40 Best Blazers - Sabonis at #20?!

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/02/blazers_top_40_no_20_arvydas_s.html

I've only been a Blazer fan since the late '90s, so I'm a little biased. But the dilemma for me would've been whether Sabas was top 10 or top 5. #20 is way too low, in my opinion.

And who's above him? Damon Stoudamire? Kevin Duckworth? I know that Duck was a widely adored player and member of the community, but Sabas was the most skilled big man in the NBA for his entire career. And Stoudamire... that one I just don't get at all. Pippen being higher, I guess I can understand, but he was here for such a brief period, I have a hard time agreeing with that.

It's hard to overstate how important he was to those Blazer teams of the late '90s and early '00s.

In my book, Sabas is really only behind guys like Walton, Drexler... maybe a few others.

 

imagine if he hadn't wasted away his best years in Europe also

 

co-sign.

 

Must be a typo.

Supposed to be #2.

Seriously, I give him the edge over Big Bill, and no other Blazer comes anywhere near those two.

 

Karl Malone, Ewing, David Robinson, Mourning, Kemp, Rodman, Duncan, Olajuwon, Shaq, Brand, Garnett, Nowitzki...gotta be at least one in there.

 

Stoudamire at #19, ahead of players like Strickland, Sabonis and Randolph, is crazy.

 

I wish Arvydas would come back just to visit every couple of years. He'd be showered with adulation. He was the team's center of stability.

 

No way Duck should be above Sabonis. Sabonis should be top 15.

 

All-Star and NBA Finals appearances suggest otherwise.

 

Duck > Sabas.

 

well, look who made the fucking list, its Demon Sodamizer's butt buddy, J-Quick.

Quick probably wouldn't be around now if it wasn't for Demon leaking him "juicy tidbits" of bullshit in the late 90s/early 2000s.

 

What are we counting as "skills"? Sabas is above all of those you listed in his passing ability. He was a 7'3" Jason Kidd. I can't think of a center who was his equal, even Vlade Divac. Also, considering his complete lack of vertical, he was an amazing rebounder.

 

I presume here ">" is being used to represent "fatter than".

(Now I feel bad, because Duck's dead. Okay then, if ">" meant "drunker than", it would be the other way round.)

 

Sabonis should be in the top ten.

 

During their NBA career both Hakeem and Duncan showed more skills than Sabas. Sabas might have been great and creative - but let's not forget that both Duncan AND Hakeem averaged more assists per game than Sabas while playing a much longer career, even if you look at per-36 assists, Duncan's best years were better than Sabas's best years in this regard, and Hakeem was only a tenth behind.

I loved watching Sabas, but let's not be crazy here - if Sabas is the Jason Kidd of Centers - Duncan (based on his assist averages) is John Stockton and Hakeem was Big-O.

Things might have been different if we saw Sabas in his prime in the NBA (not to mention that Portland would probably have had 3 or 4 more trophies) - but as it was, you are selling Duncan and the Dream short.

 

Weird how Pippen declined to be interview for his piece. What's the reason for that.

 

I didn't know Stoudamire had become an assistant coach in Memphis. Kind of an odd fit. If I were running that team my first priority would be to replace him with a defensive-minded assistant coach.

 

The Arvydas Sabonis we were allowed to see in a Blazer uniform places him just about right. Now, if he would have come here after we drafted him? He'd be ranked higher than Bill Walton. He was the best center in the world before his leg injuries, hands down. People forget how athletic he was. If you want to see something remarkable, watch the 88 Olympics and see a skinny Sabas outrunning David Robinson down the court.

He was a 7'3" Larry Bird with athleticism.

 

This I agree with. Sabas in his prime would have been the greatest Blazer ever, but instead we got the shell of Arvydas (which was still pretty damn good).

 

Assists aren't the only measure of skills.

Neither Hakeem nor Duncan had Sabas' shooting range (Sabas was a three-point threat for his entire career, neither Hakeem nor Duncan could make shots beyond 15 feet with any regularity). And neither Duncan nor Olajuwan had Sabas' free-throw percentage.

Hakeem and Duncan were both far more athletic than Sabas during Sabas' NBA career, and it's for that reason that I'd ackowledge that both of them were more effective NBA players. But I meant basketball skills - the combination of passing, shooting, rebounding, dribbling, team defense, basketball IQ - Sabas was better than both of those guys, if you ask me.