Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #3: Brandon Roy vs. Maurice Lucas runoff

Norm2953 · Post #41 » by **Norm2953** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:12 am

That was a different era of ball with the hand check but it's likely the team wouldn't have
the depth with the extra round in the playoffs and were fortunate to win in the first
round with the best 2/3 format. As I stated before, that team would have been unbeatable
with Moses Malone/Lucas and Bill Walton as our bigs.

I voted for Sabas but would have no problem with Terry Porter as #3 for he played 9 solid
seasons for Portland.

Post #42 » by **Moonbeam** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:18 am

Wizenheimer wrote:McGinnis was probably overrated. IIRC, most people would have considered him the better PF prior to the series, but not after. Remember, Lucas was only in his 3rd pro season and 1st in the NBA

Yeah, some guys had trouble transitioning to the NBA from the ABA, and McGinnis seems like one of those guys, where Lucas was clearly not. For what it's worth, McGinnis has a career Score+ of -0.656, so for all of his volume, he was scoring at below league average efficiency for the most part. Not sure how valuable that is unless you're an LMA-type.

Effigy · Post #43 » by **Effigy** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:19 am

If LaMarcus re-signed I feel like he's be a pretty unanimous 3rd. And he is my choice. 4 time all star, at or near the top in most Blazer stats, not a head case, didn't have a shortened career.

Post #44 » by **Moonbeam** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:27 am

Effigy wrote:If LaMarcus re-signed I feel like he's be a pretty unanimous 3rd. And he is my choice. 4 time all star, at or near the top in most Blazer stats, not a head case, didn't have a shortened career.

Sure, there may be a bit of backlash, but I will definitely be voting for LMA soon. I think Porter's edge in playoff performance puts him in front of LMA for me. It's a tough call with the named players plus Sheed for me.

TheEnforcer20 · Post #45 » by **TheEnforcer20** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:43 pm

Maurice Lucas He was the model for the power forward position for 20 years. Great rebounder, nice mid-range touch and was not going to back down from anyone (see Daryl Dawkins and Artis Gilmore). Maurice Lucas was Karl Malone 15 years earlier, not the scorer obviously that Malone was, but similar bodies, mid-range game and had no trouble mixing it up on the inside. Filled in for Walton at center when he was injured and held his own with the best the NBA had to offer. Class act, never heard a bad word said about him by any teammate. Lucas did the dirty work, banging on the boards and watching Walton's back.

zzaj · Post #46 » by **zzaj** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:34 pm

Brandon Roy

So far I've not put much stock in long-term stats and at #3 I'm continuing that trend. With Walton, Clyde and now Roy I've stuck to the "Face of the Franchise", best player on very good team types...and Roy was just that. I do think that had the Blazer run with this last team with LMA been longer and he continued to play like he did against Houston, that he could have been #3. I also believe that, depending on how the team fares, in 7-8 years Damian Lillard could be #3...if the Blazers win a championship in that time I'd even move him up to #2.

HoopsFanAZ · Post #47 » by **HoopsFanAZ** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:43 pm

Maurice Lucas

He told Walton they were there to win the championship.
Scoring. Rebounding. Set the tone. Unyielding. The rock upon whom a championship was built.

rasta_marley · Post #48 » by **rasta_marley** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:45 pm

Vote: BRoy

I am (was) such a big Roy fan I have to put him here, I won't say much as many people have already said what needed to be said. I will say that if his knees hadn't gone bad who knows. With a injured Roy we went 2-2 against the mavs that won the championship. No other team except the heat did as well as we did against the mavs. What if we had had a 100% healthy Roy? Could we have beat them? Maybe not with Nate (aka mr. potatoe head) as our coach. I guess that I am trying to say if Roy had stayed around he would have easily become a top 3 player in the league, and who knows what he may have led us to (championship?). I will stop with the what if scenarios but I have to go Roy, even if I understand why some people may not agree with my choice.

JasonStern · Post #49 » by **JasonStern** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:09 pm

vote: Brandon Roy

pretty good write up on just how good he was: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-090305

but it's more than that. it's also the fact that he took the worst team in the league coming off an ugly JailBlazers era and made you proud to be a Blazers fan again. that's worth considerably more than being Drexler or Walton's sidekick.

HoopsFanAZ · Post #50 » by **HoopsFanAZ** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:06 pm

Walton during 1976-77 season: 65 games / 18.6 pts / 14.4 rebs / 3.2 blk / 3.8 asst / 34.8 minutes avg.
Lucas during 1976-77 season: 79 games / 20.2 pts / 11.4 rebs / 0.7 blk / 2.9 asst / 36.2 minutes avg.

So, yes. Walton was the best player and one of the 50 best ever in the NBA.
His sidekick was the leading scorer, 2nd in rebounds (3rd was not close), played the most minutes on the team and was the enforcer … among other things.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/1977.html

JasonStern · Post #51 » by **JasonStern** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:16 am

HoopsFanAZ wrote:Walton during 1976-77 season: 65 games / 18.6 pts / 14.4 rebs / 3.2 blk / 3.8 asst / 34.8 minutes avg.
Lucas during 1976-77 season: 79 games / 20.2 pts / 11.4 rebs / 0.7 blk / 2.9 asst / 36.2 minutes avg.

So, yes. Walton was the best player and one of the 50 best ever in the NBA.
His sidekick was the leading scorer, 2nd in rebounds (3rd was not close), played the most minutes on the team and was the enforcer … among other things.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/1977.html

and yet not a single vote for him being the greatest Blazer ever.

