Some guy at ESPN ranking all teams best five ever: G: Damian Lillard G: Clyde Drexler G: Brandon Roy F: LaMarcus Aldridge C: Bill Walton As with any conversation about Blazers history, their starting five comes with plenty of introspective sighing and deep what-iffing. Injuries to Walton and Roy abbreviated what would've been legendary Portland careers. But at their best versions, Walton was a transcendent big man with unique skills, and Roy was a gifted scorer with a knack for the moment. Drexler is a Hall of Famer who led Portland to its best sustained run of success in franchise history. Aldridge is one of the dominant scoring big men of his era, and Lillard will likely go down as the franchise's all-time best. The Blazers are haunted by history and a compulsion to live in the anguish of what could've been, but there is also a beauty to their all-time five. It represents who they are, and forever, what they might've been. He does it for all teams: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29161857/the-all-starting-five-every-nba-western-conference-team
Honestly, it feels like a relatively obvious starting 5. It is interesting that Lamarcus played with 2 of the other 5, and won one playoff series combined. I could definitely see an argument for putting Sheed in the top 5 in place of either Roy or LA.
Luke's performance the Championship year was outstanding and his stats back it up. He was one of the most feared defenders in the league for a number of years. Plus he could score when needed. He didn't take many shots, and as the Big Red head would say Luke was the glue of that team.
I was thinking the same--the only change I'd probably make is 'Sheed in place of Aldridge. Especially if this squad were playing in today's game. <Walton voice>Launch all day, big fella!</Walton voice>
I love Sabas but the only way you can defend this is if you're talking about pre-NBA, pre-injuries Sabas.
Good point! That way, we can get Jerryd Bayless in there. Oh wait, that's probably cheating--he belongs at point guard, if we're being totally honest.
I always thought he'd fit well on the Blazers as a scoring guard because they had Roy as a play-maker, and he profiled as a potentially good defender. As it worked out, not so much.
If I'm being honest, those were my thoughts as well. I guess every GM, real or imaginary, has their share of failures.
Random thought o' the day: Dame is Reggie Miller. A guy who was in a crowd of more heralded players at his position, was from a big Californian city but remained loyal to a small market franchise and built a reputation with big performances in playoff games.
Yep. I was a big fan of mid 90s Reggie Miller so I rooted for Pacers after Blazers got knocked out. It’s so cool that we have our own Reggie Miller now for the reasons you stated.
