That was the most unnecessarily awesome dribble ever.

how come he didnt get called with an up and down?

if it had been choreographed and rehearsed for weeks. Awesome.

and finding fault with that play is like complaining that the write brothers didn’t go far enough, it was AMAZING. and you can not do it. I was shocked to see critisism in the comments, i had watched the vidio first.

...to make that move even sweeter, I believe that’s Bill Laimbeer being posterized…

I have enjoyed reading all the tributes to Terry Porter (here and elsewhere). With apologies to fans of Petrie, Porter is the 4th most important player in the history of the franchise. Everyone remembers how spectacular Drexler was, but Porter (aka “huevos rancheros”) was usually the guy who stepped up and hit the big shot or made the huge play at the end of the game.

As a point guard, his stats were very, very impressive but they were overshadowed because he played at the same time and in the same conference as Stockton and Magic.

The first specific memory that comes to mind with TP is from the “Make It Happen” video of the ‘92 season (which I usually stop at the end of game 4). Anyway, they show the Chicago huddle, and Phil Jackson is screaming at his players to get up on Porter, don’t let him shoot a 3 because it’s a like a free throw for him. There were several other playoffs games that year where he absolutely lit up the other team, one in particular against the Jazz in the WCF if memory serves.

When it comes to retiring numbers, there are several problems with Porter that need to be shoved aside:

1. The fact that Portland (Weinberg, specifically) got really stupid and retired jerseys for players who clearly do not deserve it. Even Twardzik admits that it is ridiculous that he got his number retired. I think it was, I don’t know, like a promotional event that was completely unnecessary since we had, what, a 19 year sellout streak? So now the franchise is in this awkward spot because, well, if they were to retire the jerseys of everyone who was equally deserving as the folks who have them now, we would be out of numbers.

2. Number 30 was also worn by Bob Gross and (shudder…) Rasheed Wallace. When you factor in Gross’ performance in the ‘77 finals, he is at least as deserving as several other players from that championship team. And Rasheed Wallace, from a pure talent standpoint, is definitely in the top 10 in Portland history (that would make an interesting topic, but has probably been done in here already).

I say, forget all that. Forget that Porter was a low draft pick, and took several years to develop into a real point guard. Forget that he didn’t win a title in Portland. Forget that he was overshadowed by Drexler, Stockton, Magic. Forget the other players who wore #30. Just look at his lifetime stats, his stats in his prime years, and his intangible values as a floor general and a leader inside the locker room and in the community, and hang Porter’s #30 jersey from the rafters NOW!!!!! The longer Blazer management waits, the more insane the oversight/snub.

OK, that got my mind racing… so just for fun, I compared Porter’s stats to Stockton’s in years 2-8 (right before Rod Strickland came in to town, and TP was subsequently jettisoned to the TWolves)...

FG%/3pters/3pt%/FT%/RPG/APG/SPG/PPG
Porter: .480/606/.386/.851/3.9/8.1/1.8/16.7
Stockton: .517/237/.353/.835/2.7/12.2/2.7/13.9

Porter played 567 games and 35 minutes a game during that span, while Stockton played 570 games and average 33 minutes per game. Stockton was obviously better on assists and steals, and a better FG%, but Porter was a better scorer, three point shooter, free throw shooter, and rebounder (and before you say Karl Malone hurt some of Stockton’s stats, the same can be said of Porter/Drexler).

I’m not trying to argue that Porter was better than Stockton because he wasn’t… BUT, anyone who lived through that era knew that Porter was very, very close to Stockton’s equal (IIRC, they were two of the final cuts from the ‘84 Olympic Trials).

TP4BHOF

I was a young man, down on my luck. I was tough. My girlfriend at the time worked in a diner all day. She was working for her man, and she brought home her pay for love. I didn’t have much money, and I wanted to ask Khara to marry me. I couldn’t afford to buy her a ring.

I used to carry around a lump of coal for good luck. I was wandering around downtown Portland, looking forlorn and dejected. Terry Porter walked up to me and asked me what was wrong. I told him I was broke, in love, and wanted to ask my girlfriend to marry me, but all I had was a stupid lump of coal. Terry asked to see the lump of coal then he squeezed it between his tender hands into a diamond. He handed it back to me and said, “Now go ask that woman to marry you.”

I ran all the way home and asked Khara to marry me. She said yes, then she gave me a ride back downtown to pick up my car. You all know the rest of the story.

I read it someplace that dunking point guards are the bee’s knees.

Many years ago my sailboat got nailed by a whale in the middle of the night. I woke up as the boat was filling with water. Luckily I was able to get the lifeboat launched and me and my dog made it out of the sinking boat. We bobbed around for days in the Pacific… eventually I was spotted by a boat that just happened to be Terry Porter.

It turns out he used to go out to sea to work on his crossover and just happened to be making his annual “Crossover the Pacific” journey when he found me.

I believe that Paul Allen and Kevin Pritchard, with the foundation that Terry Porter laid, have perfected the Ocean Crossover Dribble Trainer™ which has been secretly developed on board Paul Allen’s two yachts, the Octopus and the Tatoosh. Brandon Roy is obviously their prototype model and the result of years of Porter’s training and Allen’s utilization of the brightest minds in the world.

I’m only a modest bit player in the whole scheme of things but I’m happy to let you know just how important Terry Porter is to me personally. In addition to being the greatest PG the Blazers have ever had.