Greatest Blazers ever: Vote for #1

[Moonbeam]

Now that team's roster seems more or less settled (at the moment), I think it's a good time to launch this second edition of the Greatest Blazers ever project, 4 years following the first one. As we are heading into the 50th season of the Blazers, I thought it would be a good time to revisit this project. The hope is to select the top 50 Blazers, but we'll see how participation goes.

How to participate:

1. Vote among the polled players for the player you feel has had the best career as a Blazer.

2. Nominate an unlisted player to join the pool of players eligible to be voted in the next thread.

3. Feel free to argue your case for the players you are voting for and nominating, but do not use this as a platform to belittle the opinions of others.

You are welcome to participate in any and all of these ways. Above all else, have fun!

For the first poll, I have chosen the top 5 finishers from the 2015 project we did plus the top 5 remaining players by win shares with Portland.

Project guidelines and links:

Spoiler:

Polls will be remain for 48 hours. Ties will be broken by votes in previous rounds, and failing that, total Win Shares with the team.

Do not consider the careers of players while they were playing for other teams. For example, we're not evaluating LaMarcus Aldridge for his entire career, just for his career with the Blazers.

Do not consider any non-playing roles some former players have had with Portland after their tenure as players. So don't consider Maurice Lucas for his role as a big man coach, just what he brought to the team while he was a player.

This spreadsheet may be a useful resource - it contains information about all 330 Blazer players, including statistics from the regular season and playoffs, all-star appearances and other awards, and MVP vote shares.

Here is a link to the overall 2015 project, which contains links to each of the chosen players.

[Moonbeam]

My vote is for Clyde Drexler. It's a classic debate between peak vs longevity with Walton. Walton winning MVP, a title, and Finals MVP is amazing, but Drexler played more than 4x the number of minutes with Portland than Walton did, leading Portland to be contenders for a good couple years there in a tough league.

[Moonbeam]

I'll nominate Arvydas Sabonis to join the next poll. He doesn't have the accolades of somebody like Jim Paxson or Sidney Wicks, but I feel he was a very important cog (perhaps the most important one) to turn Portland into a legitimate threat in the late 90s.

[Blazers-1977]

1. My vote is for Drexler for same reason as Moonbeam gave

2. I nominate Sidney Wicks

[Norm2953]

It will be Dame in six years

[Wizenheimer]

I can't decide between Drexler and Walton. As mentioned Drexler had the longevity and his name is at the top of most Blazer career lists

on the other hand, peak Walton was easily the best player Portland ever had and he led Portland to a championship

I want two votes!

as for a nomination, I thought of Sabas and Wicks but those guys have already been named. That leaves Kiki Vandeweghe, Mychal Thompson, and Geoff Petrie...and Cliff Robinson

I nominate Kiki

[Moonbeam]

I can't decide between Drexler and Walton. As mentioned Drexler had the longevity and his name is at the top of most Blazer career lists

on the other hand, peak Walton was easily the best player Portland ever had and he led Portland to a championship

I want two votes!

as for a nomination, I thought of Sabas and Wicks but those guys have already been named. That leaves Kiki Vandeweghe, Mychal Thompson, and Geoff Petrie...and Cliff Robinson

I nominate Kiki

Just to be clear, the player with the most nominations will be added. If Kiki is the one player you think deserves consideration, stick with him, but if you think Sabas and Wicks are more worthy, vote for one of them.

[PDX MM]

My nomination is Geoff Petrie.

[Norm2953]

I would second the nomintion of Sabas. If he was a Blazer after the 1988 Olympics, Portland
would have certainly have won championships in 1990-2. The younger Sabonis was not the
same player that came over in the mid 90's for he was far more mobile and agile than the
lumbering guy we saw.

[PDX MM]

To be fair it should only be based off what the player did as a Blazer. If we allow 'what if' stuff where would it end? It is pure speculation on what a young and healthy Sabonis would have done in the NBA and while that can be a fun topic to discuss these kinds of lists should be kept to actual production during their Blazer time. If that is not correct then I would go with Walton or even Roy instead of Petrie.

[Dangeruss]

Dame

[RTG HD]

How is Bill Curley not on the list?

[RTG HD]

Bill Curley once willingly took a pay increase to help make a trade work under the salary cap rules of the time. #sacrifice #goat

[d-train]

My vote goes solidly to Walton. I personally hate the MoFer, but he was the reason we won a championship. He was also the undisputed best player in basketball for 1 1/2 seasons. That's not a long time, however it's the only time period we ever had the best player in basketball.

[d-train]

1. My vote is for Drexler for same reason as Moonbeam gave

2. I nominate Sidney Wicks

I nominate Wicks as the most overrated worthless player to ever lead a terrible team to an awful season of disgrace and failure. Petrie wasn't much better, but he was slightly better.

[Moonbeam]

Interesting to see some votes for Dame here! I think he'll get there one day, but not yet.

[d-train]

CJ, Pippen, Strickland, and Hollins are the best players not already on the list. I will nominate CJ.

[JasonStern]

After this year's playoff run, Dame's my choice. Pretty amazing to see him doing well considering many posters here refused to have him in their top five the last time we did this.

The top three all-time Blazers are pretty obvious - Dame, Drexler, and Walton. And it's tough to fault anyone for picking any of the three, with personal criteria mostly being the distinguishing factor. So let's see how they should be ranked:

Walton - Easily has the greatest single season in the Blazer history, but he only played 209 games for the Blazers. He then spent years trash talking the franchise. So as fun as Bill is as a commentator, to pick him requires seriously valuing a championship. But then, if you look at how many jerseys the Blazers have retired, Bill apparently also played on a super-team before super-teams were a thing.

Drexler - Played 10 1/2 seasons with Portland, including 2 Finals appearances, 7 all-star appearances, 4 all-NBA appearances, and second in MVP voting behind Jordan one year. The accolades speak for themselves. So how can I justify Dame over Drexler? For starters, Drexler had much more complete teams around him when he competed. Those late 80s/early 90s teams were stacked, with several bench players capable of being starters on this current squad, Porter being a better second option than CJ, etc. Then there was the whole demanding a trade to a competitive team back before that became the norm. While he's not negative on Portland or his time here, he' has been a huge Houston fan these last several years, praising them every chance he gets.

And then you have Dame. 7 seasons in Portland, with several more to come. Rookie of the year, 4 all-star appearances, 4 all-NBA appearances. On paper, that's less impressive than Drexler. But what elevates him first and foremost is his loyalty to the franchise. When the Lillard/Matthews/Batum/Aldridge/Lopez blew up, he wasn't demanding a trade to a superteam. Instead, he lead a projected 30 win team to the second round of the playoffs. Then there are the Dame Time moments... The series winner against Houston, the series winner against OKC. Few players have one highlight like that, let alone two. He's a true professional, with amazing poise when interviewed. In an era with social media and non-stop coverage and scrutiny, he's never been involved in any scandals. You trust him as a leader and you're proud to have him as the face of the franchise.

[Moonbeam]

Less than 5 hours to vote!

[Norm2953]

As I said before, Dame is going to be #1 before too long and in my mind, its Clyde and Dame
all alone for Bill only really played a season and half for Portland.