ImageImage

Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10

Moderators: DeBlazerRiddem, Moonbeam

User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#1 » by Moonbeam » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:22 pm

The list so far is here.

Project Guidelines:

Spoiler:
1. Each thread will be open for 48 hours. After 48 hours have passed, the thread will close if a single player receives a majority of the votes. If not, the top 2-3 candidates will enter a runoff period of 24 hours. During this period, you may switch your vote to one of the reduced list of candidates if you voted for someone else.

2. When making a formal vote, please include the player's name in bold. This helps me keep track. Please include a justification for your choice. It may be brief, but simply writing the name of your choice will not be a counted vote.

3. You may switch your vote, but please emphasize this in bold.

4. Please only consider each player's performance with Portland.

5. We all have our favorites, and we all have our own criteria. I believe the discussion and learning from this project will be more important than the placement of the individual players.

6. Have fun!


Runoff Guidelines:

Spoiler:
If at the end of 48 hours, no single player has more than 50% of the votes cast, the top 2* candidates will enter a runoff vote.

1. Original votes for one of these 2 players still count.

2. Those who voted for one of the candidates outside of the top 2 must cast a vote for one of the top 2 candidates for their votes to count.

3. Those who did not vote in the first 48 hours are still welcome to vote in the runoff.

4. Anyone is welcome to change his/her vote if swayed by the arguments of others.

* If there is a tie, more than 2 candidates may enter the runoff. In this case, please list your preferred order among all of the candidates, and a point system will determine the victor. The points will be allocated as follows (using a 3-player runoff as an example): 3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, 1 point for 3rd place. If votes don't make a preference beyond #1, the remaining candidates will get the average points for the other ranks. If at the end of this process, there is a tie, the winner will be the player with the most preferences in a 1 on 1 comparison.


Who will lock up the last spot in the top 10?
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#2 » by Moonbeam » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:43 pm

Leaning Kersey again here, but open to suggestions about others. We're definitely getting into the main bell of the curve of Portland players at this point, so a lot of candidates seem viable:

Petrie
Wicks
Hollins/Gross/Twardzik?
Mychal Thompson
Calvin Natt?
Jim Paxson
Kiki Vandeweghe
Jerome Kersey
Buck Williams
Kevin Duckworth
Cliff Robinson
Rod Strickland
J.R. Rider?
Scottie Pippen
Zach Randolph?
Wesley Matthews?
Nicolas Batum?
a_sensei
Analyst
Posts: 3,153
And1: 658
Joined: Sep 29, 2005
   

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#3 » by a_sensei » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:54 pm

Mercy, Mercy, Jerome Kersey
The heart and hustle of the greatest Blazers run. 11 seasons as a Blazers. Often amongst the leaders in steals, good rebounder, blocked shots, thunderous momentum building/shifting dunks. Kersey's longevity (2nd most games in franchise history behind Clyde) leads to total numbers that rank high in many categories. At his peak he was consistently going 17/8.5 on a championship contender which aren't Sidney Wicks numbers but are still very good.
Masterfully
Starter
Posts: 2,295
And1: 1,435
Joined: Jun 04, 2015

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#4 » by Masterfully » Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:19 pm

Sticking with Kersey. Long term success. Solid player. Great fashion sense.
zzaj
General Manager
Posts: 8,785
And1: 3,391
Joined: Jul 12, 2006
 

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#5 » by zzaj » Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:45 pm

After some consideration, for me it comes down to Thompson, Petrie, Kiki, Jerome, Paxson or Cliffy at #10.

I think I'm going with Petrie if he wouldn't have gotten hurt he would be much, much higher on this list. Plus he's the "original Trailblazer" and was a massive part of establishing the franchise.
User avatar
PDXKnight
RealGM
Posts: 25,983
And1: 3,029
Joined: May 29, 2007
Location: Portland
   

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#6 » by PDXKnight » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:52 pm

Jerome Kersey gets my vote here. He did the little things to help the Blazers win and he deserves the 10 spot imo. Close second is Buck Williams
Brandon-Clyde
RealGM
Posts: 23,352
And1: 5,788
Joined: May 29, 2008
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#7 » by Brandon-Clyde » Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:20 pm

Jim Paxson- He was a two time all star for Portland, a third team all NBA player, scored over 10,000 points as a Blazer and at one p was the teams all time leading scorer. He was the top player on some good quality teams
There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect." -- Ronald Reagan
Norm2953
RealGM
Posts: 16,312
And1: 2,128
Joined: May 17, 2003
Location: Oregon

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#8 » by Norm2953 » Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:43 am

It would seem to me this is where either JK or Buck fits. I'll go with Buck for the Drexler led
teams did not win until Buck arrived from NJ in a trade involving Sam Bowie.
User avatar
mojomarc
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 16,816
And1: 971
Joined: Jun 01, 2004
Location: Funkytown

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#9 » by mojomarc » Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:27 am

Geoff Petrie. He was the first draft pick the team made, the first all-star and league award winner, he set most of the key scoring records such as points per game, most points in a game, and career scoring averages. No offense to Kersey, but I said it before and will say it again: he's a likeable player who was usually the fourth (and sometimes the fifth) best player on the court during the team's peak with him. He is overrated here. I get the sentimentality, but Petrie, Vandeweghe, Pippen, Buck and Cliff Robinson all deserve votes above him. What's next? Larry Steele at 11 because he was a fan favorite hustle guy role player that got his jersey retired?
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#10 » by Moonbeam » Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:00 am

mojomarc wrote:Geoff Petrie. He was the first draft pick the team made, the first all-star and league award winner, he set most of the key scoring records such as points per game, most points in a game, and career scoring averages. No offense to Kersey, but I said it before and will say it again: he's a likeable player who was usually the fourth (and sometimes the fifth) best player on the court during the team's peak with him. He is overrated here. I get the sentimentality, but Petrie, Vandeweghe, Pippen, Buck and Cliff Robinson all deserve votes above him. What's next? Larry Steele at 11 because he was a fan favorite hustle guy role player that got his jersey retired?


