Honor Terry Porter

by Ben. on Apr 22, 2008 6:24 PM PDT Comment 25 comments

Trapped in between the end of the regular season and the start of NBA draft talk (41-41 means only passing interest in the NBA playoffs this year), I am feeling downright purgatorial. Thankfully, I was awakened recently from my impatient malaise by a well-worn tape of the Blazers vs. Bulls NBA Finals. I was stopped dead in my tracks – no, not by MJ punking Uncle Cliffy with the sneaker commercial shoulder shrug—but by the realization that our point guard, the point guard, Mr. Terry Porter has yet to have his jersey retired by the Blazers franchise.

Why are some players doomed to be overlooked while others are overhyped? It is a cosmic mystery.

If ever a player in Portland’s history has been overlooked, though, it is TP.

He had every attribute you could want in a point guard:

-- Relentlessly hard-working.

-- Heady.

-- Demonstrative with the ball but always in control.

-- A polished jump-shot and the nerve to bang home a 3 pointer or the tough shot when the clock was running down.

-- Playoff experience.

-- A TV-friendly, fan-friendly smile and style.

-- Durability.

-- Resolve to stand up for his teammates.

-- Above-average on-ball and team defense skills.

-- Big numbers.

-- Loyalty and longevity (he came all the way up through the Blazers organization).

-- Basketball IQ (no one was surprised when he became a coach).

If ever a Blazer deserved the honor of getting his jersey retired, it is TP.

He was as instrumental as Clyde in getting us to our two Finals trips in the modern era; he was a role model for his teammates, fellow professional basketball players and the Portland community; he color-coordinated his outfits.

There’s been a lot of griping about the sheer volume of point guard related posts on this site (and other sites) lately. Rather than trash Jack, rip Sergio or downplay Blake, I ask that you take a moment to think back to the golden age of Terry Porter. What do you remember most about his game? His career? Did you have any personal encounters with him? What did he mean to you? To the city of Portland? To your fanhood?

I ask that you collect your thoughts and email them to me. Once a week until we run out, I will post them under the title "Honor Terry Porter." The series will, hopefully, serve as a living record of what TP did for the Blazers franchise and its fans.

In the post below, Dave talks about how blogs like Blazers Edge help foster an online community. play a powerful role in 21^st century fandom and how they deepen the connection between fans and the teams for which they cheer. For these reasons, I see "Honor Terry Porter" as blog nirvana. Next season, I would love to see #30 up in the rafters. It would surely mean a lot to us as fans, to Mr. Porter himself and to the future Blazers who have the promise to achieve the same greatness as TP. At the end of the day, it's the right thing to do (and, in case you hadn't noticed, the Blazers have almost faultlessly done the right thing since Mr. Pritchard took over). If you feel the same way, email me and add your voice to the chorus.

Our own PhilthyAnimal was kind enough to help kick this series off right by making the banner you see at the top and the following variations. Please take one and add it to your profile page, Facebook, MySpace, or car bumper (maybe?) to show your support for TP.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)

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This is what I sent to Ben

Terry was always one of my favorite Blazers. I remember him being chosen late in the 1st round and wondering who the heck was this guy. He was drafted to play the point but played power forward at Wisconsin-Stevens Point (PF are you kidding me?). But the guy brought a power forward mentality to the point guard position and was probably one the three toughest guys on the team (after Buck and Jerome). I remember him fearlessly driving it to the hole and getting crushed (into the stanchion of the basket usually), then just get up dust himself off and swish a couple of free throws. I really can visualize him standing at the line with that horrible scar on his shoulder (we never heard how he got that). Just a great player on a great team.

Toward the end of his time here he was always being replaced by someone (Rod Strickland?) but they couldn’t hold a candle to what Terry did. When I was at the Detroit game on Heritage Night this year some guy sitting near me on the max called him a traitor for coaching for the Pistons but what I remember about him is that he led the group that offered to buy the Blazers when Paul Allen put the team up for sale. I can promise you Terry had no thought of moving the team from Portland (ala Clay Bennett and the Sonics ) and we were sure worried about that possibility at the time.

I think it is time to raise the number 30 to the rafters ( before some revisionist decides to retire Rasheed’s number, since he also wore number 30).

"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss" Robert A. Heinlein

by 92wastheyear on Apr 22, 2008 6:52 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Porter's 90-91 season

is one of the top 100 seasons in NBA history according to b-ref’s win shares. I’m surprised his jersey hasn’t been retired. Dennis Johnson was scrubalicious by comparison, and somehow stirs up HOF fervor.

by hscs on Apr 22, 2008 7:08 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

While I love Terry...

...I don’t know that he is worthy of Jersey retirement.

But then, I don’t think they should have retired Lionel Hollins’ number, either. Really, I think Portland has retired too many people already, given the history of the Franchise.

What does it mean to have your jersey retired for a team? Well, it should mean that that player’s presence DEFINED the team during his era. The way Pippen of MJ did in Chicago. The way Magic Johnson did for the Lakers. The way Larry Legend, or Bill Russell did in Boston.

