Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #8 (Sabonis/Lillard/Cliffy runoff)

[rasta_marley]

For like the 4th vote in a row now .... Sabonis!!! He was the most skilled big man the Blazers ever had, including Bill Walton.

lol

This is a hard one for me, however I think I will jump on the Sabonis bandwagon , I used to love watching him play when I was a kid and while Sheed was my favorite player Sabonis (even with the bad knees) really was a fantastic and very skilled big man.

vote: Sabonis

[Moonbeam]

of course total win share isn't going to favor Lillard - he has only played 3 seasons. nobody held that against Walton.

I was prepared to vote for others ahead of Walton.

In any case, Lillard isn't one of the top 10 remaining in WS/48 either. I still think he's worth considering at this point. I'm almost tempted to vote for him. Another candidate I'd be extremely tempted to support is my all-time favorite Blazer, Jerome Kersey. Buck Williams and Kevin Duckworth are on my mind as well.

But I'm voting for Arvydas Sabonis. Even as he was a shell of himself when he came over physically, he still had a deadly combination of toughness, elite skill and brilliant passing. His profile in advanced statistics is outstanding, and while it's fair to knock him for playing fewer MPG, he still has done enough for me to give him the nod here.

[Moonbeam]

Tally:

Arvydas Sabonis (7): mojomarc, Agenda42, a_sensei, DaVoiceMaster, Norm2953, rasta_marley, Moonbeam

Damian Lillard (2): Oden2, JasonStern

Cliff Robinson (2): Masterfully, kdawg32086

Rod Strickland (1): zzaj

Jerome Kersey (1): DavidSterned

Jim Paxson (1): Brandon-Clyde

There is no clear majority (Sabas is very close), so we now enter a runoff between Sabonis, Lillard, and Robinson.

A reminder of the runoff rules for 3 players:

1. Original votes for one of these 3 players still count.

2. Those who voted for one of the candidates outside of the top 3 must cast a vote for one of the top 3 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.

5. As there are 3 candidates, 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.

[Masterfully]

If you look at the top 10 Blazer seasons ever for WS/48 you will find Drexler, Walton, Roy, Porter and someone else. Sabonis appears not once, but twice in the top 10. For that reason I'll switch from Robinson to Sabonis.

[zzaj]

Sabonis

After a few days to think it over, I feel better about Sabonis at #8 than I did originally...he was a great, incredibly smart player who knew how to play exactly to his strengths. Also, he gave me a high-five at Camera World one time...

[Brandon-Clyde]

For the runoff -
1) Arvydis Sabonis-An extraordinary talent he could do practically anything on the court

2) Damian Lillard Accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. I expect before his career is over he will move higher in the standings

3) Cliff Robinson- Good defender and scorer

[rasta_marley]

1:) Sabonis
2:) cliff

I personally feel like lilard shouldn't be considered yet, not till later in his career or he retires (in which case he probably will be high up there) so I only have 2 listed.

[The Sebastian Express]

Sabonis for now. Lillard will obviously skyrocket up this list in the future.

[Wizenheimer]

Sabonis. Reasons have already been posted

[PDXKnight]

If somebody has a 5 vote edge in a 20 post thread is a run off really necessary?

[Norm2953]

I'll keep voting for Sabas until he gets in.

[Moonbeam]

1. Sabonis

2. Lillard
3. Cliffy

Cliffy's struggles in the playoffs were mighty, year in and year out. I normally give an edge to longevity, but I think his struggles are a big part of why Portland was stuck in the 1st round for so many years.

[Moonbeam]

Final scores:

Arvydas Sabonis: 40.5

Spoiler:

3 pts:

mojomarc
Agenda42
a_sensei
DaVoiceMaster
Norm2953
rasta_marley
Moonbeam
Masterfully
zzaj
Brandon-Clyde
TSE
Wizenheimer

1.5 points:

Oden2
JasonStern
kdawg32086

Damian Lillard: 25.5 points

Spoiler:

3 points:

Oden2
JasonStern

2 points:

Moonbeam
Brandon-Clyde

1.5 points:

mojomarc
Agenda42
a_sensei
DaVoiceMaster
Norm2953
kdawg32086
zzaj
TSE
Wizenheimer

1 point:

rasta_marley
Masterfully

Cliff Robinson: 24 points

Spoiler:

3 points:

kdawg32086

2 points:

Masterfully
rasta_marley

1.5 points:

mojomarc
Agenda42
a_sensei
DaVoiceMaster
Norm2953
Oden2
JasonStern
zzaj
TSE
Wizenheimer

1 point:

Moonbeam
Brandon-Clyde

And the #8 slot goes to Arvydas Sabonis!

[Jstock12]

And the #8 slot goes to Arvydas Sabonis!

Half-court shot of approval by Sabas

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNgG9aJMPw[/youtube]