I really don't know how you can have Aldridge ahead of Roy. Roy's career was short, but he was dominant. Aldridge was his Robin.
Yeah, I'd drop Aldridge off the list and add Roy in the bottom 3 somewhere. He'd be top 3 if he'd stayed healthy longer.
No love for Damon Stoudamire. Perhaps if Stoudamire was a golden boy and never had any legal issues he'd be on the list?
I like Damon, but on those WCF's teams, you didn't even want him in the game in the 4th quarter. Anthony or Pippen were the superior options.
I agree with this. Roy was the #1 over LMA. Dame Drexler Walton Roy Lucas Porter Aldridge Robinson Sheed Sabonis
Fuck Damon. He whined in the WCFs to Jason Quick about his playing time. Worst time to do that shit. He snitched to the press to get his way too.
Aldridge leaving also blew up a core that would have competed in the West and for the NBA championship for as long as he has been gone. He should be left off a best of list for this reason alone.
The first three are easy but the order isn't. I think if Dame wasn't so damn likeable and Clyde hadn't left that it would still be clear for a couple more years... that being said, Walton was our only MVP and led us to our only championship. So I'll side with the trend of the day and go with recency bias: 1. Dame 2. Clyde 3. Walton Now it gets tricky but if we're going to give credit for both playoff success at the head of the team and short term success at the head of the team then my next two by recency bias are: 4. Roy 5. Sheed We're getting into secondary players on teams and how significant they were and I think it gets kind of easy. 6. Lucas 7. Porter 8. Cliffy 9. LaMarcus And then I just get a little sentimental and say: 10. Mercy, Mercy Jerome Kersey
Considering talent and longevity as a Blazer: 1. Damian Lillard 2. Clyde Drexler 3. Bill Walton 4. Rasheed Wallace 5. Brandon Roy 6. LaMarcus Aldridge 7. Clifford Robinson 8. Maurice Lucas 9. Terry Porter 10. Jerome Kersey I wish I could squeeze Scottie Pippen on there, but that's not really possible. I do think it's funny that Scottie Pippen and Rasheed Wallace are probably the two Blazers from history that the current team could most use (aside from the very short-lived prime of Bill Walton, the most perfect player ever to play for the Blazers).
Nurk is right especially when he talks global. When NBA started getting really big exposure worldwide Roy was the number one and many people started supporting Blazers thanks to Roy including me.
No love for the original Blazer, Geoff Petrie. He was a joy to watch. Everyone’s list is either from our great teams or recency biased, no love for Petrie, Mychal Thompson, Jim Paxson or any others who played a key part to keeping the Blazers relevant during non-glory years in days past?
I have Aldridge above Roy. Roy's peak was higher, but it was too brief and the Blazers did nothing when he was at it. At least with Walton, his peak was dominant, winning both a title and MVP.
Jason Quick is a Clown and the entire Blazer Organization knows it. If you would have asked him before this week for this list it would not read the same. The very fact that he put LMA smack dab in the middle at #5 is a play in itself let alone forgetting all about Brandon Roy. If you are making a list based on "Stats" then your list is just that. A statistical list. Here's another name? Brian Grant. You never watched Grant whine or cry on or off the court. I personally disliked what Rasheed Wallace brought with a passion but are you really going to put Aldridge even in the same category? Everything Jason Quick writes or tweets is by design to generate clicks. Nothing! Absolutely nothing he writes is genuine.
I started watching in 1990, so I missed out on seeing Jim Paxson but looking through the franchise leaderboards, he's littered throughout. I think LaMarcus is a lot like Paxson in that sense; he has the career numbers as a Trail Blazer to make in an all-time great, but it sort of stops at that. Neither player had any resemblance of success in the postseason -- Aldridge as the man won a grand total of one playoff series in nine seasons. Aside from the back-to-back 40+ outbursts to start the Houston series, are there any memorable moments? Factoring in the Memphis series and him leaving in Free Agency (yes, that is his right but it counts to me if we're talking BLAZERS legacy), and he's a borderline Top 10 Blazer. My list: 1a - Damian Lillard Best offensive player in team history. Memorable moments galore. Puts on for Rip City like none other. A little more playoff success and this debate is a wrap. 1b - Clyde Drexler Still the Blazers stat GOAT. Best player on the best era. Two-way wing who did it on both ends of the court. Great teammate. Unselfish. 3 - Bill Walton Champ. MVP. It's too bad his peak was cut short, but no Blazer has even come close to reaching Walton's peak in 77-78. 4 - Terry Porter Incredibly underrated league-wide. Clutch playoff performer. Out-performed Stockton in 91+92. Would have THRIVED in this 3-pt era. 5 - Maurice Lucas The Enforcer. Game 2 in Philly. What more can you say about Luke? 6 - Jerome Kersey Warrior. The heart and soul of the best era in franchise history. No one out-worked Kersey and he always showed up in the playoffs. 7 - Rasheed Wallace One of the most dominant teams in our era had no answer for him; spectacular player on both ends of the floor 8 - Brandon Roy Incredible peak; just wish it was longer 9 - Buck Williams There's a reason fans keep hoping another "Buck Williams" trade gets made. Like Lucas, Buck elevated a good team and made it great. 10 - Cliff Robinson Help make Portland cool; every kid wanted to wear a headband like Cliff. Went from 6th Man of the Year to All-Star. Just missed the cut (no order): - LaMarcus Aldridge I think recency bias has him higher in some lists than he really is. Great numbers but not a lot to show for it. Factored in the way he left the team. - Geoff Petrie The OG Blazer, but it's hard to find a spot in the Top 10 when the squad became dominant the moment he got traded for Lucas - Arvydas Sabonis One of the only players on this list to play his entire career in Rip City. Had we won it all in 2000 or had he been able to come to Portland earlier in his career, he's a Mt. Rushmore candidate. - Kevin Duckworth Two-time All-Star. Most Improved in the late 80's. Our gentle giant. - CJ McCollum CJ's close to cracking the Top 10. Soon enough he'll have the statistics to warrant the selection and he's already got more memorable moments than a player like Aldridge. That Denver series, and Game 7 in particular, is the stuff of Blazers legend; I value that extremely high when putting these lists together.
Maybe make a top 10 of "best single Blazer seasons." Roy would make that. And of course, Walton would be #1 (and maybe #2 as well).
