Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #1

[Moonbeam]

And we're off! Please discuss in this thread who you believe to be the best Blazer ever.

Project Guidelines:

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!

[Moonbeam]

Franchise leaders in some all-encompassing stats:

Win Shares:

1. Clyde Drexler: 108.7
2. Terry Porter: 79.3
3. LaMarcus Aldridge: 69.4
4. Rasheed Wallace: 61.3
5. Jerome Kersey: 59.0
6. Buck Williams: 50.4
7. Jim Paxson: 50.0
8. Arvydas Sabonis: 47.3
9. Clifford Robinson: 46.8
10. Mychal Thompson: 39.9

WS/48:

1. Arvydas Sabonis: .200
2. Bill Walton: .178
3. Clyde Drexler: .177
4. Steve Smith: .171
5. Kiki Vandeweghe: .166
6. Robin Lopez: .166
7. Danny Ainge: .166
8. Terry Porter: .159
9. Brian Grant: .158
10. Brandon Roy: .157

PER:

1. Bill Walton: 22.1
2. Clyde Drexler: 21.3
3. Arvydas Sabonis: 21.2
4. LaMarcus Aldridge: 20.3
5. Brandon Roy: 20.1
6. Zach Randolph: 19.5
7. Rod Strickland: 19.3
8. Billy Ray Bates: 19.0
9. Sidney Wicks: 18.9
10. Kiki Vandeweghe: 18.9

BPM (available since 1973-74):

1. Clyde Drexler: 6.3
2. Bill Walton: 6.0
3. Arvydas Sabonis: 3.8
4. Brandon Roy: 3.3
5. Kermit Washington: 3.2
6. Rod Strickland: 3.2
7. Kenny Anderson: 3.1
8. Nicolas Batum: 3.0
9. Scottie Pippen: 2.9
10. Marcus Camby: 2.8

VORP (available since 1973-74):

1. Clyde Drexler: 61.5
2. Terry Porter: 27.8
3. Jerome Kersey: 22.8
4. Rasheed Wallace: 21.1
5. Nicolas Batum: 18.8
6. LaMarcus Aldridge: 18.5
7. Mychal Thompson: 17.5
8. Arvydas Sabonis: 16.6
9. Brandon Roy: 15.3
10. Clifford Robinson: 14.7

All-Star Appearances:

Clyde Drexler: 8
LaMarcus Aldridge: 4
Sidney Wicks: 4
Maurice Lucas: 3
Brandon Roy: 3
Kevin Duckworth: 2
Damian Lillard: 2
Jim Paxson: 2
Geoff Petrie: 2
Terry Porter: 2
Rasheed Wallace: 2
Bill Walton: 2
Lionel Hollins: 1
Steve Johnson: 1
Clifford Robinson: 1
Kermit Washington: 1

[JasonStern]

vote: Clyde Drexler

[d-train]

vote: Bill Walton

Walton accomplished more in a short period than any other player could in a decade or more.

[Masterfully]

vote: Clyde Drexler

Please see rule #2

Clyde Drexler is my easy choice here. He has the best stats by far of any Blazer. He has the long term success, albeit without a ring (for Portland) to show for it. He was exciting to watch. Unfortunately he had to play in Jordan's shadow, so he was always "that other SG."

[d-train]

Clyde Drexler is my easy choice here. He has the best stats by far of any Blazer. He has the long term success, albeit without a ring (for Portland) to show for it. He was exciting to watch. Unfortunately he had to play in Jordan's shadow, so he was always "that other SG."

Nobody could cast a shadow over Bill Walton not even Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Julius Erving.

[PDX MM]

vote: Bill Walton

He isn't the stats leader but he was the key to our only championship and on talent alone the only one who probably had more talent (granted it wasn't with Portland) was Sabonis.

[TheEnforcer20]

Vote: Bill Walton Drexler may have been the flashiest Blazer and the best pure scorer, Aldridge may have been the most consistent high post scorer, but Walton was the cog that drove the Blazer machine to a championship. Walton when healthy was a dominant offensive and defensive player, incredible offensive and defensive rebounder with a low post and high post game and maybe next to Sabonis the best passing center of all-time. Walton in his prime was equal to Tim Duncan but in my opinion more athletic and had just as good if not slightly better fundamentals than Duncan.

