Portland trades former Jayhawk great Darnell Valentine to Los Angeles Clippers

The Portland Trail Blazers had a habit of drafting point guards in the early 1980s. The franchise selected Kelvin Ransey (1980), Darnell Valentine (1981) and Fat Lever (1982) during the first round, and then Steve Colter (1984) in the second round.

With Valentine and Colter still in Portland, would the Blazers pull the trigger and select yet another point guard in the first round of the 1985 NBA Draft?

That’s exactly what they did when Portland picked Terry Porter from Wisconsin-Stevens Point, an NCAA Division III school, with the 24th overall selection and last pick in the first round. The Blazers saw something they liked out of this promising guard and future Portland great, despite playing forward at just 6-3 in college and at times guarding the opposing team’s center.

Now, with three point guards on the roster, it appeared someone had to go. With Colter’s emergence last season and Valentine entering the last year on his contract and becoming a free agent next year, he seemed to be a marked man. Portland was looking to trade him before the season began, with his most likely destination the Chicago Bulls, who had just selected budding superstar Michael Jordan in last year’s draft, the reigning Rookie of the Year who averaged 28.2 points per game in 1984-85.

In a Sept. 24, 1985 article in the Chicago Tribune, Bob Sakamoto wrote:

“If the Bulls have the heart, they may get their Valentine. The Bulls are looking to acquire the Portland Trail Blazers’ Darnell Valentine to fill a gaping hole at point guard. But the price for the four-year veteran could be power forward Sidney Green, which may be too steep.”

Sakamoto continued:

“Portland has three point guards and a shortage of power forwards. The Bulls have three power forwards and zero point guards. It’s a natural.”

But there were complications in the possible trade.

“A National Basketball Association source close to Portland said the Bulls are hesitant to part with Green,” Sakamoto wrote. “What Chicago is doing, he said, is waiting it out until Portland realizes it must move Valentine. Then the Bulls will offer the Blazers two second-round picks in the 1986 draft, their own and one they got from Dallas, for Valentine.

“But how long do the Bulls wait? There are indications Valentine will be traded before the season begins in late October.”

''There are only so many minutes for our point guards,'' Portland general manager Stu Inman said. ''We like all of them, but there is only room for two. If we were to make a trade, it would be for a player in the category of a Sidney Green. We would go that way. If we couldn't get a big forward, we would settle for draft choices.''

Sakamoto reported that “the Blazers like second-year playmaker Steve Colter and have big plans for first-round draft choice Terry Porter of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. That would seem to leave Valentine, who was born in Chicago, as the odd man out.”

''He is the kind of selfless guard who stands out defensively and can get the ball to the right people,'' Inman said. ''He has a decent outside shot. If you leave him wide open, he will hit it, absolutely.''

“Darnell Valentine is looking to move, and Chicago is his No. 1 choice,'' the NBA source said. ''He is just the player Chicago needs. Don’t let (Bulls’ vice president of operations) Jerry Krause fool you. They’re not going to play Jordan and (Quintin) Dailey together. That`s just what all the other teams in the NBA would love to see.''

Sakamoto wrote that with “new Bulls’ coach Stan Albeck emphasizing a fast-paced, transition offense, opening up the court for Jordan and forward Orlando Woolridge, Valentine would fit better than either (Jon) Paxson or (Kyle) Macy, with whom the Bulls have also talked.”

''He is more geared to an uptempo game,'' Inman said about Valentine.

However, the trade never happened with Valentine. The Bulls eventually acquired Paxson on Oct. 29 as a free agent with the San Antonio Spurs receiving cash as compensation.

So Valentine began his fifth season in Portland, while he didn’t know how long he’d still be a Blazer. He actually started the first 27 games before Portland coach Jack Ramsay replaced him in the starting lineup with Colter on Dec. 17. Ramsay said Valentine wouldn’t play anymore and the Blazers were looking to move him. Valentine requested not to accompany the team on road trips.

“I feel like a man without a country,” the former KU standout said while out of action for a month before playing one more game against New York on Jan. 11, 1986.

He played OK during those 28 games, but his game slipped. Valentine averaged career lows in points (9.1 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg) in 26.2 minutes per game, while also averaging 1.8 steals per game. He shot 44.7 percent from the field and a career low 71.0 percent at the charity stripe.