Brandon-Clyde · Post #52 » by **Brandon-Clyde** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:05 am

Rasheed Wallace- the best player on a championship contending team(twice making the WCF)

Post #53 » by **Moonbeam** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:06 am

Vote: Terry Porter

Other Blazers may have peaked higher (Roy, Lucas perhaps), but Porter was a worthy All-Star himself who I felt was underrated on those late 80s/early 90s Blazer teams. Great shooter and a very good scorer, he was halfway between the traditional PG and the score-first PGs we have today, and he did it brilliantly for a long time. His playoff resume is pretty impressive, too. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's second in Win Shares and VORP - I think he's clearly the 2nd best guy of what I think of as the strongest (most sustainably strong, anyway) era of Blazer basketball.

I'm a big fan of him playing 77+ games in each of his first 9 seasons, as well. A consistently reliable source of very good/excellent play over a long period of time who raised his game in the playoffs? That's the kind of guy I value a lot.

Post #54 » by **Moonbeam** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:16 am

As anticipated, this was a widely contested choice! There is no clear 2nd candidate for a runoff with Brandon Roy.

The candidates are currently reduced to Roy, Lucas, and Porter. Anyone may switch their vote to one of these 3 candidates. The next vote for either Lucas or Porter will eliminate the other and set up a runoff with Roy.

Votes:

Brandon Roy (9): d-train, Wizenheimer, mojomarc, Agenda42, jeffhardyfan52, Capn'O, zzaj, rasta_marley, JasonStern

Maurice Lucas (6): Oden2, Run PDX, kdawg32086, Soulyss, TheEnforcer20, HoopsFanAZ

Terry Porter (6): Masterfully, DavidSterned, Quotatious, a_sensei, DaVoiceMaster, Moonbeam

Arvydas Sabonis (1): Norm2953

Scottie Pippen (1): PDX MM

LaMarcus Aldridge (1): Effigy

Rasheed Wallace (1): Brandon-Clyde

JasonStern · Post #55 » by **JasonStern** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:58 am

Moonbeam wrote:As anticipated, this was a widely contested choice! There is no clear 2nd candidate for a runoff with Brandon Roy.

The candidates are currently reduced to Roy, Lucas, and Porter. Anyone may switch their vote to one of these 3 candidates. The next vote for either Lucas or Porter will eliminate the other and set up a runoff with Roy.

Votes:

Brandon Roy (9): d-train, Wizenheimer, mojomarc, Agenda42, jeffhardyfan52, Capn'O, zzaj, rasta_marley, JasonStern

Maurice Lucas (6): Oden2, Run PDX, kdawg32086, Soulyss, TheEnforcer20, HoopsFanAZ

Terry Porter (6): Masterfully, DavidSterned, Quotatious, a_sensei, DaVoiceMaster, Moonbeam

Arvydas Sabonis (1): Norm2953

Scottie Pippen (1): PDX MM

LaMarcus Aldridge (1): Effigy

Rasheed Wallace (1): Brandon-Clyde

it would take every single person to unanimously choose Porter or Lucas over Roy. and even if they did, Roy would still find a way to pull it off late in the 4th. 8-)

that said, the vote for 4th got real interesting...

Post #56 » by **Moonbeam** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:34 am

JasonStern wrote:
Moonbeam wrote:As anticipated, this was a widely contested choice! There is no clear 2nd candidate for a runoff with Brandon Roy.

The candidates are currently reduced to Roy, Lucas, and Porter. Anyone may switch their vote to one of these 3 candidates. The next vote for either Lucas or Porter will eliminate the other and set up a runoff with Roy.

Votes:

Brandon Roy (9): d-train, Wizenheimer, mojomarc, Agenda42, jeffhardyfan52, Capn'O, zzaj, rasta_marley, JasonStern

Maurice Lucas (6): Oden2, Run PDX, kdawg32086, Soulyss, TheEnforcer20, HoopsFanAZ

Terry Porter (6): Masterfully, DavidSterned, Quotatious, a_sensei, DaVoiceMaster, Moonbeam

Arvydas Sabonis (1): Norm2953

Scottie Pippen (1): PDX MM

LaMarcus Aldridge (1): Effigy

Rasheed Wallace (1): Brandon-Clyde

it would take every single person to unanimously choose Porter or Lucas over Roy. and even if they did, Roy would still find a way to pull it off late in the 4th.

that said, the vote for 4th got real interesting...

Not necessarily. Roy got 9 of the 25 votes. Also, someone who hasn't voted can still cast a vote in the runoff.

Masterfully · Post #57 » by **Masterfully** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:44 pm

I will switch my vote from Porter to Brandon Roy. I don't care for the "if not for injury" argument, I'd rather stick with what was actually accomplished. However, Roy's best season was far better than the best season of Lucas or Porter. He was a top 10 player in the world at his best, neither of the other candidiates can claim that. And the whole dug Portland out of the ashes and saved the franchise storyline is undeniable.

Post #58 » by **Moonbeam** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:47 pm

With Masterfully changing his vote, this has become a runoff between Brandon Roy and Maurice Lucas.

Anyone can vote for one of these two players, whether they voted for another candidate previously or not.

PDXKnight · Post #59 » by **PDXKnight** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:01 pm

I voted Lucas in the first thread and I'm sticking to it. Lucas was essential to the 77 run, no Lucas no title more than likely so I have to stay with him.

Masterfully · Post #60 » by **Masterfully** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:32 pm

Moonbeam wrote:With Masterfully changing his vote, this has become a runoff between Brandon Roy and Maurice Lucas.

Anyone can vote for one of these two players, whether they voted for another candidate previously or not.

Whoops I thought the run off was already started when I switched.