Juan Dixon and the words underrated/underappreciated should never be uttered in the same week. He's up there with that phony waste of a roster spot Derek Anderson.
Not really. Closest thing i could think of was dale davis. People hated on him so much because of jermaine o'neal, but dude was very solid and coming off an all star appearance when we traded for him.
Showing my age here, but I nominate Rick Adelman. The guy was a good point guard on a mediocre expansion team and brought solid leadership and maturity to a group of journeymen who had never played together before. Rick is, and always has been a class act.
Sam Bowie. He was pretty good, but Blazers fans couldn't get over the tarnish of picking him ahead of MJ, and his injuries.
Over 19 playoff games in our one and only Championship season (76-77) he averaged over 16 points a game, shooting 59% and 90% from the line. He was runner up to Walton as Finals MVP! The next season he made the NBA All Defensive team Underrated Blazer of all time is #30, SF Bobby Gross
Crabbe. Jk. Or am I? It's Lillard. Just go back to this very board when he struggled earlier this season. Disgraceful, ingrate behavior from some.
Who just happens to be my favorite Blazer of all time. I agree with you on Bobby Gross being under rated, and often overlooked. His performance in that championship game was MVP as far as I'm concerned.
I agree that Bobby Gross is largely ignored by current Blazer fans, and is pretty much unknown around the league, but can a role player who has his number retired and hanging from the rafters really be considered underrated? I was there the night they raised the banner for Bobby Gross and Terry Porter. BNM
I agree with Bobby Gross, and I also vote for Jim Paxson. He was a mutliple time All Star, but would elicit a head scratch from Blazer fans today if you mentioned his name.
I take it you're joking but I was going to say him in all seriousness. He has gone on to prove his worth for CSKA Moscow, which was, when he was at his peak, one of the top 3 teams outside the NBA. Plus he got us Aldridge, which I know counts for a lot less now, but still. (Was Khryapa good? Not very. But a lot better than the joke most people think of him as.)
Buck Williams? Hard to be underrated when you're the #1 pick in the draft and an all-star, but that was as a Net, and, like Bosh with the Heat, he was prepared to sublimate his stats for the good of the whole and turned a good team into a great one.
We only had him for half a season, but in that time we went 9-1 with him starting. Broke my heart that he was part of the trade for Stoudamire. He went on to become something of a legend for the Raptors.
I just want to throw out that Rod Strickland was a giant tool. Huge asshole. I was glad we got rid of him. I met Rod on two separate occasions and he was a jerk both times. The first time, my middle school won some contest to have a Blazer come visit and that Blazer was Rod. He acted like a dick the whole time. He pouted and acted like he didn't want to be there. This was 23 years ago and I still remember it clearly. The second time was at a basketball day camp at Lewis and Clark, and he wasn't the only player there, but again he acted like a diva the whole time. Total douche. I hated that guy. Huge ego, total diva, and really not that good.
