Celebrating the Laborers

One the hardest working guys on the floor. I have related a story about his shot being blocked by Sir Charles and then Jerome chasing te Chuckster down and returning the favor. It was his type of play

Eddie Doucette used to call Chris Dudley “the hardest working man in basketball.” I guess there would have to be some truth to that, as Chris enjoyed a long NBA career based on defense and rebounding, and despite an offensive game that would embarrass even Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje.
But Dudley worked hard every night, unfortunately he wasn’t on teams gifted enough to allow him to shine as a defender. He was asked to do a little too much, and fans complained about his … how should I put this … lack of skill. But if we would just have gotten some shooters and slashers (only Cliff could score. James Robinson? Are you kidding?) and a center with some offensive skill (prior to Sabonis) then Dudley would have been a good rebonding and defending center off the bench.
And even with this, he still had a very long career. Props to Dudley, you truly were “the hardest working man in basketball.”

I’ll admit to not having seen him play at the time (I wasn’t born yet) or at all except for a couple of Comcast’s replays of classic games, but I still love his game. I just finished reading “Breaks of the Game” (phenomenal book!) and was totally impressed with how he fashioned himself into a basketball player. He wasn’t really the most athletic or skilled or gifted player, but he wanted it more than anyone else and was willing to work harder than anyone else to get it. His determination to move players and get rebounds was pretty inspiring.

Not to mention how hard he worked to rehabilitate his image and career after the Rudy Tomjanovich punch. Talk about off-court adversity to overcome….

(Sidenote: Is there anything more annoying than to have every athlete and commentator refer to every little struggle as “adversity” that needs to be “overcome?” Do you really “overcome adversity” when you successfully deal with the full-court press the other team threw at your second unit in the third quarter? Sheesh.)

I know he only played for us for one season, but while he did, he played his heart out every night. He was probably the lowest payed starter in the league at that point, but he went out and did what he needed to do every night, be it rebounding, stealing, tight defense, or even a clutch three. I wish Ime the best of luck wherever he goes in this league.

I remember Bill Schonely would say something like…

and Natt has brought his lunch bucket to the game again
Natt is Portland’s blue collar player

In his years with Portland, Natt made his mark with a mean inside game and voracious appetite for the ball.
-inside nike basketball

In life after basketball, Calvin Natt is an ordained Minister and owns the Calvin Natt Family Mortuary.

I’ll never forget—in the “glory years”—waiting for Buck Williams to take on Karl Malone. Those guys would bruatlize each other. Buck would be leaning on Karl and Karl would be backing him down and I’d be screaming at the television.

I remember the only nationally statistically ranked Blazer in those years was Buck for FG%. That was because every basket was a breakaway dunk or a 2nd chance bucket. Loved that guy. Loved him.

WIsh we still had him.

I don’t know how hard he worked in practice or off-season… but the dude brought it in games.

He was drafted by New Jersey 1st round 8th pick and averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal per game in New Jersey for 53 games as a rookie and then came to Portland for the final 25 and playoffs averaging 20 points 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal per game even with a 6 minute per game cut in his minutes (16%). I don’’t think there ever was a player we traded for that thrilled me more than Calvin (that team also had Bob Gross, Maurice Lucas, Kermit Washington and Tom Owens among others). Calvin was 6-6 and 220 pounds.

Calvin was the hardest worker and toughest player on the team. When a 6-6 guy gets those kind of points and steals and rebounds he is working very hard. In the playoffs he averaged 16 points and 8 rebounds against Seattle (then reigning Champion I believe) in losing three games.

Dang that guy hustled a lot…on and off the court.

No, seriously. Hear me out.

I know he was considered one of the “Jail Blazers,” but besides being a little bit of an idiot and getting punched in the eye by Z-Bo, he was a model citizen in Portland. Patterson left it all out on the court. I loved how he gave 150% every night, and I loved some of his quotes after games. If Rasheed would have had half Reuben’s tenacity, he would have been one of the greatest PFs of all time.

+1 that man spent more time laying out for lose basket balls then any one before or after. lunch box all the way

I just remember as a teen when Drazen joined the team in ‘89, and all you ever heard was how hard he was practicing and how many shots a day he was shooting. It just showed in his game so much. He seemed a bit stiff and upright sometimes in games, but when the ball hit his hands, all that practice showed with just a pure, refined shot. There was never a doubt. If he missed, it meant either the rim wasn’t up to spec or the air conditioning in Memorial Coliseum was blowing a little too much because for damn sure it wasn’t his stroke.

Buck Williams, and then I thought to a slightly more recent player, Brian Grant…how many elbows did that guy take from Malone?!? Did he start the “band-aide look” that Nelly used for a while?

…how about Larry Steele? When the subject of “lunch bucket” player comes up, I think of Steele. The guy would just punch his time card and give you a good days work every game. He was a defensive specialist (Adolf Rupp trained) who played his entire career with Portland. He rarely started, but saw his role as more of a support guy. He understood his job description and performed it dutifully. He has a ring and a retired jersey to prove his value.

I always felt better about the team when he was in the game. Damon was flashier and a more productive scorer. But Anthony got the team into the offense, worked his butt off on defense, and was a professional that just came in and did his job without a ton of fanfare. He has the same attitude about his work at ESPN and he always seems to have better info/predictions than his colleagues.

by far are the service workers who staff, clean, and make the whole show go…

that is what labor day should be about.

…I like most about being a Blazer fan is that The Blazers have always held the reputation of being a hard working franchise. LA is the franchise of flash and sports cars, while The Blazers have always been the 18 wheeler. The adversity we’ve faced as a franchise seems correct, makes winning that much sweeter. Even when we win the lottery, we still find a struggle attached, a year of patience and rehab and I think it makes us stronger. A working class reputation is part of this team. Here are some of my favorite individuals and why.

Jerome Kersey: Virtual unknown coming out of a small college. Small handed but amazing athlete. Held his own and shined for The Blazers against great competition through sheer effort and will power and hustle. Never felt nervous with Kersey against names like Worthy, Barkley, Rodman and Pippen because even though the opposition was great you always knew Kersey wasn’t going to be out hustled.

Buck Williams: Well respected. Broke an eye socket in round one of the playoffs against Dallas in 1990, put on what would become his trademark goggles and just kept going. I still remember when we won the Western Conference championship against Phoenix. CBS ran a half time feature promoting Tom Chambers. The announcers kept harping on how Chambers could win the game for Phoenix and all Buck did was buckle down and make Chambers a non-factor. Stripping him of the ball on a crucial game ending play. Buck was respected but not flashy, the cliche with him was that he did the dirty work. On a team with Drexler, it was Buck Williams inside presence that allowed that team to win Western Conference Championships.

Brian Grant: Already been said, but played with a lot of heart. Often was undersized against competition like Malone but in his prime matched or exceeded them on the court, again by simply working harder.

With The Blazers I think you could go on for a long time. Make arguements for numerous players, we’ve looked for and been lucky to have many many hard working players. I’m happy that this new group seems to already have that reputation with stories of voluntary extra workouts and early gatherings for extra time put in. The heritage of The Blazers being a hard working team is in good hands it seems with this group of players and Nate McMillan.

that guy has taken way too many shots from Shaq, give him an award