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Lots of players got votes at #3. I expect another hotly contested fight for #4!

Terry Porter

Porter was the 2nd best player on the early 90's team that made it to WC finals 3x and NBA championship 2x. Porter wasn't a franchise player but he was a great player on a great team and half one of the all-time best backcourts. Rasheed, Lucas, and Pippen get some consideration but Porter is easily the best choice.

dtrain said most of my points. I'd also add that those amazing teams were not exactly the most mature teams. Terry Porter was the one moving around to keep an even keel. Almost a coach on the floor.

I have seen how some people don't like stats used in this discussion, so I won't bring up all the stats Terry has except one. Win shares to me is the best measuring stick for a player's contributions to his team. Terry has 79.3 regular season WS and 10.3 playoff WS. You won't find another candidate that touches that. For perspective, if you add up every player that played for Portland during Aldridge's 9 years you get a total of 12 playoff WS.

Masterfully wrote:dtrain said most of my points. I'd also add that those amazing teams were not exactly the most mature teams. Terry Porter was the one moving around keep an even keel. Almost a coach on the floor.

I have seen how some people don't like stats used in this discussion, so I won't bring up all the stats Terry has except one. Win shares to me is the best measuring stick for a player's contributions to his team. Terry has 79.3 regular season WS and 10.3 playoff WS. You won't find another candidate that touches that.

Don't be shy to discuss stats! I'm a bit of a stats nerd, so I appreciate any statistical comparisons you'd like to make.

Moonbeam wrote:

Masterfully wrote:dtrain said most of my points. I'd also add that those amazing teams were not exactly the most mature teams. Terry Porter was the one moving around keep an even keel. Almost a coach on the floor.

I have seen how some people don't like stats used in this discussion, so I won't bring up all the stats Terry has except one. Win shares to me is the best measuring stick for a player's contributions to his team. Terry has 79.3 regular season WS and 10.3 playoff WS. You won't find another candidate that touches that.

Don't be shy to discuss stats! I'm a bit of a stats nerd, so I appreciate any statistical comparisons you'd like to make.

Yeah but for some it appears to be a mark against the candidate. They adopt a "oh a bunch of stats is all you got?" stance. It's probably because we Portlanders love an underdog.

I like stats because it's just raw data without any emotions to complicate things.

this is where I will go with the currently unpopular, but correct, choice and vote LaMarcus Aldridge.

seasons with Portland:
Porter 10
Aldridge 9
Lucas 3.5

playoff series wins as #1 option
Aldridge 1
Porter 0
Lucas 0

All-Star Appearances With Portland
Aldridge 4
Lucas 3
Porter 2

2nd Team All-NBA Appearances With Portland
Aldridge 1
Lucas 1
Porter 0

All-NBA Third Team Apperances With Portland
Aldridge 3
Lucas 0
Porter 0

NBA All-Rookie Appearances With Portland
Aldridge 1
Lucas 0
Porter 0

Franchise Points
Aldridge #2
Porter #3
Lucas outside the top 10

Franchise Rebounds
Aldridge #1
Porter, Lucas outside the top 10

Franchise Blocks
Aldridge #4
Lucas, Porter outside the top 10

Points Per Game With Portland
Aldridge #6 - 19.4ppg
Lucas, Porter outside the top 10

Rebounds Per Game
Lucas 8.7
Aldridge 8.4
Porter outside the top 10

PER
Aldridge 20.3
Lucas, Porter outside the top 10

if Lucas had a longer tenure as a Blazer, or any success as the #1 option when Walton was out, then I could see voting for him. likewise, Porter was never #2 or #3 in the league at his position, and his success was tied to playing with Drexler. hate him for leaving in free agency, but Aldridge had the better career as a Blazer.

see everyone in the Lucas/Porter run-offs.

JasonStern wrote:Franchise Points
Aldridge #2
Porter, Lucas outside the top 10

This one is wrong:
Franchise Points
Aldridge #2
Porter #3

And then there's this...
3 pt FGM
Porter #2
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

Assists
Porter #1
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

Steals
Porter #2
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

And some of Aldridge's prowess might be due to this:
Usage Pct
Aldridge #3
Porter outside the top 10

I'm glad someone else is there to bang the drum for Aldridge, and I'll be joining you on that bandwagon soon.

For me, it's Terry Porter here. Main reason is efficiency -- Porter had impressive efficiency for a PG, while Aldridge was a fairly inefficient scorer as a PF. There's also the matter of sustained team success, which I attribute a significant part of to Porter's ability to keep the team working smoothly.

