6 Trail Blazers Stars Worth Remembering

ThePortland Trail Blazers特许经营权拥有三名在达米安·利拉德（Damian Lillard），比尔·沃尔顿（Bill Walton）和克莱德·德雷克斯勒（Clyde Drexler）的球员中猛增的球员。无论是冠军，持续的成功还是统计数据，这一群体都拥有所有标准。

Yesterday we allshared a little about this great trioat the behest of Liam, a 12-year-old reader who wanted to know who the best players we’ve ever seen in Portland were.

今天，作为一项后续活动，我想分享一些非常出色的球员，而年轻的利亚姆可能没有听说过，或者可能没有完全赞赏。我将在这里走一条棘手的线路，避免大多数在波特兰传奇的球员，球迷们将自动评价很高。（例子包括Arvydas Sabonis和Brian Grant。）我们想参加那些站在最好的球员中，但出于何种原因而被提及的球员更少。

We’ll go chronologically, including only players I’ve actually experienced. For anything in the 70’s, you other readers will have to help.

Mychal Thompson and Jim Paxson

These two are both obvious stars, higher profile than we’d normally include on a list like this. But they get lost in the wash of time because they played in the early ‘80’s, when Portland was defining teams by 1977 Championship standards and finding them lacking.

Thompson, the first-overall pick in the 1978NBA Draft, was a buttery-smooth scorer who could also rebound well and played one heck of a smart game. His defense was hampered a bit by injuries, but he was one of the better all-around centers the Blazers have ever fielded. He scored a career-high 20.8 points and 11.7 rebounds in 1981-82, shooting over 52% from the field. Any center doing that nowadays would get Top 5 mention at the position easily.

Paxson was Portland “lost” All-Star, earning nominations in 1983 and 1984, scoring 21.7 and 21.3 points per game, respectively. Paxson was a master of moving without the ball, creating passing angles for himself, then releasing with a deadly-accurate jumper. His highest career percentages from the field hovered around 53%. That’s center-at-the-rim territory. He finished with a career field goal percentage of 49.8%, For a guard to take over 9000 shots in the NBA and hit half of them is impressive.

Danny Ainge and Cliff Robinson

We talked about Clyde Drexler yesterday. His runs to the 1990 and 1992NBA Finals是传奇。他周围还有一个出色的首发阵容，包括传奇人物特里·波特（Terry Porter）和杰罗姆·凯西（Jerome Kersey）。但是波特兰成功的秘密酱汁以丹尼·奥吉（Danny Ainge）和悬崖鲁滨逊（Cliff Robinson）的形式从替补席上脱颖而出。

安吉（Ainge）是一名NBA老兵，以他十年初的冠军冠军而闻名波士顿凯尔特人队. He had talent, but he was a glue guy with nothing to glue in Sacramento, where he played for the Kings. When the Blazers got him, he immediately slotted in behind Porter at point guard and Drexler at shooting guard, creating a triangle that provided rest for the backcourt without ever sacrificing shooting, scoring, and smarts. Ainge helped the Blazers gel from a very good upstart team into a team that barely lost.

Cliff Robinson came along in the 1990 NBA Draft, a second-round player who didn’t fit into any particular position on the floor. But at 6’11, with mobility and athleticism, plus a large scoop of confidence, he ended up playing nearly every position. He could defend anywhere on the floor and eventually became a 20-point scorer. He ended up playing until he was 40. You have to be great to do that!

Jermaine O’Neal

杰梅因·奥尼尔（Jermaine O’Neal）将继续成为六次全明星Indiana Pacersduring the prime of his career. But before he did that, he was the 17th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the height of the “Drafting Players out of High School” era. O’Neal didn’t prosper in his first couple seasons. He was trapped behind Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, and Arvydas Sabonis in a too-crowded frontcourt. But every once in a while he would uncork with a massive dunk or seat-shaking block, giving hints of what was to come. He would not reach that promise with the Blazers, but even watching him for 10 minutes in the right game was an unforgettable experience.

Steve Smith

The late-1990’s and early-2000’s Trail Blazers teams were packed with former NBA All-Stars, courtesy of General Manager Bob Whitsitt’s penchant for big names on jerseys.

Steve Smith was one of those. He was an All-Star in 1998 with theAtlanta Hawks，提出了他的三个20pg赛季之一。当他在1999年秋天来到波特兰时，预计他不会扮演这个角色，而是为达蒙·斯塔达米尔（Damon Stoudamire）和斯科蒂·皮蓬（Scottie Pippen）渗透和通过时为他提供了一个渠道。史密斯的三分球使他完成了任务。他在1999-00赛季的弧线投篮命中率40％。但是，他还带来了仍然持续的动力，并且具有不可思议的能力来吸引自克莱德·德雷克斯勒（Clyde Drexler）以来在波特兰从未见过的NBA裁判的好口哨。史密斯不是波特兰墙上的砖块，而是将进攻列入进攻的迫击炮。他与Pippen，Wallace和Sabonis一起，帮助创建了开拓者队见过的最全面，多功能的首发阵容之一。

Those are my six players you wouldn’t immediately think of, but who were unmissable stars for Portland. Who would you add to the list for Liam?

Don’t forget to send your own Mailbag questions to blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll answer as many as we can!