Valentine scored in double digits the first five of seven games of the season, and then scored in double figures six of his next eight games from Nov. 19 to Dec. 3, capping that stretch with a season-high 18 points against Washington. He also scored 16 points three times in 28 games. Suddenly, after Dec. 3, Valentine’s playing time diminished and he went seven games without scoring in double digits.

He then went from Dec. 13 without playing a game until Jan. 11 versus the Knicks, only because Jim Paxson was out with a minor injury. Valentine played just six minutes and scored two points.

Finally, on Jan. 14, 1986, Valentine and Portland got their wish; the Blazers traded the veteran point guard to the Los Angeles Clippers for L.A.’s first-round draft pick in 1986. The teams also swapped 1988 second-round picks.

At last, Valentine had a new home.

“'I wish it would have happened smoother,” Valentine told the UPI on Jan. 15. “But now I can continue with my career.”

“I'm happy for Darnell,” Portland coach Jack Ramsay said. “He's going to a team that wants him. We came out of it with about as much as we could have hoped for.”

Valentine loved his time in Portland, but wished this could have been dealt better.

“The organization has been great to me,” he said. “However, it was unfortunate the way things unwound. It wasn't handled as well as I would have liked, but I'm happy to be out. It was like I was a marked guy, everyone knew the situation. I'm happy it's done and I can go about my career.

“The only part about me leaving and going to a team that is struggling is that Portland is going to be a great team,” Valentine added.

Sam McManis of the Los Angeles Times reported that  Clippers general manager Carl Scheer said “it took him ‘no more than a second’ to complete Tuesday’s trade, which management and Coach Don Chaney agreed upon after a quick evaluation of the Clippers’ 1-6 record on the trip.”

“This franchise is not going to be successful until it gets good players,” said Scheer, “who had been talking to Portland about Valentine for three weeks.”

“Point guard is not our most pressing area, but we would not have gotten a player of Valentine’s quality with Boston’s pick (which figures to be either 22nd or 23rd),” Scheer added.

The Clippers already boasted All-Star point guard Norm Nixon. But, McManis wrote that “Nixon, 30, has been inconsistent after missing nearly a month of the season during his free-agent holdout and is not considered to be as good a defensive player as Valentine, 26.”

The Clippers also had Franklin Edwards, a third point guard, who was backing up Nixon.

McManis added that “Nixon and Valentine will have to co-exist. Nixon, when asked recently about the possibility of splitting playing time with Valentine, expressed concern.”

“If this team was 27-12 instead of 12-27 and was breaking up a good combination, I’d be concerned with the fact that Norm is concerned, if, in fact, he is. Nixon is concerned with winning, and, with Valentine, we’re improving our team,” Scheer said.

McManis wrote “there are several reasons why Valentine became expendable. Ramsay felt that second-year man Steve Colter and rookie Terry Porter fit into his plans more than Valentine, and the coach also has had recent success using the tandem of big guards Jim Paxson and Clyde Drexler. Another factor is that Valentine will become a free agent after this season and would have sought a more lucrative contract.”

Valentine’s salary was worth $265,000 ($175,000 cash).

He was eager for new beginnings in L.A, despite going from a perennial playoff team to a lowly franchise.

“I'm excited to be a part of the Clipper organization now,” Valentine said. “I'm looking forward to getting down to L.A. and having the opportunity to play.”

Kirk Hinrich is one of Chicago Bulls' all-time greats

After profiling Drew Gooden (No. 9 ex-Jayhawk who’s had the best pro career) and Nick Collison (No. 8) in my last two installments in this series, I now look at their former gutty KU teammate and the third outstanding member of Roy Williams’ 1999 recruiting class, one of the best groups in school history that left an indelible mark in Kansas basketball annals.

No. 7 Kirk Hinrich

Kirk Hinrich’s childhood hoop dreams officially came true at 7:10 p.m. (CT) on June 26, 2003, when NBA commissioner David Stern announced during the league draft that the Chicago Bulls had selected the former Kansas standout guard with the seventh pick in the first round.

Hinrich smiled broadly, pumped his fists, embraced his family members, and put on a Bulls hat. He was simply overwhelmed at the moment.

