the most missed former trail blazer?

by brittquinn on Feb 9, 2010 10:04 PM PST

with all the trade speculations amongst the blazers fans, there seems to be a huge fear underlying the discussion of trading away THE guy who ends up going to another team and becoming an all-star. with all the depth and apparent needs that this roster will need it appears as though a trade should and will happen, yet the question of who to trade is one that stirs up a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

my question is not which blazer should be traded now, but the former blazer that you miss the most now and whose trade still haunts you to this day... ?

a lot of people bring up jermaine o'neal and that was most certainly painful, but many quality basketball players have worn the red and black only to come back to the rose garden and make us look foolish. not to say that this is at all surprising or unavoidable.

tentative, safe, overly-stacked rosters can lead to discontent, lack of chemistry, and underdeveloped players. i understand the fears of losing quality, young players like cunningham, bayless, or rudy because it just feels safer to have them riding our bench rather than torching us for the opponents. it's not logical at all, but seems to be a real fear amongst the avid blazers fans.

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jermaine o

Numerically Blazers Edge is #25

by Outlaw is Rejector on Feb 9, 2010 10:14 PM PST reply actions

channing

we could really use him right now

Awesomeness (ô'səm-nes)
1. n. Something that inspires awe
2. n. Nicolas Batum

by thomasikehara on Feb 9, 2010 10:15 PM PST reply actions

Moses Malone.

Traded for cash.

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Feb 9, 2010 10:21 PM PST reply actions

1st round draft choice

then Buffalo traded him to Houston for two 1st round draft choices

Walton’s quote “you didn’t trade him away, you gave him away”

My ranking of all-regrets deals in Portland history: Moses is #1, Fat Lever is #2 and Jerm is #3.

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Feb 9, 2010 10:47 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

agree!

& rec.

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Feb 9, 2010 10:50 PM PST up reply actions

Lever and Natt in the same deal...

The Blazers chose to go with Bowie and Kiki over Lever, Natt, Jordan, and Cooper. Did we really need a center that badly?

PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04

by tssbro on Feb 10, 2010 6:26 AM PST up reply actions

but that wasn't the choice

Bowie had already been drafted, then the Kiki trade was made later that summer

I think it was Steve Duin (Oregonian columnist) who wrote a column years later that explored the premise “what if the Blazers had drafted Jordan and not made the Kiki deal during the ’84 offseason?” This was a fun game of revisionist history, but to my knowledge the Blazers hadn’t considered the Kiki trade in the days leading up to the NBA draft. They could have had preliminary conversations with Denver at draft time, of course

But to answer your question…yes, the Blazers needed a center to defend Kareem. And Ramsay’s offense called for a high-post passing center (think Walton) and they thought Sam was the best fit for this role. Mychal Thompson and Wayne Cooper were having difficulty defending the elite centers of the NBA (Kareem, Moses, etc) and the Blazers were getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs just about every season.

A few years later, the architects of the Bowie-Kiki decisions of ’84 (Ramsay-Inman) were gone, replaced by Schuler-Buckwalter-Spoelstra and the roster was converted to a more uptempo squad, once again in an effort to match up with L*A

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Feb 10, 2010 9:18 AM PST up reply actions

Yes, technically two separate choices

And really the major issue with the team at that point was believing that Ramsay’s system would get them back to a title. Why else would you choose Valentine over Lever, Kiki over Natt, and Bowie over Jordan?
They believed Ramsey and his system would trump a team full of talented, athletic runners. My history is revisionist but I thought that was the point of the post. I see how that draft pick and that trade fit into what the team was doing at the time but take away the system and I think it would be interesting to see what a Lever, Jordan, Drexler, Thompson, Cooper, Natt, Carr rotation would have produced in the 80s.

PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04

by tssbro on Feb 10, 2010 9:51 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

I still remember Duin's article (at least I think it was Duin, he was the "Canzano" of the '80s)

he speculated that without the Kiki deal Denver would’ve continued to struggle and Doug Moe would’ve been let go. Then Ramsay would’ve gone crazy trying to coach MJ and Clyde and been replaced with Moe and the Blazers would’ve run a passing-game offense with Lever, Jordan, Drexler, Natt, Thompson (etc) and been da bomb

It’s fun to think about, but as it turned out Bucky did a great job of rolling over that roster in short order and if Portland had gotten Sabonis to come over in the late ‘80s, we’d be talking about more than one championship in this franchise’s history

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Feb 10, 2010 1:45 PM PST up reply actions

James Robinson

"I was surprised, I was listening to the coach on the bench and behind me, she touches me and says, ‘Rudy, I love you. Nice to meet you. Good game.’ - Rudy

by The Mallorcan Rocket on Feb 9, 2010 10:34 PM PST via mobile reply actions

Hollywood

Hollywood City!

"I was surprised, I was listening to the coach on the bench and behind me, she touches me and says, ‘Rudy, I love you. Nice to meet you. Good game.’ - Rudy

by The Mallorcan Rocket on Feb 9, 2010 10:35 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

brian grant

him and damon together could have salvaged something during those dark ages..

by SgtPepper14 on Feb 9, 2010 10:35 PM PST reply actions

In my heart I agree...

My head tells me they made the best choice. Miami paid him way too much and I don’t blame him for taking it or the Blazers for letting him go.

PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04

by tssbro on Feb 10, 2010 6:33 AM PST up reply actions

Drazen Petrovic

Imagine if we had him waiting in the wings in 1993 when Clyde got injured. And it could have changed everything that happened to him afterward.

by Timmay! on Feb 9, 2010 10:36 PM PST reply actions

by medmelon on Feb 10, 2010 8:23 AM PST up reply actions

shavlick Randolph

obviously

by rolo_poloo on Feb 9, 2010 10:39 PM PST reply actions

michael jordan?

greg oden

(what do you mean, he still plays for the blazers?)

If you weren't a jail blazers fan...
you aren't a trail blazers fan.

by rudy fernandez forever on Feb 9, 2010 10:53 PM PST reply actions

Brian Grant

"We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world's been turning." - E. E. Cummings

by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Feb 9, 2010 10:55 PM PST reply actions

Sergio

by Blazersaurus on Feb 10, 2010 2:25 AM PST reply actions

It's got to be Jarrett Jack.

If looking for all the things we want in a PG, he has them all. And unless you get a Superstar, every player will also have weaknesses. You just have to live with them.

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by T Darkstar on Feb 10, 2010 5:38 AM PST reply actions

Interesting...

I think the jury is still out on this one. I was sad to see Jack go and I think we would have been better last year with him and maybe even this year but long term, I see Bayless coming around and being better than JJ. Also, they had to make some room for Rudy to get minutes.

PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04

by tssbro on Feb 10, 2010 6:37 AM PST up reply actions

I likes me some JJ.

You don't need a Maserati to mow the lawn.

by pxilpooshr on Feb 10, 2010 8:18 AM PST up reply actions

i miss the rights to the #20 pick that became paul grant.

the only man stronger than shaq.

dinasour type of guys choir boys

by mittsabishy on Feb 10, 2010 8:41 AM PST reply actions

Chris Paul...

We left him on the board and took Martell instead…

"whoever scores the most points is probably gonna win the game"

by kobestopper on Feb 10, 2010 9:26 AM PST reply actions

It's Ha

It was great chanting “Put in HA. Put in HA” during the preseason 4 years ago. I am not sure he ever saw an NBA court though. Does anyone remember what happend to him?

by GoodTime Jones on Feb 10, 2010 12:48 PM PST reply actions