their lives where we're just playing games. You want to win them, but life is so much more important."
It's more than a team issue, too, because the Blazers are more than a team to the Blazermaniacs who consider their guys part of the civic landscape. This is not just about the locker room. These are developments that strike everywhere.
"We talk about it," center Joel Przybilla said. "We wish the best for those guys. It's unfortunate, because those guys mean a lot to the organization and the whole city. Heck, to the Pacific Northwest, to tell you the truth."
Lucas, an enforcer of a power forward, whose No. 20 has been retired to the Rose Garden rafters and has been an assistant coach on Nate McMillan's staff since 2005-06, was diagnosed late last season with bladder cancer and underwent surgery in April.
The 57-year-old had planned to return to the bench in 2009-10, if only for home games, But he has not been around the team since mid-October. McMillan, wanting to keep Lucas' privacy, has cited fatigue. Monday, the team disclosed the cancer has returned and that Lucas has been in the hospital for a few weeks.
Grant, a Blazer from 1997-98 through 1999-2000, announced in May, that he had Parkinson's disease. He went to work raising awareness and, in turn, helping others. Grant, 37, won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in the second of three seasons as a Blazer, the league's top recognition of community work. Retired since 2006 and still living in the Portland area, his connection to the team strengthened when he spent two weeks in the summer working with Oden.
Then Allen, in his 21st year as owner, announced last week that he has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. It is not the first health scare for the Microsoft co-founder, diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease -- a different type of lymphoma -- 26 years ago. But it is the most recent blunt news for the Trail Blazers and their following.
"I remember before the Atlanta game, when they told us about Mr. Allen," Roy said of Nov. 16. "Everybody put their head down a little bit and we said a big prayer. We knew we were fighting it with coach Lucas. For it to hit with Mr. Allen, it's like, 'Man, this is tough.' We pray for everybody before the game and then we try to go out and do our best on the court."
Said McMillan: "We pray and we hope for their speedy recovery. Our owner is a strong man. Coach Luke is a strong man. Brian Grant is a strong man. All those guys are still supportive. Before every game, we pray for them and our families and the people that are ill. Ours has just been put out there. I'm sure there are other teams that have just as much, if not more, going on. We just have been a team where it's affected our owner, one of our coaches and a former player. It's life."
The team itself is 11-5 and atop the Northwest Division, which would be good but is especially encouraging given a 2-3 start, internal complaints about poor effort and the loss of Nicolas Batum (because of a shoulder injury) and Travis Outlaw (who has a stress fracture in his left foot).
It's going to have to be that kind of season for the Trail Blazers and their fans, apparently. All about resiliency. All about pushing through difficult times.