Who has done this in Portland? Really only 5 guys I could name:

Walton, Drexler, Lucas, Ramsay, Petrie

Other players might be retired due to long service to a single franchise, or especially valuable contributions while they were here. These, in my book, are not players I would personally retire, had I the choice, but I can understand why the honor was bestowed. For Portland, this would include:

Twardzik, Steele

Other players might be retired for all the wrong reasons. For example, simple nostalgia. Or else just because nobody has come along in a significant number of years truly worthy of it. There’s a couple of these for Portland, as well:

Lloyd Neal, Lionel Hollins

Terry, unfortunately, falls into this last category for me. If you retire Terry, then why not Jerome? How can you leave off Buck? Or even Duckworth? What about Cliffy? Arvydas? Rasheed? Where does it end?

I really have nothing against any of these guys, they’re all great great players, and certainly worthy of rememberance in the annals of Blazers history. But Jersey retirement is supposed to be the ULTIMATE expression of a team’s respect for a player’s greatness. It is only fitting and proper that it be reserved for the absolute cream of the crop. The players who truly BECAME THE ICONS of the Blazers.

I’m not certain Terry, great as he was, really qualifies.

But then, he’s at least as deserving as Hollins. Moreso than Neal. So heck, why not. There’s plenty of numbers left, I guess.

Wherever you go, there you are.

by Majikj0n on Apr 22, 2008 7:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i appreciate the devil's advocacy

If you retire Terry, then why not Jerome? How can you leave off Buck? Or even Duckworth? What about Cliffy? Arvydas? Rasheed? Where does it end?

of that list i think buck should also have his # retired. he would be my next choice. kersey is borderline. TP is the point guard and he was the man that made those players (and duck and cliffy) the players that they were. if you think 4 guys plus drexler on the team are worthy of jersey retirement, that is the ultimate testament to TP’s influence.

TP meant more to the community than all of those players on your list.

rasheed and arvydas never got us to the finals.

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Apr 22, 2008 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No arguments at all

Absolutely, Terry was a great floor leader, team captain, 3-time All-Star, and a class act all the way through his tenure.

This coming out of a guy who was a late pick from Wisconsin-Stevens-Point of all places.

Plus, he never got caught in a Utah hotel room with any underage girls the way some players on that team did.

It’s certainly worth asking the question: “Is this guy worthy of jersey retirement?” I’m just not completely convinced.

Imagine if Neal and Hollins HADN’T been retired, and ask yourself that question again. Does the answer change?

Arvydas and Rasheed didn’t get us to the finals. (Except it’s obvious that the 2000 WCF was the real finals that year, Indiana wouldn’t have stood up against us.)

Petrie never even got us to the playoffs.

Is that the only litmus test? Whether or not you achieve a certain amount of playoff success? If so, then where’s Bobby Gross? Herm Gilliam? Johnny Davis? Corky Calhoun?

Wherever you go, there you are.

by Majikj0n on Apr 22, 2008 7:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

playoff success is not the litmus test

but it’s important and it separates the early 1990s teams from their immediate successors on the pecking order.

petrie was the face of the early franchise, had tons of individual accomplishments, so he gets in as the george washington of the cause. i have no problem whatsoever with petrie. i don’t have a huge problem with any of the current honorees although personally i would put TP above a few of them.

to me, TP is one of the most important figures in team history. would clyde have been clyde without tp? plenty of talented wingmen failed to reach their peaks because of clyde. itp turned clyde into The Glide, a top 5ish SG of all time.

this is of course a subjective issue.. but it’s the whole package with TP, his civility, his class, his numbers (he had great numbers), his aura, his longevity, these are things that no one on the above list can touch and the issues that generally come up when you consider who gets honored.

put this way: if there is a pecking order of people who have not had their numbers retired, i think TP blows them all away in taking the number one position when you take into account the whole package. for 1000s of fans (myself included), the early 1990s were the rip city days, the glory days, the time they fell in love with basketball. clyde was a no-brainer representative for this era. terry is too. it’s his time.

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Apr 22, 2008 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

whoops....

should read:

plenty of talented wingmen failed to reach their peaks without a point guard. TP turned clyde into The Glide, a top 5ish SG of all time.

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Apr 22, 2008 7:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There certainly is...

...a certain element of Chicken-and-Egg syndrome with Clyde and Terry.

Did Clyde make Terry great, or vice versa?

Suffice it to say, they made each other better than either one of them would have achieved individually.

Can you retire Malone but not Stockton? Perhaps not.

Honestly, since Terry is better a better choice than Hollins, Neal, Steele, or even Twardzik, he probably will get in.

But I think it definitely deserves close scrutiny. Number retirement needs to be special. In order to preserve the sanctity of the honor for the ones who DO truly deserve it.

Wherever you go, there you are.

by Majikj0n on Apr 22, 2008 7:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i dunno about buck

I loved him when he was here…and he was my first Blazer autograph, but his best playing years were when he was with NJ IMO. I do give him a lot of credit in pushing us over the hump when he arrived however. With that in mind, I do not feel he would be worthy.

by Philthyanimal on Apr 22, 2008 10:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

A great idea...

