I've seen this game before. I don't recall how I answered it before, though. I think if I'm spending $5 on a player, it would have to be Lillard due to Walton unfortunately breaking down so soon. Walton was a near-perfect player, though, apart from health. $5 Damian Lillard $3 Rasheed Wallace (bargain, IMO) $3 Kiki Vanderweghe $2 Scottie Pippen (another bargain, even at his Portland level) $1 Nic Batum Wallace is my center, Vanderweghe is my power forward. That should not only be fine, it should work beautifully in today's game. And with such multi-positional defensive stars as Wallace, Pippen and Batum, the defense should be just fine. I have an extra dollar, so maybe I'll bring McCollum off the bench! (Damon Stoudemire has to be the worst value in that table at $3!)
A few fun rankings to give some context of greatness: Blazers WS: 108.7 C Drexler 79.9 D Lillard 79.3 T Porter 69.4 L Aldridge 61.3 R Wallace 59.0 J Kersey 50.4 B Williams 50.0 J Paxson 47.3 A Sabonis 46.8 C Robinson Blazers PER: 22.1 B Walton 21.9 D Lillard 21.3 C Drexler 21.2 A Sabonis 21.2 J Nurkic 20.3 L Aldridge 20.1 B Roy 19.5 Z Randolph 19.3 R Strickland 19.0 B Bates Blazers All-Star Appearances: 8 C Drexler 5 D Lillard 4 L Aldridge 4 S Wicks 3 B Roy 3 M Lucas 2 B Walton 2 R Wallace 2 T Porter 2 J Paxson 2 G Petrie 2 K Duckworth Blazers 50+ Point Games: 10 D Lillard 2 G Petrie 1 D Stoudamire 1 A Miller 1 B Roy 1 C Drexler 1 CJ McCollum Blazers NBA MVP: 1 B Walton
G - Lillard ($5) G - McCollum ($1) G/F - Drexler ($5) F - Grant ($1) F/C - Wallace ($3) Given the Blazers have 3 G.O.A.T.s, it's hard not taking two in this exercise. Here's another option, going Walton w/ the big money: G -McCollum ($1) G - Roy ($4) F - Pippen ($2) F - Wallace ($3) C - Walton ($5) OR G -Porter ($4) G - McCollum ($1) F - Pippen ($2) F - Wallace ($3) C - Walton ($5)
Yeah the only one I struggle with is who the fifth best of all time is. To me the rest are pretty obvious and the order is pretty obvious. Clyde Bill Walton Dame Sheed The fifth spot probably goes to Maurice Lucas but Roy is close, and LMA has a claim to that spot too. My criteria may be different than some of yours. I'm strictly looking at who is the best basketball player. You know, who would I draft out of college with the hindsight of how good they actually were/are in the league. Not stats or who won the most while they were here just who the best baller was and in Dame's case is. If I took into account entire careers instead of just Blazers careers then it would be Sabonis fifth and Pippen as the honorable mention sixth but I was going off of when they were Blazers, who was/is the best player.
I go Dame, Bill, Buck, Geoff, and CJ. Plenty of rebounding, play making, and a team ,Except Williams, that can flat out drain the J.
This was fun, I would do the following: Lillard BRoy Pippen Sheed Pryz All of these guys aside from Pryz could hit the three, and three could switch on defense.
$15 to make it more fun im not even gonna pick damon! PG - Strickland-$2 SG - Roy - $4 SF - Pippen - $2 PF - Sheed - $3 C - Sabas $4
My $15 C - Walton $5 - Best player in team history, bar none. When he was healthy, he was a top 5 all-time NBA Center. PF - Rasheed $3 - Best all-around PF in team history. A hothead, but a smart player who, if teamed with true leaders, could have reigned it in, as he proved with the 2004 Pistons. SF - Pippen $2 - Even if it wasn't the Prime Bulls Scottie, he still had the chops to singlehandedly drag the Lakers to 7 Games in the 2000 WCF. He just ran out of gas. SG - Roy $4 - When 100% healthy, was top 5 all-time in team history and was maybe one of the smartest players ever. As with a lot of other Blazers, injuries ruined his legacy. PG - Hollins $1 - Not the most gifted PG by any stretch, but floor-general'ed a Championship team and was a competent distributor and scorer. Note: if I could have prime-Sonic Shawn Kemp for $0, I would jump at that in a heartbeat.
Interesting, I considered a very similar lineup but when with the stronger back court because in the modern nba centers just don’t seem to have as large of an impact anymore. That said this is a great lineup!
Walton played a lot of "point Center" back before that was even a known thing. His outlet passes after rebounds are legendary. I would expect Hollins (who distributed those outlet passes superbly) and Roy would be near the league lead in 3-point shooting, spotting up before the defenses were even in position.
