Greatest "Other" Blazer Ever

But Drazen was my favorite.

Even though he is the poster boy of the Jordan shrug, I still love him dearly. Plus I got his autograph at a gas station when I was about 8 or so. Sadly, that is still my best blazer encounter….

I don’t have a favorite, that’s for sure. The players who fit this category were either Jail Blazers or played so long ago that I know next to nothing about them.

I guess I vote for Petrie, just on what I’ve read about him.

but from from everything I’ve read, watched, and heard my vote for best goes to Petrie

my favorite would have to be JR Rider. He was my first jerseyshirt and i was too young to understand the bad stuff.

Hands down.

sheed

...favorite ball boy between the years of 80-84?

that said, how about we chalk one up for billy ray bates…

This is an incredibly strict criteria, so it’s gonna warrant good responses.

I wanted to pick Steve Smith, or Brian Grant, but I believe they are both disqualified. I can’t even go left field and pick a humanitarian like Christ Dudley because I believe he was on the roster for a Conference Finals Team. I’m even tempted to pick Moses Malone, although he never played with us, he definately was a big factor in our only title (Maurice Lucas).

My hope is that my pick will shock, and surprise, and maybe, just maybe pick up steam. More than likely I will be buried by making this selection, but at least listen to my reasoning.

Sam Bowie
Height 7’1” Weight 235
Drafted by: The Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round (2nd pick, 2nd overall) of the 1984 Draft.

Who are the Portland Trail Blazers Without Sam Bowie?
This is a question that has been debated endlessly since the conclusion of that 1984 draft, it is a question that has never truly been answered, and really cannont be answered because of the dynamics of NBA basketball. Sure the Blazers could have drafted Michael Jordan, and he could have backed up Clyde Drexler, or maybe at best challenged him for minutes, but in the end this was Clydes team as soon as the coaching staff saw the versatility of the man they stole late in the first round of the 1983(?) draft. Question:

Best shooter in Blazers history.

Drazen>MJ

je…...Ruben Boumje-Boumje. Or Vladimir Stephania. Any of those angels who were our saving grace to bail us out after Sabonis retired.

Gary Trent!

This guy came in with such a big wrap as the next Sir Charles… I have the same body type, so I love it….

He even put up 24 points in a game for the Blazers.

but that’s a dull choice. Mychal Thompson wore those fantastic beads.

But remember how really, really excited we were about Billy Ray Bates.

Also, remember that Blazer heartbreak with high picks on Big Men did not start with Greg Oden’s knee, or Sam Bowies broken leg, or Mychal Thompson’s flakiness, or Bill Walton’s feet, but rather with LaRue Martin’s absolute suckiness, #1 pick in 1972. Bob McAdoo was picked next, Dr. J and Westphal later in the round. We must have been evaluating players based on Afro length

Vandeweghe, Natt, Kermit, Kenny Carr, Petrie, Thompson, Lever….

I guess I will vote for Calvin Natt. Tough as nails and a great competitor.

Although I love me some Kermit Washington.

no question….

Well, him or Veek-tor.

Not because he was particularly good or anything…just a cool name.

... All this talk is making me want the Blazers to use the 76-77 Jersey’s this year: Off-white (cream) with the vertical lettering and the pin-wheel. I think it was red road jerseys too.

lol.

his number should be retired too

Rod Strickland was pretty sweet. Also like Kiki.

Can we get an official list of eligible candidates? Seems everybody who’s awesome has been DQ’d.

I’m picking Joel Pryzbilla because I know for a fact that none of the years he’s been a Blazer were playoff years.

He’s the favourite, if not the best.
The best. Hmm. The restriction on years doesn’t help much. It would probably have to be Rod Strickland, but his greatest gifts to the franchise came before he was a Blazer (when he had that turnover for the Spurs) and when he left (bringing us ‘Sheed).

Greatest – Kiki.
There was a famous quote by him about his pale skin, when he was playing at UCLA. “The sun don’t shine in the gym”

Favorite – Darnell Valentine
I was a young fan during his best years, and I loved his style. And he had one of the best Blazer names, as we discussed on BE last year. A few years ago I saw him in a Blazers Alumni game at halftime, and if I remember correctly he could still dunk. He still wore his socks pulled up to his knees, too.

