Darnell Valentine was hailed for greatness early in his basketball career. Before his high school senior year, Five-Star director and basketball guru Howard Garfinkel simply said Valentine was the best guard he had ever seen in the camp history, even superior to stars Phil Sellers (Rutgers) and Butch Lee (Marquette).
The hosannas and rave reviews kept coming at Kansas, where he became a second-team All-American his senior year. Boston Celtics president Red Auerbach scouted Valentine during his sophomore year and thought he’d be a great pro, maybe even better than former KU and Celtic great Jo Jo White, who is enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
“Valentine is quicker than Jo Jo and he penetrates better,” Auerbach gushed to The Sporting News.
My dad and I, who were huge fans of D.V., were hoping Valentine could have an NBA career like White as soon as he was drafted with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers.
Blazers coach Jack Ramsay even thought Valentine was destined for stardom after his rookie season in 1982.
“Darnell Valentine may be the best point guard in the NBA, you’ll see,” Ramsay told Sports Illustrated.
Sadly, it never happened.
Valentine played well for Portland during his first four and half seasons, assuming the starting role in his second year. But Valentine’s skills didn’t ideally fit Ramsay’s extremely structured offense. Valentine didn’t have much freedom and Portland didn’t run the fast break enough, which was Valentine’s specialty.
He was also a below average outside shooter, although he could knock down the open jumper. Valentine, too, was not a great ballhandler, despite being a point guard, something then-KU coach Larry Brown talked about on his radio show.
But he was very quick with the ball and at his best penetrating the lane and either scoring a layup in traffic over big men or dishing to a teammate for an easy bucket.
And there were few better defensive guards than Valentine and any players who worked harder.
“He was a warrior,” Larry Drew told me years ago, who played against D.V. at Missouri and in the NBA, while also teammates with the Los Angeles Clippers.
"He's a fierce competitor," Ramsay added. “He never stops. He's never going to be outplayed."
Valentine was devoted to the game and also played selflessly in the pros, unlike at KU where he thought me-first and hurt the team at times by trying to do too much.
This all changed in the NBA, when Valentine likely had the revelation that he was no longer the best player on the team, and to have a long and successful career, he had to blend in as a role player, pass the ball and get his teammates involved like Jim Paxson, Calvin Natt, Mychal Thompson and later Clyde Drexler and Kiki Vandeweghe.
Ramsay paid Valentine the ultimate compliment when he said he “was perhaps the most self-disciplined player I ever dealt with ... (and) one of the best team players I ever coached.”
High praise, indeed, from the Hall of Fame coach.
Valentine had a rough break after four and half seasons with Portland when he played in obscurity for the futile Clippers for two and a half years before moving to Cleveland to finish his career. When he first became a Cav in 1988-89, I remember reading that Valentine — who was always known to have a big ego — said that he had never been around a guard and teammate in Mark Price who was so much better than him.
At that time, Valentine was in the twilight of his career, while Price made his first All-Star team in his third year. Price starred with averages of 18.9 points and 8.4 assists per game, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and a scorching 44.1 percent from beyond the arc and 90.1 percent at the charity stripe.
Price’s career 40.2 percent marksmanship from three-point range ranks No. 37 all time, while his 6.7 assists per game ranks No. 30. Price was the far superior shooter to Valentine and also a better ballhandler. However, Valentine was quicker than Price, better at stealing the ball, and a more complete defensive player.
While he was no Mark Price and certainly no Jo Jo White — make no mistake — Valentine still had a solid NBA career during his nine seasons. To me, he ranks as the third-best former Jayhawk guard with the top NBA career behind White and Kirk Hinrich and the No. 11th-best former Jayhawk with the top NBA career overall (not countng current Jayhawks in the pros).
The 6-1 guard boasts career averages of 8.7 points (5,400), 5.0 assists (3,080), 2.1 rebounds (1,318), 1.5 steals (910), and 23.2 minutes in 620 games (345 starts). He shot 43.7 percent from the field, 26.1 percent from three-point range, and 78.7 percent at the free throw line. He always elevated his game in the playoffs with career averages during four postseasons of 12.0 points, 6.8 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.9 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game over 26 contests.
He shot 46.0 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from beyond the arc, and a sizzling 88.4 percent at the free throw line. His finest playoff performance came in 1984 in a five-game series loss to Phoenix in the first round, when Valentine starred with 18.4 points and 8.4 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and and a blistering 91.4 percent at the free throw line in 35.6 minutes per game. He exploded for a game-high 29 points in a Game 3 loss to Phoenix and recorded 15 assists (tied for team playoff record) in a Game 2 loss to the Lakers in 1983. Valentine ranks No. 5 in Blazers history for career assists (161).
During the regular season, the former KU All-American scored a career-high 30 points versus Houston during the 1987-88 season with the Clippers, dished out a career-best 15 assists three times, had three games with eight steals, and four games with eight rebounds. He also posted a career-high 50 minutes in a triple overtime loss to Phoenix on Nov. 1, 1984 with the Blazers.
A tenacious defender with extremely quick feet and hands, Valentine ranks No. 90 all time in the NBA with 1.5 steals per game. He ranked No. 9 in the league in steals per game (1.9) during 1984-85 and No. 13 in total steals (143) that year. He also ranked No. 20 in total steals (122) in 1986-87. Valentine ranked in the top 20 in steal percentage during five seasons, including a career-best 3.6 (No. 5) in 1987-88.
Unlike at KU, he always thought pass first in the pros, ranking No. 15 in assists per game (7.0) during 1984-85 and No. 18 in total assists (522) that year. He ranked No. 17 in the NBA with 6.9 assists per game in 1986-87 and No. 20 in total assists (447) that season. He had three seasons where he ranked in the top 20 in assist percentage, including a career-best 37.3 (No. 6) in 1986-87.
I asked Valentine before his jersey retirement in Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 1, 2005 how he felt about his NBA career. He was quite candid and didn’t seem to have regrets.
“I think it could have possibly been better, and it could have possibly been a lot worse,” Valentine replied. “I’m just thankful that it was what it was. I think I had some tough breaks. ... I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish.”
No, he never became an All-Star or averaged even 9.0 points per game over his career (career-high 12.5 ppg his second season), but Valentine made his mark with his outstanding defense and fierce work ethic, endearing himself to his coaches, teammates, and fans.
Lafayette Norwood, his close friend, mentor, high school coach and assistant at KU, thought Valentine caught a tough break by not catching on with the Chicago Bulls. Norwood actually told me several years ago that Chicago signed him to an offer sheet while Valentine was with the Clippers before the Clips matched it. But it was actually New Jersey which made the offer before the 1986-87 season. The Bulls, however, nearly traded for Valentine from Portland before the 1985-86 season, but the deal never happened.
“I thought that was the turning point in his life,” said Norwood, who added the Bulls didn’t have a point guard at the time. “I thought if the Bulls could have got him, he could have been able to experience some things I thought we had in mind at the beginning of his career. Chicago was in the process of beginning to evolve as far as being a championship final team. If he could have gone to Chicago, obviously with Michael (Jordan), he could have made that happen and become a critical (part to their success).”
As I wrote in a previous blog on D.V., Norwood thought Valentine could have elevated Jordan and his Bulls’ teammates’ games with his defense and become one of the best NBA point guards.
Still, like Valentine, Norwood was quite proud of what he was “able to accomplish” in the NBA.
“Oh, he had a great career,” Norwood said.
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