PG - Damian Lillard, Terry Porter Dame's been my favorite current Trail Blazer the moment we drafted him and Porter is one of my Top 5 Blazers All-Time, so this was the toughest one to pick. But Lillard's thrill for the dramatic and that shot he hit against Houston give him the edge in my eyes. SG - Clyde Drexler, Drazen Petrovic Drexler and the early 90's Blazers are the reason I'm the Blazermaniac I am today. Easy choice. I still can't believe we dealt Petro ... After reading "The Long, Hot Winter", it was clear a lot of the players knew that wasn't a smart move, either. SF - Jerome Kersey, Travis Outlaw Mercy, Mercy Jerome Kersey. The meanest finisher on the break Rip City has ever seen. Man, how he could finish. I loved everything about his game: the heart, the hustle, the highlights. Trav is a sentimental pick for me as I got to meet him during my first year as a STH and he was the nicest guy around ... then he hit the shot in Memphis to start the streak and then he did it again in ATL later on the year. He was clutch and I loved that. I'll also never forget that poster he had on Rodney Carney of the Sixers to extend the winning streak to 13 games back in 07-08. PF - Rasheed Wallace, Buck Williams You either loved Sheed or you hated him ... I loved the guy. I loved his dominance in the post during the 99-01 seasons. I loved his 'Fuck You' attitude. He was so nice on defense, such an underrated defender. In a word, Sheed was just RAW. Buck was the missing piece to the puzzle. If it weren't for Buck, maybe the Blazers aren't elite during the early 90's and we don't have those glory years to reminisce about? Watching him do yeoman's work on Karl Malone in the playoffs year after year was a beautiful sight to behold. C - Kevin Duckworth, Arvydas Sabonis Can you tell I love the early 90's Blazers or what? Also, Duck was a sensitive player and I felt like received too much of the blame whenever things went wrong and that negatively impacted his game. Watching Porter and Duck work the pick and pop was awesome. Just a great guy who, like Kersey, was gone too soon. Imagine if we had Sabas in his prime? That's the bigger question than Bowie over Jordan, in my opinion. Regardless, what we got out of Sabonis, I admired. Arguably the greatest passing big of all-time. He was a magician with the ball in his gigantic hands. Wild Cards (2 - To fill out a 12-man roster) PF - Cliff Robinson, PF - Brian Grant Uncle Cliffy. Need I say more? And who didn't love the Rasta Monsta? BG was the heart of those great late 90's Blazers teams and I'll never forget his matchup with the Mailman during the 99 playoffs. While we never won a ring since I started following the team in 1990, one thing that brings me joy is how well we kicked The Mailman's ass each year in the playoffs. Whether it was Buck or BG, we came out victorious! I would have loved to have added members of the 77 team to my list, but I was eight years from being born when they won it all, so a lot of the sentimental value that comes with favorites is by watching them live, which was impossible for me.
I like players who surprisingly bail us out for half a season when we have a bad team. I listed 4 per position except SF. C Rick Roberson Juwan Howard J.J. Hickson Shawn Kemp PF Sidney Wicks Rasheed Wallace Zach Randolph Gerald Wallace SF Calvin Natt Ruben Patterson Bonzi Wells Darius Miles Хряпа Віктор Ime Udoka SG J.R. Rider Rudy Fernandez James Jones Juan Dixon PG Kelvin Ransey Sergio Rodriguez Rick Adelman Dan Dickau
Hipster top 5: 1- Rick Brunson 2- James "Hollywood" Robinson 3- Dontonio Wingfield 4- Gary Trent 5- Ruben Bomtje-Bomtje
I know. They were on my short list. I may actually buy a Gary Trent jersey. There's one for sale, but kinda pricy.
Lillard Roy- would put Clyde in here but im still mad at him Gerald Wallace - one of my favorite NBA players to ever watch play. You never knew what was going to do but you knew he would go all out doing it LMA Sabonis - all time favorite blazer but LMA will take that spot eventually if he resigns.
Sergio Rodriguez Rudy Fernandez Nicolas Batum Victor Khryapa Arvydas Sabonis* *I actually mean this one.
Oh, I just got it. Duh. But to be fair, there's some Chicago Bulls fan who could list Drexler and Aldridge on theirs.
Now do one featuring players we actually drafted, but who never played for us. (The Bucks would have Nowitzki, which is why I can't begrudge them Antetokounmpo now.) Okay, Moses Malone would already be one of those....
I'm sure every franchise has their share of woulda/coulda/shoulda's. That doesn't make ours any less painful.
