Third Greatest Blazer Ever Contest: Final Quarterfinal

One of the best in the first round. I have to go with Porter however. He, more than Wallace, embodies the true Portland Trailblazer. When I think of Terry, I automatically think Clyde Drexler and those championship runs. Sheed will probably be remembered more as a Piston because of his ring.

He was such a solid contributor thoughout his tenure.  Though he didn't possess the natural ability that Sheed has, you never had to question his determination or committment to the team. Concur with Dr Dave, a "true" blazer.

for best player it would be a tough call, for best blazer, it is a piece of cake.

Voting with my heart. He still remains my all-time favorite Blazer - which doesn't mean he's the best, just that I loved his hustle, his intensity, his humor (and his 3 pointers didn't hurt).  Plus he won the Walter Kennedy (?)award which shouts out his committment to the community.

Seeing him in those too-short "Memorable moments" reminded me of the intensity with which he played. Agree with those comments about "a true Blazer"  - he's what I want my Blazers to be.

This was a hard one, but as long as you CTC, Sheed won't care who is on that Damn Roster, anyhow.

T.P. in a laugher.

Gotta say I'm shocked so far.  No 'Sheed backers out there?

--Dave

Ok, i just wanted to say that.  I actually vote for Terry too.

But, to be fair, it is only because of his leadership abilities.  

They both were tremendous contributors to the community, you just never heard about Sheed's because he tried to keep everything as low key as possible and the media let him because they liked to focus on what a "bad guy" he was on the court.

Terry will always embody what i think a great Blazers player should be.  Everytime i think back on the great teams i grew up on the first two things out of my mouth are ALWAYS "Clyde and Terry".

This would have to be another lopsided comparisson.  I'd give my to Terry on merit alone.  Heart, leadership, character, all things that this organization needed to get to the finals.  Without Porter, I doubt that the Blazers would have gone as far as they did.  Even though we faced a tough minded Pistons team and fell into the midst of a dynasty when we played the Bulls, both amounting to losses in the finals, Terry's leadership is what got us there.  Clyde was the most gifted, athletic player we had, but TP brought this team together.  

On the other hand, Rasheed was so darn exciting to watch.  You knew that when Rasheed was on, you could count it in the books as a win.  The thing I noticed most about Rasheed's play, was when he was on Defense, he would flash the passing lane just to remind opposing players that there was always the chance that he'd get is hands on the ball.  He'd also fill the lane, skying for so many Alley-Oops that if he didn't get one during the game, then we knew it was going to be one.  Rasheed brought so much energy to this team.  If he hadn't burned his own bridge with his CTC remarks, he might have been placed closer to the top of the list of Blazer greats.

TP is the closest thing to Blazer perfection, in regards to representing the spirit of Rip City.

just for fun then.  This is not a vote and responses to this will not be counted as votes.  If you want to vote for real, go ahead and put the name of the person you're voting for in the subject line of your comment.  But for the sake of discussion...

Thesis:  Rasheed Wallace is/was a better individual player than Terry Porter.

Agree?  Disagree?  Why?

--Dave

wow... finally a run away.

This is actually quite a close matchup looking at numbers.  since the voting is TP in a runaway, I'll throw Rasheed a bone and make the case for him.

People forget that if not for lids being put on the basket in the 4th quarter on June 4, 2000 Rasheed would have had a 40 pt game in a game 7 on the road.  He played an incredible series to that point (really he was awesome all year- and was rewarded by being the last blazer to appear in any all star weekend event).

I know, shoulda coulda woulda.  Rasheed missed some easy shots in that awful collapse and was never the same in a Portland uniform.  However, as great as TP was, he didn't always come up huge in the playoffs either- see 1991 west finals game 6.

Both were great players who just missed leading the franchise to glory.  I can certainly understand and respect everyone for giving the nod to TP for his leadership and character.  

I'll give the nod to Rasheed on shear ability to wow a crowd and dominate a game when he set his mind to it.

(if this was a closer race, i might consider changing my vote though- how's that for hedging my bets).