Of course, most of us do know that Rasheed Wallace has since worn #30 for the Blazers.

So the proper thing to do is to retire #30 at hafltime of a Blazers/Pistons game. :)

by EngineerScotty on Apr 22, 2008 7:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

that's how it would go too actually

as TP would be in town as an asst. coach!

"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.

by Ben. on Apr 22, 2008 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Problem

that I see is that the Blazers already have too many jerseys retired. I dont want to be mean, but I think at least four of those jerseys should come down, we got a little jersey retireing happy back in the day with the 77 team. I also think that is one of the reasons why the Blazers haven’t retired his jersey, we already got too many up there, and for someone else to get up there they got to be pretty damn special.

by ggassen85 on Apr 22, 2008 7:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

ya

they shouldn’t have really retired the 77 members individually, but collectively as a group. but TP is way more deserving than some of the people.

by Philthyanimal on Apr 22, 2008 9:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Numbers - slightly O.T.

I will be emailing my thoughts to Ben since TP has been my all-time favorite Blazer, but the talk about numbers reminded me to relay a question my grandson asked me . Does the jersey’s 2nd numeral have to be five or lower? He’d noticed it on the Blazer roster and whomever we were playing (Bobcats?). I scanned the jerseys above our heads and realized he had a point. Only Harry Glickman’s 2nd numeral was higher than five. We assumed it had something to do with the refs calling fouls which makes sense though there was a mix-up the other night when Travis thought they’d signaled 25 and it was really 7…

"If man could be crossed with a cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain.

by jorga on Apr 22, 2008 8:06 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The NBA has traditionally requested...

...that the numbers on a players jersey be five or lower unless they are a single digit.

This is to facilitate referee’s identifying the player’s number to the scorer’s table when a foul is called. (Being that most human beings only have five fingers on each hand.)

This is not a hard and fast rule, however, and certain players (Ron Artest, Dennis Rodman, AK47, et al) have chosen numbers that do not fit this rule over the years.

Wherever you go, there you are.

by Majikj0n on Apr 22, 2008 8:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Please let's all hope player-sung songs/videos

do not ever come back into fashion. You know the Blazers PR staff would be all over that, and it’s just too humiliating to think about.

by Section323 on Apr 22, 2008 9:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Terry Porter was my favorite Blazer

I liked him more than Clyde cause Porter was just so cold blooded when it counted the most. He was the Blazer’s Mr. Big Shot.

BINGO, BANGO, BONGO

by blzrfan on Apr 22, 2008 10:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Porter is the guard some of us

would like to see Jack become.

by timg56 on Apr 23, 2008 7:17 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Jersey retirement question

If someone on the current blazers team was wearing #30 and the organization decided to retire Porter’s number, could the player wear the number until he was done with the blazers, or would he have to switch?

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life. - Isiah Thomas

by JTDuck22 on Apr 23, 2008 8:13 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Technically

they’re supposed to switch numbers. Unless a special dispensation is granted. There’s no hard and fast rule…it’s a symbolic courtesy.

Considering we’ll probably need to retire 2-3 more numbers in another 20 years or so I wonder if we couldn’t come up with an alternative way to honor players, like a Ring of Fame or something, that put their number up there but left it available for use. Clyde and Bill could have their numbers retired officially, but many of the other guys could just be remembered and their numbers kept available.

—Dave

by Dave on Apr 23, 2008 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember Rod...

...wanting #1, even though it had been “Retired” in honor of Larry Weinberg.

Larry said, “hey no problem” and Rod got #1.

Since then, other Blazers have worn #1 without even a peep in that direction. (Derek Anderson, Rod again, Jarret Jack now.). And Weinberg’s name while still “retired” has been seemingly disassociated with the #1.

Now, this is a special case, of course, since Weinberg was an owner, and never “wore” a number at all.

But it’s also interesting to look at the case of Hollins, who wore both 14 and also 9 while with the Blazers. How did they decide to retire 14 rather than 9? Did they let him choose?

I like the idea of a “Walk of Fame” or something similar placed in the Rose Garden somewhere, like the outfield at Yankee Stadium.

Wherever you go, there you are.

by Majikj0n on Apr 23, 2008 10:24 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hang up #30

I like the point about not retiring every jersey that lead to a winning season. However, I think TP has earned it. You can see from my screename that I might be a little biased, granted. But I think that team was special… and he was special. He’s number 11 on the NBA’s all-time assist leaders. IMO Kersey, Buck, Duck, Uncle Cliffy were dang good role players… TP and Clyde were the ones that made it happen.

by porterfan30 on Apr 23, 2008 8:31 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hey, retire all the starting 5

I think all 5 of the 1990-92 starters deserve to have numbers retired. (There wouldn’t have been any finals without all of them including Kevin Duckworth, say what you want.) But Porter was the #2 key player who got them there and there just shouldn’t be any question.

Porter was a good point guard with a very good outside jump shot, which spread out the floor for everybody else and made it all happen. (My other favorite from those days: Mark Price, same kind of game.) He wasn’t a flash player but he was a steady, solid player and a GREAT Trail Blazer.

by jtanzer on Apr 23, 2008 10:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs