In response to the potential 3-on-3 basketball tournament being discussed as a future Olympic event, SBN and SBN-NBA has decided to run their very own 3-on-3 tourney featuring players from each team around the NBA.
The actual tournament they're running will feature current players from each squad. Barring any revolutionary trades, that's not going to engender much discussion on the part of Trail Blazers fans. I'm just going to assume that the majority of Portland fans would opt for a LaMarcus Aldridge-Nicolas Batum-Damian Lillard trio. If you want to argue for another lineup (including Wesley Matthews or what have you) feel free to do so, but unless there's an uprising in the comment section we'll just submit Aldridge-Batum-Lillard as our three in the official tourney and be done with it. They'll be a sexy-ish "in the know" pick until they run up against any trio from the Lakers, Thunder, Clippers, or (depending on the level of analysis) Spurs and then the tourney judges are going to dump our squad on their collective butts. End of story.
Since that selection process is a fait accompli I decided we should try a different 3-on-3 scenario. What if each franchise has to select three players from its history to form the ultimate 3-on-3 squad? Which three Blazers would you choose? Remember we're not talking about raw talent alone. They have to fit together basketball-wise and match up against other all-time greats from different teams. Also keep in mind that only the years a player served with the Trail Blazers count. You can't have Chicago's Scottie Pippen, you have to have Portland's.
Who would make your Ultimate, All-Time Trail Blazer 3-on-3 squad and why? Weigh in below.
--Dave (blazersub@gmail.com)