“I’m just real excited,” Hinrich said. “I can’t be more happier. It’s a dream I’ve had all my life. I think I’m going to go in there with the right attitude and make it work out.”

Chicago was looking for a point guard after starter Jay Williams suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle crash a week earlier; his NBA career would be over after just one season.

Hinrich, who admitted he “had to overcome the stereotype of being a white point guard,” greatly impressed scouts during workouts with his athletic ability. 

“I think I showed them,” said Hinrich, a Sioux City, Iowa, native. “I went in there trying to impress people. I’m just thrilled to death going to Chicago.”

Now, as Hinrich’s NBA career appears to be over after 13 years (he hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but was not picked up last season), he’s become one of Chicago’s all-time greats, spending all but two and a half seasons with the franchise that drafted him. The 6-4 Hinrich ranks No. 1 in Bulls history in three-point field goals and three-point field goals attempted, No. 3 in career games and seasons played (both behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen), No. 3 in assists and steals (both again behind Jordan and Pippen), No. 4 in minutes, No. 8 in field goals, No. 6 in field goals attempted,  No. 8 in points, No. 7 in assists per game, No. 6 in assists percentage, No. 7 in defensive win shares, No. 10 in win shares and No. 8 in value over replacement player.

Hinrich and Chicago have simply been a great basketball marriage, beginning with his first year in the city when he made the NBA All-Rookie First Team and averaged 12.0 points while ranking eighth in the league with 6.8 assists per game.

"I feel I'm kind of meant to play in Chicago," Hinrich told the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 14, 2004 during that rookie season. "The city is blue-collar. It's how I play. I'm a guy willing to do the little things. I've had to work for everything I've ever gotten. And to play in front of fans like we have who come every night even though we haven't been winning, it motivates you."

Hinrich was a pivotal part of Chicago’s run to the playoffs his second year in the league and the team has been in the playoffs 11 of the last 13 seasons.

“He helped birth a new, competitive basketball era for the franchise after the depths of 1999 through 2003,” longtime Bulls’ writer Sam Smith wrote at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.

Hinrich averaged in double-figure scoring in seven of his first eight seasons in the league, and the only year that didn’t happen was 2008-09, when he just missed with 9.9 points per game as Derrick Rose joined the Bulls and became the starting point guard. Hinrich has also averaged in double figures in eight of 11 playoffs.

Hinrich’s second-to-fourth years were statistically his best, when he averaged 15.7 points and 6.4 assists in 2004-05 (21.2 ppg in playoffs), 15.9 points and 6.3 assists in 2005-06 (20.5 ppg in playoffs) and a career-high 16.6 points and 6.3 assists in 2006-07. Hinrich was called the face of the franchise and even compared to Steve Nash while on the cusp of NBA stardom. While it never happened as Rose arrived as the new man in town and Hinrich’s offensive production and minutes slipped, he still carved out a very distinguished and impressive NBA career.

After stints with the Washington Wizards (2010-11) and Atlanta Hawks (2011-12), Hinrich rejoined the Bulls in 2012-13 (he started all 60 games with Rose injured) and played there until he was traded to Atlanta on Feb. 18, 2016, a move which reportedly upset several Bulls’ players.

During his last NBA season with both Chicago and Atlanta, Hinrich played in a career-low 46 games and averaged just 3.0 points and 1.6 minutes in 13.7 minutes per game.

Known in Chi-Town as Captain Kirk with his relentless passion, gritty play, strong leadership and tenacious defense, Hinrich persevered through injuries during the latter years of his career while still making winning plays when in action. Like his former KU teammate Nick Collison, Hinrich’s game has transcended pure numbers in many ways. The ball always moved better when Hinrich was in the game and he’s one of the greatest warriors and battlers in Bulls history, reminding Chicago fans of former great Jerry Sloan.

Hinrich’s coaches have all loved him.

"You go by what he does for the team and how he helps you win," then-Bulls’ coach Tom Thibodeau told the Chicago Tribune during the 2014-15 season. "That's where he is invaluable. I just love his competitive spirit. To me, he's going to fight for everything. He's going to run your team. He's a great leader. Here, you can see how vocal he is. He knows what everyone is supposed to do. He's getting guys to the right spots."

Current Bulls’ coach Fred Hoiberg is another admirer.

"Kirk is just so rock-solid," Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 10, 2015. "He's always in the right spot. Defensively, he's very smart (and) he can get us into an offense. He does a lot of things that don't show up in a box score. That's a tough role to have, but Kirk has played it well his entire career."

Hoiberg talked more about Hinrich at NBA.com on Nov. 24, 2015.

“Fans should appreciate everything he does because he is all about winning,” Hoiberg said. “You can’t have enough of those guys on your team. He has the ultimate respect of his teammates because of how hard he plays and how he does those little things.”

Hoiberg, a fellow Iowa native, has been a long fan of Hinrich’s.

“He’s had an unbelievable career. Besides him decommitting from Iowa State (Hinrich did so after ISU coach Tim Floyd left to accept the Bulls’ head coaching job), I’m a big admirer of everything he has accomplished,” Hoiberg said with a laugh. “Even back in the days when he was playing at Kansas following a fellow Iowan was fun. I think he came (to the Bulls) the year I left. I would have loved to have played with Kirk. He’s the ultimate team guy. ... He’s just a flat out winner.

“The biggest thing is the way he organizes you, gets you into an offense. We scored 31 in the first quarter against Phoenix. A lot of that was because of Kirk’s pace. He’s going to get your defense organized as well because he talks and communicates out there on the floor. He’s a great example for the young guys because of how he works, how he approaches it; he’s a true professional. Played a lot of minutes in this league, 13 years and still going out and producing like he has.”

Hinrich’s former and current teammates rave about him as well.

“The thing about him is he's not scared of anybody,” Collison told the Chicago Tribune during Hinrich’s rookie season. “People look at him and think he's from Iowa, he's not big and doesn't look athletic, and they expect to intimidate him. But he defends as well as anyone I've ever seen or played with. Kirk gets the stereotype of the white guard ... But guys try to rush him and he goes right by them. He loves it when guys pressure him and play him physical."

Collison and Hinrich were former AAU teammates before their paths crossed again at Kansas.

"The first time I knew about him," Collison said, "was in an AAU tournament (for kids)19 and under and we're 16. There are all these McDonald's All-Americans with their uniforms and matching shoes, and we're these kids from Iowa with the ratty uniforms and Kirk takes on the best guy and we win by 20.

"He was so fearless. I remember one time in college he gets hit in the eye. There's blood in there and we find out the next day he has a concussion. So he's holding his left eye after he got hit and with one hand still is dribbling and making the passes. He never came out of the game."

With his career ticking down and Hinrich on the last year of his contract in 2015, he was still playing with that same fiery passion and trying to improve.

"Oh, geez, I don't know, I don't know," Hinrich told the Tribune then about how many jumpers he’s shot in his lifetime.

"That's the great thing about this game, you can always get better. Growing up, it's what I wanted to do and I feel blessed to be able to do it."

The former KU star said that October day that he wasn’t thinking about retirement just yet.

"It seems like yesterday I was a young player and now all these players call me, 'The Old Guy,' " Hinrich said. "I'm going to cherish it and not take anything for granted. I realize I'm at the tail end of my career (but) I feel like I can play longer.

"I hope that I will know when it's time to go," he added. "Mentally and physically it can be challenging at times but I'm up for it (this season). ... When you get back to it (basketball after the offseason) you realize how much you really love it and want to do it as long as you can. I love the competition of it. I love the camaraderie with my teammates, the sense of coming together as a team and trying to accomplish something."

With hoops has come a marriage and family. Hinrich has a wife, Jill, and four young children.

"When I was young it was easy to get caught up in the lifestyle — it's a great life," he said. "You get so many privileges but you have to be a pro and do your job. When I got married and had kids, it put everything in perspective for me. It was the first time I ever really had to balance basketball and anything else. To balance it was one of the more challenging things I've ever had to do."

Now, after all of his accomplishments playing in the Windy City for 10 and a half seasons, Hinrich couldn’t ask for anything more.

“I grew up a big Bulls fan,” Hinrich told Smith. “To be drafted here and play most of my career here is such a blessing.”

Omar Sanchez of Bullsnation.net called him a “legendary Bull” on Aug. 25, 2015.

“Chicago’s Discobolus has always been with us. A physical specimen and war-tested master of the game. A constant balanced attack without having the flashiest game to play with. Captain Kirk isn’t ‘Augustus of Prima Porta’ or Michaelangelo’s ‘David’, but he is the ultimate litmus test for what it means to be a Bull.”

And then read what Smith penned on NBA.com in November 2015:

“Hinrich isn’t being enshrined in Springfield, but his Bulls career will rank among the best ever in franchise history. It should merit consideration to eventually have his jersey number retired if not only for his statistical accomplishments, but for the blue collar, working class way he’s gone about his job that is both a tribute and a testament to his city and team. Hinrich doesn’t excite the crowd or the highlight room denizens. But he gets the attention of the stars of the game with his relentless, physical, combative style that often frustrated the likes of Miami star Dwyane Wade into some of the toughest games of his career. Wade once even needed the defense of Pat Riley about Hinrich’s tenacious style of play. It was no surprise, even approaching 35 in January, that Hinrich ran Stephen Curry into one of the least productive games of the season in the Warriors’ tense victory over the Bulls.”

Hinrich, a 2007 All-Defensive Second-Team selection who started 665 of 879 NBA games, boasts career averages of 10.9 points (9,594), 4.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 30.7 minutes per game, while shooting 41.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.0 percent at the charity stripe.

Hinrich, 36, ranks No. 58 all time in three-point field goals (1,172) and No. 91 in assists (4,245).

According to basketballreference.com, he's earned $71,692,268.

An All-Big 12 First-Team selection his junior and senior seasons at Kansas, Hinrich was also a third-team Associated Press All-American as a senior in 2003 while named to the Wooden All-American team. Hinrich, who helped spark KU to two Final Fours in 2002 and 2003, had his jersey retired in Allen Fieldhouse on March 1, 2009.

He ranks 12th all time at Kansas in scoring (1,753 points), fifth in assists, sixth in steals, third in three-point field goals, and eighth in minutes.

Hinrich loved his KU career and playing for Roy Williams in storied Allen Fieldhouse.

“I think (it’s) the all-time best basketball arena,” Hinrich said. “It has so much history.”

History will prove that Hinrich was one of KU’s all-time greats. However, his road to stardom got off to a rocky start his freshman season. As Hinrich struggled adjusting to college basketball and school, he reached arguably the lowest point in his life at Kemper Arena in Kansas City against Saint Louis on Dec. 30, 1999. That’s when he went scoreless and had five turnovers in 13 minutes.

Williams, one of Hinrich’s biggest supporters, was waiting for him after the game. As the two walked back to the bus for the 45-minute drive to Lawrence, the head coach put his arm around his despondent player.

“You’re the guard I wanted,” Williams told Hinrich softly.

Hinrich told me before Chicago’s exhibition game against Seattle in Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 that it was the turning point of his career.

“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” he said.

Hinrich eventually became KU’s starting point guard and blossomed into an All-American. Williams will always have a true affinity for what he meant to him and Kansas basketball. The current North Carolina head coach has said the recruiting class of Hinrich, Collison and Gooden restored his faith in the game and reignited his passion for coaching.

Williams calls Hinrich’s competitive fire almost peerless.

“He’s one of the most self-disciplined players I’ve ever coached,” Williams once told the New York Times. “I was an assistant coach at North Carolina when Jordan played there. I think Kirk is in the same ballpark with Michael as far as competitiveness is concerned. ” 

Once a Jayhawk, Kirk Hinrich now a Bull...Again

Kirk Hinrich was one of the top players in KU history. And as so with the great ones, he was always surrounded by media during his four years at Kansas. I interviewed him countless times, asking him questions usually in-between other reporters’ queries after games or in breakout sessions before games. He wasn’t known as the best interview, but he was always direct and candid, and I appreciated that. A relentless player who knew the game as a coach’s son, I couldn’t help admire how hard he played.

I finally got the chance to do an extended one-on-one interview with Kirk when he came back to Allen Fieldhouse in October 2006 as a member of the Chicago Bulls. His Bulls were playing an exhibition game with the Seattle SuperSonics, who featured Kirk’s good buddy and former Jayhawk Nick Collison.

