Is Damian Lillard the greatest Portland Trail Blazer of all time?

Yes, I wasn't saying they weren't excellent athletes who couldn't train and learn. I'm saying the team as they were then would get crushed by teams today because teams today have evolved. Without the same evolution, even the best teams of the past wouldn't stand a chance, IMO.

I agree entirely that those players and teams could evolve, given enough time and especially if you replayed their lives as "born in the 1990s" rather than "born in the 1970s," but I was talking about how the games they played then would fail.

And as far as "if you transported teams of today back," you'll notice I was giving both groups of teams their rules...the hand checking of older teams and the zones of current teams. So there's no "send current teams back"...I made it a pretty fair playing field.

 

I do wonder where Roy would have ended up if he had never had the degenerative knee condition. He was sneaky great--he had a reputation for being more crafty finisher than super athletic but, until he began to fade, his athleticism was actually really high level. He was skilled, athletic, had good size, was a play-maker for teammates and wasn't a terrible defender. He was a lot like Clyde Drexler but had a superior shot.

 

Dame player of the week again!

 

He had a very short tenure here, but I would throw Gerald Wallace on the end of that list.

 

He kind of is already on the list--he's part of the Damian Lillard Expanded Universe. The origin story.

 

somebody who had lots of heart, just not the knees was Lloyd Neal. Somebody else who had heart was Brian Grant. Joel Przybilla had more heart than talent, which I guess isn't saying much

 

This is 100% on Neil

 

You know I love Clyde, I have no resentment towards him for choosing his hometown, where he not only grew up but had some real success in college over this organization. That being said, lets not pretend that his wins mean that same as Dame's.

Clyde had a perfect team for that era. He started with a sniper and three bruisers. He had Cliff Robinson and Danny Ainge off of the bench. The guy had a much better team around him than Dame does. It also helps that Clyde's teammates fit his game. Clyde was a huge SG so it didn't matter that his PG was small (still bigger than Dame). His team was filled with hustle guys who all played tough on the boards and finished at the hoop. Dame doesn't have those luxuries.

I do think that someday before the end of his career someone in this organization is going to pull their head out of their ass and put a team around Dame that makes sense and then Dame will do something Clyde couldn't... win a chip.