Rasheed Wallace- the best player on a title contending team. Had a complete all around game

Can't we just agree that the loser of the run off vote for 3rd gets 4th? I mean, I feel like that is the fairest thing to do.

But, I'll just go ahead and state my vote anyway:

LUKE.
The best power forward the Blazers ever had. And, he would have even better statistics with the team if the ownership weren't so cheap in the early 80s - deciding that they didn't need want to pay Lucas, because they had just drafted Mychal Thompson.

Run PDX wrote:Can't we just agree that the loser of the run off vote for 3rd gets 4th? I mean, I feel like that is the fairest thing to do.

But, I'll just go ahead and state my vote anyway:

LUKE.
The best power forward the Blazers ever had. And, he would have even better statistics with the team if the ownership weren't so cheap in the early 80s - deciding that they didn't need want to pay Lucas, because they had just drafted Mychal Thompson.

The majority of people voted for the winner not the loser. And, the people that voted for the winner may not want to vote for the loser.

I'll throw in another vote for Porter. He played way longer with the team than Lucas and had more playoff success than Aldridge.

d-train wrote:Rasheed, Lucas, and Pippen get some consideration but Porter is easily the best choice.

you do realize that the Pippen that played with Portland was a 34 year old averaging a whopping 12ppg that failed to provide veteran leadership when the team needed it most - not the prime Jordan's sidekick people remember him, right?

Masterfully wrote:This one is wrong:
Franchise Points
Aldridge #2
Porter #3

corrected.

Masterfully wrote:And then there's this...
3 pt FGM
Porter #2
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

Assists
Porter #1
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

Steals
Porter #2
Aldridge & Lucas outside the top 10

I completely agree that Porter was/is a better point guard, but even taking that into consideration, Aldridge's collective body of work trumps Porter's.

Masterfully wrote:And some of Aldridge's prowess might be due to this:
Usage Pct
Aldridge #3
Porter outside the top 10

I completely agree that Porter was a role player with Portland whereas Aldridge was a #1 option. in fact, that encouraged me to vote for Aldridge over Porter. I mean, Joel Freeland had a much lower usage rate, but I wouldn't put him above Aldridge because of it.

it might be close to 'pick from a hat' time. So, who would be the rest of the candidates for the top-10?

Wicks
Petrie
Lucas
Mychal Thompson
Porter
Kersey
Buck
Rasheed
Pippen
Sabonis
Aldridge
Lillard

did I leave anybody out?

I'm thinking maybe Porter, but that isn't my vote yet

Wizenheimer wrote:did I leave anybody out?

Some other candidates:

Kiki Vandeweghe was quietly the leader in Blazer ppg and strong in WS48.
Kevin Duckworth was a 2-time all star. Somehow.
Clifford Robinson was statistically much better than I expected/remembered.
Jim Paxson was a freakishly efficient scorer.

Wizenheimer wrote:it might be close to 'pick from a hat' time. So, who would be the rest of the candidates for the top-10?

Wicks
Petrie
Lucas
Mychal Thompson
Porter
Kersey
Buck
Rasheed
Pippen
Sabonis
Aldridge
Lillard

did I leave anybody out?

I'm thinking maybe Porter, but that isn't my vote yet

You are missing Rod Strickland and Lionel Hollins. And, you need to remove the stat stuffing losers Sidney Wicks and Geoff Petrie. A dozen players that played winning basketball should be on the list ahead of Wicks and Petrie.

JasonStern wrote:you do realize that the Pippen that played with Portland was a 34 year old averaging a whopping 12ppg that failed to provide veteran leadership when the team needed it most - not the prime Jordan's sidekick people remember him, right?

Pippen was past his prime and he was the 2nd best player on a great team. Pippen was about winning. He was often the difference between winning and losing without stuffing a stat sheet.

Gimme Porter. Dtrain did a good job explaining in the first post. Lucas is close, along with Sheed and LMA, but this one is Porter for me

Terry Porter for reasons mentioned in the #3 thread ... team leader, played both sides of the ball, underrated due to Drexler, and so much more.

I find it curious Lucas was in a run off for #3 but yet people are now voting for Porter.

I'd still like to vote for Sabas or someone from the last Blazers team to reach the WCF
for key players for the 1977 NBA champions and early 90's teams have been chosen. Sabas
and Pippen were all about winning and less about putting up numbers but Scottie's
is a Bull while Sabas played seven solid seasons only with the Blazers after he arguably
was past his physical peak. Great player who played solid defense, rebounded, set
picks, made great passes, shot well from 3 point line, etc. Entered the HOF as a
Blazer!

I love TP, Lucas and the other guys like Matthews who were strong contributors but they
don't find success without the key players on the teams they played for.