The Denver Post (Terry Frei) reports: The Nuggets not only listened to offers for Kiki Vandeweghe after the former UCLA star averaged 29.4 points in 1983-84, they took one. They broke up the entertaining Alex English-Dan Issel-Vandeweghe triumvirate, sending Vandeweghe to Portland in June 1984 for Fat Lever, Calvin Natt and Wayne Cooper, plus first- and second-round draft choices. As I remember it, in announcing the deal, Nuggets GM Carl Scheer kept saying: “But wait! There’s more!” And the press release disclosed that the Trail Blazers even threw in a nifty set of steak knives. Vandeweghe’s stunning first step and move to the basket, coupled with a deadly pull-up jumper, seduced Portland into believing he could be a difference-maker. In part because of back problems, he wasn’t.
