A reminder of how good Clyde Drexler was

Being a Portland Trail Blazers fan, re-watching the 1992 NBA Finals is always an arduous, yet enjoyable experience. On one hand, you have Michael Jordan destroying a Blazers team that were at the top of their game and looking to win the franchise's second ever title, but on the other, enjoying Clyde Drexler's game is a thing of joy.

(insert diatribe about how good the Glide was)

Now, back to those 1992 Finals. The video below is a short reminder of how good Drexler really was, featuring 21 of his greatest moments from that Finals series against his nemesis, His Airness.

over 2 years ago mookie 10 comments 1 recs |

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Clyde was awesome...

but did you ever consider that the worst thing Brandon may do in his career is to tarnish Clyde’s image a bit?

It was interesting to hear Jack Ramsey on the MSP (been a few weeks ago) saying Darnell Valentine was one of the hardest workers he ever saw. Gavin asks who worked the least, essentially who was the laziest. Without missing a beat, Ramsey says Clyde was the laziest.

It’s probably good we didn’t have blogs and twitters and such back in the day. Clyde was still the man.

The cowards never started
The weak died along the way
Only the strong survived
They were the Trailblazers

by lukeyhere on Sep 4, 2009 7:25 AM PDT reply actions

yep...

with Clyde, as great as he was, you always have the “what might he have been” thoughts. The guy had an almost unmatched combination of size, speed, strength, and natural athletic ability. What if he had the work ethic of Valentine? Heck, what if even just had the work ethic of the average NBA player.

How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009

by douglast on Sep 4, 2009 8:56 AM PDT up reply actions

I've heard about Clyde's laziness a lot. Seems like everyone around the team at that time did not approve of his work ethic.

I’ve also heard that it caused some team conflict, that Clyde would sometimes refuse to practice, and was treated as a first class player while the proletariat players had to actually show up and run drills. Ahh, what could have been.

by dario argento on Sep 4, 2009 2:34 PM PDT up reply actions

That got me all pumped up!

Love it when he Cheikh Samb’s Cartwright.

Dunk

by Billy Ray Bates on Sep 4, 2009 8:01 AM PDT reply actions

And Cartwright was no skinny rookie.

*Unless KP has a secret plan that makes this statement incorrect.
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by staylost on Sep 4, 2009 8:56 AM PDT up reply actions

Clyde could sure sky and finish

Beautiful stuff to watch again.

I’m hoping Martell has a good dose of glideness in him. That and Martell’s long-range shooting … watch out.

Duct tape makes you smart.

by TTRocks on Sep 4, 2009 1:39 PM PDT reply actions

clydes good

but not better than Roy will be

Trade for Luis Amundson!!Do it KP!!

by CroRupt on Sep 4, 2009 3:47 PM PDT reply actions

Roy definitely seems to have the potential to be better

Clyde was the defining player of the Blazers of the late 80s/early 90s, which is why it disappoints me so much to hear of his lack of work ethic. It just puts a dent in his armour a little…

Hard to imagine how good he could have been with MJ’s work ethic.

"You've been warned...!"
A Stern Warning : http://www.asternwarning.com

by mookie on Sep 4, 2009 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions

If only it was that easy.

Work ethic has to be taken just as another skill or physical attribute. Any skill can be honed, but you can’t change what you don’t got, so to speak. Clyde, with Jordan’s motivation, possibly would have eclipsed any accomplishments of Jordan. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

It’s not any different than marvelling over Bayless’ work ethic and wishing “if only” he had longer arms or something that just can’t be changed.

I think in hindsight we can be awfully proud of everything Clyde did for this team.

The cowards never started
The weak died along the way
Only the strong survived
They were the Trailblazers

by lukeyhere on Sep 5, 2009 9:19 AM PDT up reply actions

Clyde

As I recall, Clyde wasn’t injured much. Perhaps not overextending himself outside of game time helped preserve his body? I mean the lack of practice, etc.

by Stryder9 on Sep 5, 2009 7:11 AM PDT reply actions