One through twelve, do you think the 99-00 team was the most talented of all-time? Pippen Sheed Damon Smitty Sabonis Greg Anthony Brian Grant Jermaine O'Neal Stacey Augmon Detlef Bonzi Gary Grant Antonio Harvey Joe Klein That team had so many lottery picks it was insane.
I think had that team been better coached, and a little stronger in the brains department, they would've easily beaten the Lakers in the conference finals. But they were easily frazzled.
NBA All-time. Can you think of a single team that was that stacked on paper? They had two legit starting units that could have both made the playoffs. Anthony Bonzi Detlef Grant Jermaine That could have been a playoff team right there.
1990-91 31 Alaa Abdelnaby PF 6-10 240 June 24, 1968 R Duke University 9 Danny Ainge SG 6-4 175 March 17, 1959 9 Brigham Young University 2 Mark Bryant PF 6-9 245 April 25, 1965 2 Seton Hall University 42 Wayne Cooper C 6-10 220 November 16, 1956 12 University of New Orleans 6 Walter Davis SG 6-6 193 September 9, 1954 13 University of North Carolina 22 Clyde Drexler SG 6-7 210 June 22, 1962 7 University of Houston 00 Kevin Duckworth C 7-0 275 April 1, 1964 4 Eastern Illinois University 25 Jerome Kersey SF 6-7 215 June 26, 1962 6 Longwood University 44 Drazen Petrovic SG 6-5 195 October 22, 1964 1 30 Terry Porter PG 6-3 195 April 8, 1963 5 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 3 Clifford Robinson PF 6-10 225 December 16, 1966 1 University of Connecticut 52 Buck Williams PF 6-8 215 March 8, 1960 9 University of Maryland 21 Danny Young PG 6-3 175 July 26, 1962 6 Wake Forest University I'm biased but I like this one better. I know Walter Davis and Petro weren't here at the same time. But either or. I still prefer that team to Blank check team.
On paper, given what they produced before and after their time with the Blazers? Hell yes. But Jermaine was not good yet, and Pippen wasn't great anymore. But the miracle minute... oh the miracle minute... "OVER THE TOP!"
I don't think it's fair to have O'neal in there for that year, considering his minutes were so sporadic. So, if we're saying that about THAT year, and not any future any of them had.. that takes it down a peg, IMO. But still, a damn good team.
I think Jermaine proved that he only needed steady minutes and a chance to show what he could do. The very next year he went to Indy and was an All-Star. He could have easily started that year if they had give him the chance.
Can you imagine pippen, jermaine, and sabbis in thier prime on that team? A prime sabbis alone could have been dynasty.
As much as I liked Buckwalter who ultimately drafted Sabonis. He didn't have the bargaining tools to get Sabonis out of Russia. It took Whitsitt. Whitsitt was a very shrew man. Loved that about him.
Had we had sabbis in his prime im convinced we would have at least 1 more championship and hed easily be top 50 players of all time.
If we'd had Sabonis in his prime, we would have had at least two championships. I don't think the Bulls could have beaten us.
DRob and the 1988 US Olympic team could tell you just how good he was. Yeah, he Clyde and Terry would have prob brought at least one home.
That team makes me sad thinking about it. I would love to see that team destroy Miami Lebron or no. Even with Damon who I hated.
The one flaw was a true "go to guy" because it had a bunch of second fiddle players. Pippen, Sheed, and even Smith. They were complimentary stars, but not a Durant or a Kobe etc. If we'd had one real go to guy, I think that team would have easily knocked off the Lakers.
I think when they traded for him, Damon was supposed to be this guy. Whitsitt was dooped just like most of us thinking he was the next Isaiah Thomas. I still remember when Isiah was on Up Close with Roy Firestone and the question was asked to him, if you could start a team with two players who would it be? He said Damon and Shaq. The team and how far it went I believe rested on Damon. And he quit growing as soon as he arrived.
Damon was a great go to guy.... if you gave him the ball and 17 shots a game. He was a volume shooter. He could never produce on a stacked team where he only got like 11-12 shots a game because he was such a horrible shooter. His field goal percentage was trash. His career FG% was 40.6.
Yes, I think they should be noted as being the best blazers team of all time with an asterix by that team. I really feel like that Blazers team got robbed. I'm not saying the NBA is flat out rigged but I do think refs have there way of manipulating games and I don't doubt that Refs may have special relationships with coaches and players. I think if that team had won this thread would read "Was the 1999-2000 team the best of all time?" So with an asterix that might be a tough call. [video=youtube;4UJhQNt0a7Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UJhQNt0a7Q[/video]
The Lakers were the better team in that series until the refs took over in Game 5. The refs helped the Blazers ever as much as they helped the Lakers just to get it back even.
