Greatest Blazers Ever: Vote for #2

[JasonStern]

And by the way, Drexler himself seemed to think that was true since he wore the Houston Rockets uniform at the 50 greatest players ceremony.

what team was he playing for at the time when he accepted the award?

[Norm2953]

I would say ultimately Dame will ultimately be the #3 Blazer with a chance at being #2 for literally the
entire weight of the franchise is on his shoulders for the next five seasons. That shot with .9 seconds
left places him in the discussion.

[zzaj]

Drexler. The best player on arguably the best team in Blazer history.

[Wizenheimer]

And by the way, Drexler himself seemed to think that was true since he wore the Houston Rockets uniform at the 50 greatest players ceremony.

what team was he playing for at the time when he accepted the award?

not the team he was playing for when he built the reputation responsible for him being there in the first place. He was there because of what he did as a Blazer. Every single NBA award he won came as a Blazer; Every single all-NBA selection came as a Blazer; Every single MVP vote came as a Blazer. 8 of his 10 all-star selections came as a Blazer. 35,000 of his 43,000 minutes came as a Blazer; 1000 of his 1200 games came as a Blazer. 22,000 of his 25,000 points came as a Blazer.

Even Charles Barkley told Drexler he was wrong not to wear the Blazer uniform

you made a point of downgrading Walton because of his dispute with Blazer management and medical staff. I'm going to downgrade Drexler because he dissed Portland at that ceremony

[DaVoiceMaster]

Clyde "The Glide" Drexler

[Case2012]

Clyde the glide

[Soulyss]

Yeah you can debate #1, and I think Lucas should get some consideration, but Drexler should be #2.

[d-train]

And by the way, Drexler himself seemed to think that was true since he wore the Houston Rockets uniform at the 50 greatest players ceremony.

what team was he playing for at the time when he accepted the award?

I believe the rules say he had to be in at least his 6th year of retirement. So, he received his award when he wasn't playing for any team, the Blazers and Rockets where both his former teams.

[d-train]

not the team he was playing for when he built the reputation responsible for him being there in the first place. He was there because of what he did as a Blazer. Every single NBA award he won came as a Blazer; Every single all-NBA selection came as a Blazer; Every single MVP vote came as a Blazer. 8 of his 10 all-star selections came as a Blazer. 35,000 of his 43,000 minutes came as a Blazer; 1000 of his 1200 games came as a Blazer. 22,000 of his 25,000 points came as a Blazer.

Even Charles Barkley told Drexler he was wrong not to wear the Blazer uniform

Your criterion is not what Clyde considered. Rockets paid Clyde $20.8M for 3 seasons and Blazers paid him $9M for 8 seasons. That gave Clyde 11.8M more reasons to accept his honor as a Rocket.

This said Barkley was right. It shouldn’t have been a business decision.

[Moonbeam]

And by the way, Drexler himself seemed to think that was true since he wore the Houston Rockets uniform at the 50 greatest players ceremony.

what team was he playing for at the time when he accepted the award?

I believe the rules say he had to be in at least his 6th year of retirement. So, he received his award when he wasn't playing for any team, the Blazers and Rockets where both his former teams.

The ceremony was held in 1997, while Clyde was still playing with the Rockets.

[d-train]

When did the HOF change their rules? You must be mistaken.

[d-train]

I just looked it up. Clyde was admitted to the HOF in 2004.

[kdawg32086]

Clyde Drexler

Had the most longevity at a very high level out of every Blazer in history. No brainer here.

[kdawg32086]

I just looked it up. Clyde was admitted to the HOF in 2004.

They're talking about the 50 greatest players in NBA history ceremony which was in 1997, whereas you're referring to something completely different with his HOF induction.

[d-train]

I just looked it up. Clyde was admitted to the HOF in 2004.

They're talking about the 50 greatest players in NBA history ceremony which was in 1997, whereas you're referring to something completely different with his HOF induction.

Oh, than who cares, the 50 greatest players are no longer the 50 greatest players anyway.

[Moonbeam]

Vote: Clyde Drexler


Walton coming in first makes this pretty easy.

I agree, but why?

Clyde "The Glide" Drexler

Clyde the glide

I'll be happy to count all of the above votes with justification.

[Moonbeam]

No question here for me, it's Clyde Drexler.

He's the leader in most comprehensive statistics:

Spoiler:

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

By simple WOWY metrics, he looks to have had near the impact of peak Walton, but many other good years as well:

Spoiler:

Drexler:

Code: Select all

Season  G With G Without SRS With SRS Without SRS Diff
----------------------------------------------------------
1985       89       2      2.64      -3.42      6.06
1986       79       7      0.37       0.62     -0.25
1988       85       1      3.51      -9.21     12.72
1989       81       4      0.76       0.64      0.12
1990       94       9      5.99       0.25      5.74
1992       97       6      7.77      -0.06      7.83
1993       52      34      2.71       3.13     -0.42
1994       72      14      2.41       2.50     -0.09
1995       41      44      6.79       0.08      6.71


Walton:

Code: Select all

Season  G With G Without SRS With SRS Without SRS Diff
----------------------------------------------------------
1975       35      47     -2.10       1.89     -3.99
1976       51      31      0.75      -3.91      4.67
1977       84      17      7.45      -1.99      9.43
1978       60      28      8.90      -1.78     10.67


It was always going to come down to Walton vs. Drexler for the #1 and #2 spots. I feel Clyde should have gotten the nod at #1, but #2 isn't bad, either.

The only minor gripe I have about Drexler, really, is that Portland generally underperformed in the playoffs while he was on the team, IMO. Then again, this isn't unique to Drexler's Blazers, so that argument doesn't really hold much weight for me.

[Wickzki]

Vote: Darius Miles I mean Clyde Drexler - this is an easy one.

[Moonbeam]

Vote: Darius Miles I mean Clyde Drexler - this is an easy one.

I agree that it's easy (I think he should have gone #1!), but care to provide a brief explanation as to why it's easily Drexler over other candidates? I understand it's obvious, but I've set it up such that only votes with justifications are counted.

FWIW, I think the Ramsay vote brought up a worthwhile wrinkle into this. Would you be interested in conducting a similar project for coaches? I think I'll be kept pretty busy with this, but I'd certainly be interested in participating in a coach-ranking project!

[Wickzki]

Drexler is #2 because Walton was #1 and h e should have been #1 but has to be #2.