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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1985)
s 15 N s S s s N TEXAS Page 12/The Battalion/Friday, May 3, 1985 WUStiWEgh RESTAURANTS CoNqRATulATIONS Aqqies! (I CASHt We will bE open MAy 4 at 1:00 p.M. 696^7775 CulpEppER PLAZA FOR YOUR USED BOOKS NOW! Loupot’s now offers a 25% Discount on all purchases through Friday May 10. Pokes say goodbye to finesse with draft GRAI By DENNE H. FREEMAN Associated Press Sports Writer SFLOUPOrSH L NORTHGATE FREE Customer Parking behind the store DALLAS — The National Foot ball League draft has always been the holiest of days to the Dallas Cow boys. The Cowboys built their franchise and name on glittering gems found in the NFL draft mother lode. They discovered Cornell Green on a basketball court, Bob Hayes on a track and Roger Staubach in the Navy. The Cowboys made the draft a science and have five Super Bowl ap pearances as proof of their prowess. They even slickered Seattle into giving up running back Tony Dor- sett in 1977 and he immediately took Dallas to a Super Bowl in his rookie season. But the competition has caught up with the Cowboys. Pressured by the opposition, the Cowboys have made some draft goofs in recent years, including Rod Hill and Larry Bethea to name two of recent vintage who are no longer with the team. The NFL draft is no longer their personal recruiting ground. “It’s been tough, and it keeps get ting tougher every year,” said Gil Brandt, the former baby photogra pher who has masterminded the Cowboys scouting. “Other teams do their homework now.” The “homework” includes not doing business with Dallas on trades. “We did more to try to make a trade than we have in 10 years. We would have loved to have an im pact wide receiver but we got some solid players for the future.” — Cowboys' President Tex Schramm 275-pound Michigan defensi 1 ! tackle Kevin Brooks in the round and tabbed Virginia 1 linebacker Jesse Penn in the set round on Tuesday. “I felt very good about thosetC players,” said Landry. "They < good players for the future.” Of 17 Cowboy drafts I’ve tended, I never heard the wordl ture” used so much. T he Cowboys couldn’t pull off a big trade last Tuesday when they needed to move up from the No. 1^ position to get an impact wide re ceiver. “We did more to try to make a trade than we have in 10 years,” ad mitted Cowboys President Tex Schramm. “In the long run what happened is probably for the best. We would nave loved to have an impact wide receiver but we got some solid play ers for the future.” The “future” is the operative word there. You must understand that Tom Landry calls the draft shots. Brandt puts the information in front of him, but it’s Landry who makes the ultimate decision. It’s Landry who has the say on the first four rounds then he turns the deci sions over to Brandt. Landry picked 6-foot-7 The impression you got wast Landry is in for the long hault five years; bring Dallas back to a Super caliber. Landry has any length ofconttf he wants. And apparently he's real! to be at Dallas another fiv that’s what it takes. Not making the playoffs last yef^ stung Landry’s pride. Landry’s a tough competitor art doesn’t like getting beat. Every player he drafted had 4 excellent “competitive” rating fit* the Dallas scouts. Landry even had Penn flown ii" | Dallas for a personal interview to sf ) just what he was getting. “The guy can play,” said Landr “And I liked his attitude. He’sacoi! petitor You You get the picture. Lanoi drafted the kind of players who lit an alley fight. The days of the Cowboys bei® strictly a finesse team are abouttd* | long gone. Spurs due for a change after disappointing ’85 Associated Press Lvkvvrt 441 Double Tree leaves you room to grow ^ 693-3232 I90I W. Ho££cwwt - Ofo 28I8 SAN ANTONIO — Adjectives like “disappointing” come to Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons’ mind when he evaluates the San Antonio Spurs’ de feat at the hands of Denver in the first round of the NBA playoffs. “Average” is the word he uses to describe the Spurs’.41-41 record this year — his first as coach of the San Antonio team. But Fitzsimmons is even less de scriptive when it comes to talking about the makeup of next year’s Spurs team. “There will be some changes,” he said. Team owner Angelo Drossos isn’t much help, either. “Anything is possible,” he said, “and it always has been.” But some changes undoubtedly are in store. As team spokesman Wayne Witt said, “It’s going to be an interesting summer.” Drossos did say the Spurs “would be reluctant to trade a George Ger- vin because he has been such a major fir part of this franchise since our first year. He also said he would hate to lose Artis Gilmore, this year’s top re bounder (10.4 per game) for the Spurs, who this past week made noises about retiring. “I think he has several more years to play in the league. He is a major part of any franchise, including this one,” he said. Drossos has been quoted as saying there will be no major shakeup of the roster in the coming year. The Spurs nucleus of Gervin, Gil more, Mike Mitchell, Johnny Moore and Gene Banks has been intact since 1982. The squad finished 53- 29 the first year, then 37-45 and the even split this year. “This team has been intact for three seasons. I don’t think you can stay intact another year,” Fitzsim mons said, adding that the Spurs are leveling off. “We need some quicker people on the ball club.” The Spurs will have to flip a coin with Utan to determine their slot in the NBA draft in June. The team will pick either 13th or 14th in the first round. Unless the Spurs put together a trade for a much higher draft slot, it is unlikely they will come away with a first-rate talent. “I hope to get a good player,” Fitz simmons said. “I don’t know if we’ll get one as good as Alvin Robertson.” Robertson, a 6-4 guard, was® Spurs No. 7 pick in the first rou |,: last year. He has the kind of sp# Fitzsimmons says the team needs. The team has five free agents' Moore, who as point guard led ^ team with average assists with 10)* game, Jeff Cook, Marc lavaro® Billy Knight and John Paxson. Drossos said the team will try 11 keep Moore, but he refused to what he called “20 questions” on future of the other free agents. , Taking a look back at the 1984^ season, Fitzsimmons said h 1 wouldn’t rate it a bad one. “But unless you’re restructuring; don’t see how you can be happy" 11 41 and 41,” he said. “We didn’t" 1 the division. The team wasn’t 1 ® proved enough to suit me as a cop or the general manager or the fans The Spurs were plagued all son long with turnovers, and P failing proved their undoing in tl< playoffs, Fitzsimmons said. “Most of our quickness and sptf was hurt,” he said, referring to p! ertson and Banks. “I’m disappointf' in the way it ended. I would ha vl liked for it to come up to the "i 11 with a final layup.”