mojomarc wrote:Hollins wasn't a PG. He wasn't even remotely a PG. The ball handling duties on those teams went to either Dave Twardzik or Johnny Davis. Hollins was as pure a small SG as there was until Joe Dumars came into the league.
I strongly disagree about that. I saw that team play...plenty. Keep in mind, portland almost had a PC position with Walton, at least in the halfcourt sets. If you think of that team in today's traditional configuration, then of course Hollins was a SG insofar as he was taller then twardzick and davis. But Hollins ran the offense a lot more then twardzick or davis did and as much as walton did. He led the team 4 consecutive years including the championship season in assists and steals.
your statement that hollins wasn't "remotely a PG" is is not remotely true or accurate. If a 25 year old Hollins was the Blazers PG now, we'd be thinking he was one of the best in the league and certainly that he was the best defensive PG.
mojomarc wrote:
Gotta go with Porter here. He's the only all-star we've had at the position, and he was a tremendous compliment to Clyde.
as I said, it was a tossup in my mind. Porter could stretch the defense for sure. And he did compliment Clyde well, but Hollins was absolutely exceptional in the open court and was significantly faster then Porter. I'd be happy with either.
mojomarc wrote:Given they were both here at about the same time, I go with Pippen over Kiki. I might even go with Bobby Gross over Kiki because Gross could play serious defense and Kiki never seemed interested in trying. I would also probably pick Kersey over him, as I think it is telling that Kiki was sent out of town because Kersey earned minutes over him.
You apparently have a broader view of "same time" then I do since Pippen arrived about 12 years after Vandeweghe left.
Anyway, with Walton and either Luke or Buck as the C/PF combo, portland would need a SF who could stretch the defense, and few could like Kiki. He shot around 53% as a blazer and considering where he shot it from that's exceptional. You're underating his defense a bit as well, but he certainly wasn't a stopper. He wasn't a great passer either but he was a pure shooter, one of the best, and he was good in the open court as well.
Gross was good, but his game fit the 70's a lot better then it would fit now in my view. Kersey?...I loved his game but he was not on Kiki's level. And IIRC, what did in Vandeweghe in portland was injuries, not Kersey.
mojomarc wrote:By the time Buck came to Portland, he was far behind Luke's prime with the team. For that reason I go with Luke. Sheed would probably be second.
he wasn't that far behind really, but no matter. When I think about it a little more I'd go with Lucas as well. Both he and williams were great rebounders, but Lucas had a lot more range both offensively and defensively. Furthermore, while Walton was known as a great outlet passer (rightly so), Lucas was great at that as well.
I'd still take Buck over rasheed though, because Buck wasn't a moron.
mojomarc wrote:Vandeweghe would be the weak spot defensively. I like my team better, if only because it would be just as good rebounding, better at pulling big men away from the hoop to prevent the double teams on Walton, and at SF we would be better with any of the three I picked than with one-dimensional Kiki. Finally, Porter doesn't give anything up defensively to Hollins but was a far better natural ball-handler.
wow...what a wonderfully impartial review of your own opinions.
kiki wasn't nearly as one-dimensional as you imply.
And your evaluation of porter vs hollins is simply off base. Hollins was an excellent ball-handler and he had a huge advantage over porter as far as quickness...both straight ahead and lateral. I loved Porter's game and he certainly gets the nod as far as the longevity of his Blazer career. But to say that they were comparable defensively is simply wrong. For chrissakes, Hollins was named to the all NBA defensive 1st team once and the second team once. Hollins was quite capable of defending the fastest players in the league and did so effectively and regularly. Porter on the other hand, had trouble with the quicker NBA PG's often. Kevin Johnson, Isiah Thomas, and Tim hardaway abused porter regularly. They wouldn't have had as much success against Hollins.
Porter was a more effective distributor and probably a better shooter. But hollins played before the 3pt shot so it's a little more difficult to determine that.
... Usually when I am writing my paragraphs and sentence flow breaks down, and don't take the time to fix it. I work a grave yard shift so I am usually to tired to care about fixing my bad grammar or sentence structure to much, especially when I am writing here... Played to many online games I suppose.