Agree on Clyde. What did Roy ever win? Lillard hero ball doesn't win titles. See Jrue sweeping him. Walton peak was MVP - far better than any other Blazer.
Exactly. It seems like a lot of fans here think it should be a list of Blazers career point scorers. I'm not sure Dame is even top5 for Blazer PGs if I'm building a contender. If I need a player to take one shot on his own Dames at the top of the list. That's totally different question than who could be most effective on a team of 5 stars sharing one basketball. Jrue Porter Pippen Rod Strickland Andre Miller Dame's by far the worst defender of all of these guys. All but Andre are good 3 pt shooters that provide plenty of floor spacing. Andre was amazing PG passing at his peak. The Olshey rosters were built to feature Dame, not win basketball games. Pair Dame with a dominant title wimning MVP and he didn't win anything.
Rasheeds shooting and defense make him pretty hard to leave off. Roy and Dame are two of the easiest to leave off if the goal is 5 great players winning. If the goal is 1 on 5 hero ball they should join Melo at the top of the list.
I guess Im not clear on the ask for this. Best Blazers/starting five all time but dont have to be actual Blazers during prime (clear as mud) so how about Moses Malone? Was he a Blazer for a minute?
it wasn't specified. Personally, I think we should be basing this off of Players as Blazers. Not Pippen in Chicago, or Melo in Denver, or Kemp in Seattle
"players in their prime regardless of whether they played in their prime as Blazer" Original post is pretty clear this applies to their career outside of Portland. But thats a bizzare list. Sabas might legit have an argument over Walton if we go by that with him getting the Olympic gold dominating David Robinson in 1988.
OK. Assuming in their prime: SF: Pippen. No argument, He's a HOFer PF: Buck and Luke were great defenders, leaders, teammates but not great offensive players. When his head was in the game, no one could dominate like Sheed. He gets my nod. C: Between Sabas in his prime and Walton in his prime, going with Walton. He did win a title. Also, he won't hesitate to bash in Sheed's head if necessary. PG: Dame. No, he isn't a great defender but will be surrounded by them. If there are two seconds on the clock and Blazers must have a basket, no one I trust more than Dame. Add in arguably most loved Blazer if not ever at least in generation and he is a great ambassador for the city. What price tag do you put on love? SG: Clyde. Again, obvious choice. 6th man: Cliffy could shoot & defend but not clutch. BRoy not great defender. Kersey had heart & hustle but not a scorer. Thought of Danny Ainge; in a team of nice guys could use a thug. But settled on Petrie. Coach: Dr. Jack GM: KP Schonz behind the microphone
I question the Walton thing. We don't know how good Sab would have been in his prime, but many i think would say its probable he would have been better than prime Walton.
If we're talking about peak I don't see how anyone approaches Walton. He did it for such a short time that I never consider him the Blazers best player. But for one moment at his peak he was arguable better than Jordan or LeBron. Walton was the NBA finals MVP, led the Blazers to by far be the best team in the NBA, won the regular season MVP. In college he had an 88 game win streak with back to back 30-0 national championship seasons. I don't see how Sabonis could really exceed being the best player in the NBA. He could maybe match it, but would be really hard to exceed it.
What did Roy ever win, meaning as a team? That doesn’t leave a lot of blazer options. He was ROY and annual all star and would have remained that way. Also I think winning titles is massively overrated when evaluating individuals. Like I don’t get it at all. I’ll gladly take Karl Malone Stockton and Barkley thank you very much. So I’ll stick with my five of Lillard (won nothing), Roy (nothing) Clyde Lucas and Walton.
Walton was a phenomenal passer. Not a weakness at all of his game. He was certainly more mobile and a better defender. Don't get me wrong Sabonis was a monster. But we don't have a track record of him at his peak against elite completion like we do with Walton. We only have a couple games.
Roy only playoffs he was healthy the team had HCA and handily lost the series to Houston. Then Roy was injured against Phoenix and had his retirement party against Dallas. The team never won anything significant with him. I'm not a title or bust fan - but never competing in a playoff series is different than titles. Dame, Rasheed, LMA, Pippen, CJ, Porter, Lucas etc all played well in playoff series.
I honestly feel like Brandon Roy is the most overrated player in all of Blazers history. Yes, he was a very good player, but he only played six seasons and really only 4 where he didn't miss significant time with injury. Which one is Roy and who is the second player: Player A: 22.6 ppg, 5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 1 steal off 48% from the field and 37% from three in 78 games. Blazer B: 22 ppg, 4.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 1 steal off 45% from the field and 38% from three in 70 games.
I think Roy was one of the top 2-3 most skilled Blazers ever. He was unstoppable at his best. If his career goes 10 years, he’s a 8 or 9 time all star with multiple all nbas. His teams would have gotten deeper into playoffs eventually. He and Lillard are the only guys opponents have “feared” in the last fifteen years or so.
Assuming they're healthy, of course: Lillard Roy Drexler Aldridge Oden (in his very short prime, he was a monster)