[Wizenheimer]

vote: Bill Walton

we're still talking about the Blazer championship 40 years later and Walton was the finals MVP and a season MVP as a Blazer

Drexler a close 2nd but he can't top Walton's top-of-the-mountain record

[zzaj]

vote: Bill Walton

[DaVoiceMaster]

Vote: Bill Walton

Clyde is top 3 in all of the categories mentioned so he's the obvious choice, but I think you can replace Clyde. Walton is more difficult to replace. I want to vote Clyde simply because he was with the Blazers for so long, but perhaps he wins a different category instead? Plus, he l pisses me off that he wore a Rockets jacket for the 50 Greatest Players ceremony. Even Bill Walton wore a Blazers jersey and he won 2 championships with the Celtics.

Sabonis may just be my favorite Blazer though.

[JasonStern]

vote: Clyde Drexler

Please see rule #2

fine. even though Drexler needs no explanation, I'll explain. Bill Walton only played 209 games as a Blazer, including a rookie season where he averaged a whopping 12.8ppg. he then spent the rest of his career publicly bashing the Blazers. if this poll was done in 1980, then sure, he's "greatest Blazer ever" worthy, but not after 45 years.

[BuckyP]

And we're off! Please discuss in this thread who you believe to be the best Blazer ever.

Project Guidelines:

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!

CLYDE Statistically he had the best career or any Blazer. He was the best player and face of the franchise during what was really the golden age of Blazers basketball, despite losing in the Finals twice. To me, it's not even close between he and Walton. I would argue, however, that Terry Porter was almost, if not as important as Clyde on that team.

[a_sensei]

Vote: Clyde Drexler. As much as Walton's peak was amongst the best in NBA history, it was just too short. I believe the combination of Clyde's peak and career make him the clear choice. Unfortunately there were no championships. I may be biased because my memory of the '77 championship is foggy (I was in the womb).

[SalemStoner]

What do you value more, an extended very good peak or a short but incredibly high peak.

I think it's hard to argue against the NBA title, Finals MVP award and especially the league MVP award. Drexler was close to the title and maybe the Finals MVP, but never did he have a realistic shot at the regular season MVP.

I think the real question is where would Sabonis fit in this list if he had come over sooner. He's the only guy we've ever had on the team who was talented enough to give Walton a run for his money at both of their respective peaks. Even the old version of him that could barely move is dominant enough to show very well on these lists/stats.

vote Bill Walton

[Wizenheimer]

I think the real question is where would Sabonis fit in this list if he had come over sooner. He's the only guy we've ever had on the team who was talented enough to give Walton a run for his money at both of their respective peaks. Even the old version of him that could barely move is dominant enough to show very well on these lists/stats.

if Sabonis would have come over when the USSR first relaxed the restrictions, we'd have more then 1 Blazer championship to discuss. Maybe 3 or 4

that would have been in 1990 when he was 26 years old and before about 3 extra leg surgeries. He would have been joining the Drexler teams and replacing Duckworth in the starting lineup. Imagine Sabonis playing with Drexler-Porter-Kersey-Buck

[d-train]

I think the real question is where would Sabonis fit in this list if he had come over sooner. He's the only guy we've ever had on the team who was talented enough to give Walton a run for his money at both of their respective peaks. Even the old version of him that could barely move is dominant enough to show very well on these lists/stats.

if Sabonis would have come over when the USSR first relaxed the restrictions, we'd have more then 1 Blazer championship to discuss. Maybe 3 or 4

that would have been in 1990 when he was 26 years old and before about 3 extra leg surgeries. He would have been joining the Drexler teams and replacing Duckworth in the starting lineup. Imagine Sabonis playing with Drexler-Porter-Kersey-Buck

This is a theory and real life in the NBA is the testing ground that kills many more theories than it proves true.

[Moonbeam]

Vote: Bill Walton

Clyde is top 3 in all of the categories mentioned so he's the obvious choice, but I think you can replace Clyde. Walton is more difficult to replace. I want to vote Clyde simply because he was with the Blazers for so long, but perhaps he wins a different category instead? Plus, he l pisses me off that he wore a Rockets jacket for the 50 Greatest Players ceremony. Even Bill Walton wore a Blazers jersey and he won 2 championships with the Celtics.

Sabonis may just be my favorite Blazer though.

Walton only won one title with Boston, didn't he? As one of the best ever 6th men on that GOAT-level 1986 Celtic team, right?

[Moonbeam]

vote: Bill Walton

Please provide an explanation for your choice, and I'll be happy to count it!

[mikhail1991]

Vote: Bill Walton
Only one to get the Blazers to the promised land. Without him we would be ring-less. Cant say that about any other Blazer