Walton's feet in 1978. Losing the coin toss and Bowie "lying." Sabas not coming over until he was less amazing. Oden's micro fracture, uneven old man legs, and busted kneecap. Roy's knees. I have to admit ... I'm old enough now not to "care" that much ... except missing out on young Sabas. That would've been fun. With Oden and Bowie, there wasn't much fun to it while they were in Portland. What we missed out on in those drafts? Yes, we know who went next. I don't mind "I told you so" from other Blazers fans. Other fanbases and the media can kick rocks. Okay, so I was thinking of something else they could do, but that's anatomically impractical if not impossible. The other, eventual walking wounded stars brought some great times even if those times didn't last as long as we wanted. I wouldn't have missed it. Bowie lying? Not easy to rationalize to oneself unless the money is "worth it." Still a crappy thing to do. And when he went down, it would get even tougher. He could ball, and I'm glad he had a career post-Blazers.
Dominant or prominent(decent to large part of the offense) centers in our history? Walton- Down with a foot injury Bowie-Down with a knee injury Sabonis-Came to us way to late an bad knees kept him from potential Nurk-Has already broke his leg in a likely top ten most gruesome injuries in the nba. Jury is still out. These players could have been game changers if healthy in their prime. (I include Nurk, because i wonder how in shape he owuld be without all the injury time off. Again, jury still out.) Anyhow, I would say we are the champs of the league when it comes to star potential centers we weren't able to maximize. Now I am sad. Why did i post this? Lol.
If you look at career Win-Share: - S Bowie: 26.9 (8.7 with the Blazers) - G Oden: 7.3 (6.8 with the Blazers) Even though Sam Bowie went on to have a relatively solid career in the NBA, he never measured up to the expectations of a #3 pick. The league expected career win-share for the #3 pick is 52.5. The worst performing draft pick the Blazers ever had was LaRue Martin with a career win-share of 1.9 in 4 seasons. Ugh. What a waste of a #1 pick.