About 90 minutes before tipoff, when the players were first made available to the media, I hurried into the Bulls’ locker room where I saw Kirk sitting alone. Seizing my opportunity, I asked him several questions, including how he felt about returning to Allen Fieldhouse, his thoughts on the current KU basketball team, realizing his dream of playing in the NBA, and others.

Soon, I got to ask him the question I truly wanted. I remembered Kirk’s and Nick’s final home game against Oklahoma State in 2003, and how coach Roy Williams offered his memories of his two favorite players in the postgame press conference. He recalled a story about Kirk’s freshman year after a game against Saint Louis in Kemper Arena. Kirk struggled that night, going scoreless with five turnovers in 13 minutes. He was feeling extremely down, so as he and Williams walked back to the bus after the game, Roy put his arm around Kirk and said, ”You’re the guard I wanted."

I had always wanted to ask Kirk about that moment, and now I did. The Bulls’ point guard said he was really struggling in school and on the court early in his freshman season while trying to adjust to major college basketball, and feeling at his lowest point after the Saint Louis game, the 12th contest of the year.

So when Williams put his arm around him like a father and told Kirk he was “the guard I wanted,” it was like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Kirk called it a defining moment and turning point in his career.

“To have a coach behind you 100 percent like that and show that much confidence in you, it meant a lot,” Kirk told me.

Kirk rebounded from adversity, earned a starting spot later that freshman year and blossomed into one of the best guards in school history. He left his career ranked No. 8 all time at KU in scoring, No. 5 in free throw percentage, No. 3 in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage, No. 3 in assists and steals, and No. 2 in minutes played behind Jayhawk legend Danny Manning.

He was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the Bulls in 2003, and quickly made his name in Chicago. After three seasons, Captain Kirk was seen as the face of the franchise, something I mentioned to him in Allen Fieldhouse during our interview in 2006.

“I’m not the face of the franchise,” Kirk responded.

K.C. Johnson, the Bulls’ beat writer who had joined me by that that time in the locker room, just laughed.

The humble Hinrich had some very good years in Chicago, and was an extremely popular player among fans with his gritty work ethic and desire. While he was the subject of trade talk during his latter years in Chicago, it never seemed to affect his play too much. Kirk was all business, and this showed with the media and on the hardwood.

Finally, in the summer of 2010, Chicago traded Kirk to the woeful Washington Wizards to free up salary cap space in their pursuit of free agents Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. Well, the Bulls got neither of them. As for Kirk, he played in obscurity in Washington while grooming rookie John Wall as the Wizards’ point guard of the future.

The Wizards traded Kirk to the Atlanta Hawks for the stretch run in 2011. While Kirk showcased his defensive prowess, he wasn’t counted on too much offensively. I thought his talents weren’t used properly with all the Hawks’ isolation plays and teaming with ball stoppers like Joe Johnson. Kirk ended up getting injured in the first round of the playoffs, and never got the chance to play in the following series against the Bulls.

Kirk underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and missed the beginning of last season with the Hawks. He never seemed to find his groove, averaging a career-low 6.6 points per game. Now a free agent, Hinrich looked for a new start with a new team this past summer.

He found it in his old home of Chicago, signing a deal worth about $8 million for two years. With All-Star and former MVP Derrick Rose sidelined for most of next season recovering from a torn ACL, Hinrich will likely step right in and start at point guard just like old times in the Windy City. When Rose returns, Kirk should still see plenty of minutes as backup point guard and at shooting guard.

Kirk told the Chicago Tribune that he knew in his heart and gut that Chicago was the best place for him. He actually chose the Bulls after reportedly turning down more money from the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would have been reunited with former Bulls’ coach Scott Skiles.

"The stars kind of had to be aligned," Hinrich said of returning to the Bulls. "I didn't have any preconceived notions coming into free agency that this would be my decision. It just worked out that way, and I'm happy it did."

I’m happy it did, too, for this former Jayhawk standout. While there’s been plenty of speculation that his skills have declined and he’s not the same player, I still believe the 31-year-old Hinrich (NBA broadcaster Steve Kerr once said he had a chance to become the “next Steve Nash”) has plenty of game and that a return to the Windy City could indeed revitalize his career and bring crowds to their feet at the United Center once more.