I'm not sure I'd ever put Kersey behind Duckworth (All-Star appearance for Duckworth aside), and I think he's right there with Buck Williams as the 3A/3B of the early 90s contenders. Is that overrating him? It's hard to say, but Kersey always struck me as a guy whose positive contributions weren't captured by stats as well as those of other guys (like Duckworth). +/- data showed him to be a positive impact player even well past his Blazer days as an old reserve. Kersey is my all-time favorite Blazer, and I am certainly as prone as anyone to look at my favorites with rose-tinted glasses, but I think a case can certainly be made for him here.
User avatar
JasonStern
RealGM
Posts: 12,161
And1: 4,245
Joined: Dec 13, 2008
 

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#11 » by JasonStern » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:55 pm

tough call between Paxson and Petrie. I guess I'll vote Jim Paxson as I view the early to mid 80s as a tougher era of basketball than the early 70s.
Image
"Hate all you want. The Bucks will trade Doc Rivers for me."
- Chauncey Billups
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#12 » by Moonbeam » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:43 am

I'm keen to consider Paxson, but I'm a little worried that he could be a bit of an empty stats guy. Those who watched him play, can you comment on his strengths?

From 1981-87, in games he missed, Portland sported an SRS of 3.687 better than when he played. He does have nice accolades, and Portland was a decent team with him as a main (the main?) piece. But those numbers are a little disconcerting.
User avatar
mojomarc
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 16,816
And1: 971
Joined: Jun 01, 2004
Location: Funkytown

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#13 » by mojomarc » Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:46 pm

Moonbeam wrote:I'm keen to consider Paxson, but I'm a little worried that he could be a bit of an empty stats guy. Those who watched him play, can you comment on his strengths?

From 1981-87, in games he missed, Portland sported an SRS of 3.687 better than when he played. He does have nice accolades, and Portland was a decent team with him as a main (the main?) piece. But those numbers are a little disconcerting.


I viewed him as more of an empty stats guy. He was better than Jon, but the delta wasn't good enough for the sort of role he played at the time. He was one of those guys that was very smart, so Ramsay's system made him look better than he was overall. A good player, but not a great one.

And as for Kersey--his stats may have overshadowed his contributions, but they also don't disclose that his lack of BBIQ often caused him to be a prime reason for losses. His performance against Scottie Pippen in 1992, where Pippen just completely destroyed him on both ends, was probably more important to us losing that series than MJ performing better than Clyde.
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#14 » by Moonbeam » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:16 pm

I'll keep my vote for Kersey for now. Everybody has flaws at this point. Kersey is the leading candidate remaining in a lot of legacy stats, and he was an important piece during their successful run of the early 90s.
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#15 » by Moonbeam » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:19 pm

Tally:

Jerome Kersey (4): a_sensei, Masterfully, Oden2, Moonbeam

Geoff Petrie (2): zzaj, mojomarc

Jim Paxson (2): Brandon-Clyde, JasonStern

Buck Williams (1): Norm2953

It's a 3-way runoff with Kersey, Petrie, and Paxson.
User avatar
Moonbeam
Forum Mod - Blazers
Forum Mod - Blazers
Posts: 10,212
And1: 5,060
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
     

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#16 » by Moonbeam » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:21 pm

Anyone can vote in the runoff, whether they voted already or not.

A reminder of the rules for a 3-player runoff:

Please list your preferred order among all of the candidates, and a point system will determine the victor. The points will be allocated as follows (using a 3-player runoff as an example): 3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, 1 point for 3rd place. If votes don't make a preference beyond #1, the remaining candidates will get the average points for the other ranks. If at the end of this process, there is a tie, the winner will be the player with the most preferences in a 1 on 1 comparison.
zzaj
General Manager
Posts: 8,785
And1: 3,391
Joined: Jul 12, 2006
 

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#17 » by zzaj » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:36 pm

1) Petrie
2) Paxson
3) Kersey
Norm2953
RealGM
Posts: 16,312
And1: 2,128
Joined: May 17, 2003
Location: Oregon

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#18 » by Norm2953 » Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:15 pm

I thought I had two votes...

In terms of value to the franchise, I'll vote for Petrie who was the face of the franchise prior to the
Walton led teams and indirectly in a trade with Atlanta, was responsible for Maurice Lucas becoming
a blazer.

2) Paxson nine very solid years in Portland, second team all NBA 1985
3) JK
User avatar
mojomarc
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 16,816
And1: 971
Joined: Jun 01, 2004
Location: Funkytown

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#19 » by mojomarc » Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:11 am

1) Petrie
2) Kersey
3) Paxson
kdawg32086
Forum Mod
Forum Mod
Posts: 10,888
And1: 1,075
Joined: Jun 12, 2004
Location: Clark County, Washington
         

Re: Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #10 

Post#20 » by kdawg32086 » Sat Aug 22, 2015 1:41 am

1) Kersey-->(My rationale: Longevity in his career as a Blazer and a very key player on the great early 90s teams)
2) Petrie
3) Paxson
Image
Thank you triplemke23 for the sig.

Return to Portland Trail Blazers