I always asked myself why the Raptors traded Damon Stoudamire. Coming out of Arizona, there was so much hype about him. He was well on his way to becoming an all-star. But once he arrived to Portland, it seems like he wasn't the same as when he was a Raptor. And now, he's just another player. Does anyone think Damon Stoudamire could have been a great player but never lived up to the expectations?
Damon Stoudamire was still a solid player with Portland. The Trailblazers were always getting deep into the playoffs but the Lakers were a barrier they could not get past. His role did decrease and he was no longer the 20 points 10 assists guy he was on Toronto but he still played a vital role lhelping to lead them to a couple of WCF appereances. Sure, he would probabely have been a perennial all-star had he stayed with Toronto, but it's not as though Stoudamire was a scrub on the old 'Jailblazers'.
Damon Stoudamire wasnt a bad player, he has always been a good hustle player and was a key part in the grizzlies making the playoffs, but with the raptors he was a young high draft pick on an expansion team so he could play all out. He had some good seasons in portland but there they had guys like Scottie Pippen and Rasheed Wallace as the coming attractions, and it showed him as the player he was, a good pg nothing more nothing less. I wouldnt call him a bust at all, he helped several teams and had a mildly succesful career compared to alot of nba players. Perennial Starter is a good word to describe the type of player he was.
I don't mean when he was a Raptor, I mean after the Raptor days, when he was a Blazer and now a Grizzly. His role in Portland and Memphis were/are limited but he is still found a way to be productive.
When Stoudamire went to Portland, he got caught up in all the drama, being around Wallace and Wells. That Blazers team would always get in trouble, and I think that's one thing that slowed Stoudamire down in Portland.PrimeTime, Stoudamire was not the key to the Grizzlies playoff run in '05-'06, seeing he only played the 1st 27 games that season, and sat out the rest with a bad injury. However, those 27 games, Stoudamire came up big for the Grizzlies in a lot of clutch situations. Stoudamire has the talent, but he's just been held back by injuries and off the court issues.
I've always liked Damon Stoudamire as a player. I don't think I would consider him a bust. I would consider him a bit of an idiot off the court when he was younger and I'd consider him injury prone (now), but not necessarily a bust.This thread made me think of watching him go for 50 while he was a Blazer, maybe 3-4 years ago. I watched that one, he just started raining 3's like there was no tomorrow.
When it comes to Damon Stoudamire, the only thing that busted was his knee back in the beginning of the 2005-2006 season. He was a very solid PG for the blazers and probably should have won an NBA Championship with them had they not blown a big lead in game 7 of the 1999-2000 WCF.
I agree with what CB32 and Grizzfan said, he just had off the court issues and the talent in Portland was better than the talent in Toronto, so of course his production went down. In Memphis, he really came in and was more of a 3point shooter/distributer. He still gets guys open(leading the griz in assists last season btw).It just amazes me the guy is 5'10 and averaged 20 and 9 as a rookie...thats AI like. He really is a good guy though, im so proud of him staying in Memphis with the youth movement. Many vets would ask for a buyout so go to another team but he says hes staying put cause he made a commitment in Memphis and he plans on getting guys like Conley and Lowry ready for the NBA.
Damon put up some very good numbers and earned his huge contract. However, when he went to Portland he got caught up witht he wrong crowd. He could have been a better player, butI wouldnt label him a bust, rather a good NBA player.
Not a bust, but not a star unless he's a guy carrying a losing team and putting up stats that way.</p> </p> Most guys would be better off with reduced rolls and stats and more winning, and Damon was no exception. But convincing players of that is tough to do... they might just get mad and smoke weed instead.</p>
He got caught up in an unfortunate situation IE Steve Francis IMO. Reputation and team strife ended up taking a toll on his production oncourt, so he didn't match the success he had in Vancouver. Even still, he had a nice career, I'd say it was a slightly worse than Billups situation. He didn't become a franchise player, but he was a nice presence at guard on a veteran team that went deep a couple times.