He’s become pretty underrated due to his time frame and who took over his position.

According to basketball-reference.com, he would be at the very front of the line if we got every player who ever played in the ABA/NBA to line up alphabetically, plus he is Egyptian.

The fact that he played 38 minutes of basketball in the 1991 and 1992 playoffs shouldn’t disqualify him from getting his due.

...the earliest I remember is the ‘75-’76 team, and I have vague memories of Walton being questioned by the FBI. My older brother and I would joke about Walton stubbing his toe and being out for the season (no more joking after ‘76-’77 though). Anyway, I regret that I don’t remember Geoff lighting it up in the early seventies (although my late uncle, who died during the first season’s play, did see that team on a few occasions).

He wasn’t the best “other” Blazer, and he was a notoriously fast burnout (the very definition of “too much, too soon”), but I remember Billy Ray Bates at his exhilarating best during his brief tenure in the red and black. The greatest CBA/ten-day contract find the Blazers ever had?

Almost the Kwame Brown of his era – Tremendous untapped, never to be realized potential.

Billy Ray “Dunk” Bates. I was at the Paramount Theater watching the simulcast of the game where Kermit Washington threw the alley oop to Billy Ray for a buzzer beater over the Sixers. He couldn’t go left to save his life, though.

Probably the only NBA player who was also a sharecropper.

I’m not voting for him, just reminiscing. The correct choice is Petrie… unless you can base it on their careers after being a Blazer… in that case, it’s Moses Malone.

Walt Williams - I collected so many of his basketball cards. Wow. He was the guy I impersonated in pickup games for a while.
Jim Jackson - A 3 point journeyman that made a stop in Portland
Kenny Anderson - He was Bassy but better back in the day.
Aaron Mckie - My brother’s favorite player on NBA Live 96.
Kiki Vandaweghe - Quite possibly the funniest GM ever.
Jim Paxon - A solid, likeable point guard. Well, until he went to the Bulls.
Michael Holton - The lamest studio host. Ever.
Fernando Martin-Our first Spaniard.
Mychal Thompson - A solid center for us back in the 80s. And like Pryz, he was out of Minnesota.
Kelvin Ransey - A quick little point guard out of Ohio State who had a couple good years with us.
Calvin Natt—Once prolific scorer, now an ordained minister and owner of a funeral home in Denver.

The guy not yet mentioned who takes the cake as my favorite: Chris Dudley—Free throw expert.

Steve Kerr or Alaa Abdelnaby – EASILY

I dont even know why… oh yeah I do.. all my favs played in “banned eras”
and Hollywood is a cool name

By far, one of my favorite players ever… I just didn’t like his outside shooting.

just throwing it out here

DQ’d?

I don’t know why, maybe because his attitude was like the anti-porter.
My vote goes to Joel Przybilla, because I never liked anyone on those mid-90s teams, and all my other favorites played in the conference finals in ‘99 and 2000.
Theo Ratliff was my favorite for maybe a season, before he slipped into mediocrity.

Just had some flash backs …....... Stacey is my pic i always loved his play. Plus might i add a real cool dude off the court. i still think he was the most underrated defensive
player the blazers ever had.
I had to throw in Harvey Grant the other Grant brother who’s only shot was the right corner key shot he would always make. Out side of that he was garbage .and the old school version of Jordan Farmar…. Tracy Murray he was gunna be our main shooter but that was it …......and ended up being nothing
my two cent$

Why Arvydas Sabonis’ name is black listed, i’ll never know, but we can all agree that the Arvydas we never got to see (that is the young Arvydas trapped in Lithuania late 80’s early 90’s) may have been the best Blazer ever and a completely different player than the one we associate with the 2000 team. Therefore he should be allowed. Argument could have been made that had we got that Arvydas, things would have been different. Dynasties and the Hall of Fame maybe.

If we still won’t allow an Arvydas vote on that criteria, then my option B is Robert Pack to Future. Simply because he had the greatest nick name and poster.

only PTB to ever appear in a Dire Straits video

I know a lot of “old timers” gonna hate but its gotta be sheed