Without Bob... Portland could not have won the championship.”
Inman recognized that givers were undervalued by many teams, since they didn’t hog the spotlight
or use the flashiest of moves. His philosophy was that “It’s not what a player is, but what he can
become... that will allow him to grow.” When Inman saw a guy practice with grit and play like a
giver, he classified him as a diamond in the rough. In fact, there’s a close connection between grit and
giving. In my own research, I’ve found that because of their dedication to others, givers are willing to
work harder and longer than takers and matchers. Even when practice is no longer enjoyable, givers
continue exerting effort out of a sense of responsibility to their team.
This pattern can be seen in many other industries. Consider Russell Simmons, the cofounder of the
hip-hop label Def Jam Records, which launched the careers of LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys.
Simmons is often called the godfather of hip-hop, and he was giving away music for free as early as
1978, long before most labels started doing that. When I asked him about his success, he attributed it
to finding and promoting givers. “Good givers are great getters; they make everybody better,”
Simmons explains. One of his favorite givers is Kevin Liles, who started working for free as an intern
and rose all the way up to become president of Def Jam. As an intern, Liles was the first to arrive at
work and the last to leave. As a promotion director, Liles was responsible for one region, but he went
out of his way to promote other regions too. “Everybody started to look at Kevin as a leader, because
they all looked to him for direction. He gave until people couldn’t live without him.” In selecting and
promoting talent, Simmons writes, “The most important quality you can show me is a commitment to
giving.”
Stu Inman knew that gritty givers would be willing to put the good of the team above their own
personal interests, working hard to fulfill the roles for which they were needed. In the fabled 1984
draft, after selecting Sam Bowie, Inman took a forward named Jerome Kersey in the second round
with the forty-sixth pick overall. Kersey came from Longwood College, a little-known Division II
school in Virginia, yet blossomed into an excellent NBA player. A Longwood sports administrator
said that Kersey “had the best work ethic of anyone that’s ever been here,” which is what led Inman to
recognize his promise when few NBA insiders did. The next year, in 1985, Inman found another
hidden gem of a point guard with the twenty-fourth pick in the draft: Terry Porter, a gritty giver who
earned acclaim for his hustle and selflessness. He made two All-Star teams with the Blazers and
played seventeen strong NBA seasons, and in 1993, he won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award,
awarded annually to one player, coach, or trainer who demonstrates “outstanding service and
dedication to the community.” Along with providing tickets for disadvantaged children to attend
games and promoting graduation parties free of drugs and alcohol, Porter has given extensively to
boys’ and girls’ clubs, working in partnership with his former teammate Jerome Kersey.
Perhaps Inman’s best investment occurred in the 1983 draft, when the Blazers had the fourteenth
pick. Inman selected shooting guard Clyde Drexler, who was passed up by other teams because he
wasn’t regarded as a very strong shooter. Although he was the fifth shooting guard chosen, Drexler is
now widely regarded as the steal of the 1983 draft. He outscored all other players in the draft,
averaging more than 20 points a game in his career, and was the only player in that draft to make the
all-NBA team, at least one All-Star game (he made ten of them), the Olympics, and the Basketball
Hall of Fame. By the time he retired, Drexler joined legends Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek as
the third player in NBA history to rack up more than 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds, and 3,000
assists. Like Walton, Drexler was designated one of the fifty greatest players of all time. How did
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