The All-Time Historical Portland Trail Blazers Draft

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a long and glorious history in the NBA Draft. Admittedly, they’ve also had some ignominious moments. Late last week we asked Blazer’s Edge readers to help us celebrate the former and make up for the latter by participating in an All-Time Historical Trail Blazers Draft.

The premise was simple. Four readers would play General Manager for the Blazers, selecting from the entire history of the team. Drafting in snake order (A-B-C-D-D-C-B-A) they’d each form a team of 10

players. We wanted actual teams with synergy: offense, defense, chemistry, you name it. After the selections were done, we’d put their teams before the rest of the community to see which squad you thought would be the ultimate overall unit.

The GMs

Several dozen readers answered the call. From them we chose these four:

ANTHONY

I’m a lifelong Blazer fan (starting early in the Trader Bob era) and some of my earliest memories are watching games or listening to the Schonz and then Wheels while falling asleep (8pm bedtime, brutal!). Sadly, a core memory is burying my head in the coach so nobody would see me crying after game 7 in 2000. 

As a Blazer historian, exercises like this and other hypotheticals are my Roman Empire. I talk about this type of thing with my brothers and Blazer fan friends all the time. A more recent hobby is plugging them into ChatGPT, like this morning after reading the article, I asked it to simulate adding a 23yo Sheed to the current roster, and then to compare it to adding Clyde. I’m also familiar with the Steve Johnsons, Jim Barnetts, and Mychal Thompsons of the world.

JOE

I have a basketball background as a player. I was also a Head Coach and  GM for a minor league basketball franchise.

I attended my first blazer game in 1975 and have been a diehard true Blazer fan ever since that game. I consider myself equal to any of the greatest Blazer fans ever.

I still attend games regularly. I watch every game that I do not attend on tv.

The Trailblazer GM position would be my dream job.

ERICK M

My Blazer fandom goes back to winning the Avia Write Along With The Blazers contest in 1984, earning me tickets to my first game (Blazers 119 Rockets 138) and extends to today with me, in section 311, cheering till I’m blue in the face. 

My Dad had never watched an NBA game until June of 1977. Game 6 was at halftime when my Mom called him in from the garden to watch it. Who knows when they’ll get to the championship again. As the story goes, he picked me up on his knee and watched the game with me until they won. This is such a sweet story to hear… except that my Mom (an otherwise loving woman) to this day, refutes my claim at never having seen the Blazers win a championship. She says, I know, I was there, I watched it with you and Dad. 

Here’s to getting on in 2028 when I can fulfill my real destiny of climbing on a light pole on Broadway.

ERIC F

This is something that I have actually put quite a bit of thought into over the years, and have actually had many discussions about with former Blazers Executives.

Former coach and General Manager [name redacted for privacy] is a family friend. He went to college and played basketball with my grandfather. I have had many lengthy and in-depth conversations with him about the Blazers with regard to their draft picks, player development, strategies, etc. [Plenty of extra info given, but we’ll not share that publicly without Eric’s permission.]

Before we proceed further, I also want to give a hearty thank you to everyone else who wrote in. I read all your emails. I’m sure if we did this again (and we may) many more people would be qualified to participate. But Joe, Erick, Anthony, and Eric seemed super interesting, so we went with them for this experiment!

The Draft

The draft was held Sunday night and Monday. Our participants did a great job. So now, without further ado, let’s introduce you to their rosters. GM’s are listed in the order they drafted. Players within each team are listed in the order each GM selected them. Coaches were selected in reverse order from players (fourth GM got first pick of coach, etc.)

Take a look at the teams. Afterwards we’ll pose questions for you to answer.

Team Joe

COACH–Lenny Wilkens

1. Bill Walton
2. Maurice Lucas
3. Zach Randolph
4. Rod Strickland
5. Lionel Hollins
6. Calvin Natt
7. Drazen Petrovic
8. Fat Lever
9. Steve Johnson
10. Jermaine O’Neal

GM NOTES:

Walton- One of the most dominant big men of all time. If we match up against Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Jokic, etc… Big Red is going to come to win and play at an extremely high level in all facets of the game. Born champion and leader, all time great teammate. NBA Champion/Finals MVP. NCAA Champion/MVP. California High School State Champion/MVP. 

Lucas- All NBA level scorer and rebounder. NBA 1st team all defense selection. 5 NBA All Star games. World Champion. Chemistry with Walton unmatched.High Character. As tough as they come. 

ZBO- Elite and relentless on the offensive boards. Consistent top tier scoring from the post and mid range. Multiple NBA All-Star games. Extreme toughness and competitiveness that would carry over to any era. 

Strickland- Among the best ball handlers and passers in NBA history. Unselfish playmaker who could score as well. Made his teammates better. Size and athleticism.

Hollins- NBA 1st team all defense. NBA All Star. NBA Champion. Excellent scorer and superior defender. Leader and winner.

Natt- NBA All-Star. Highly efficient scorer and legit rebounder. Exceptional strength and competitiveness. Along with Lucas and ZBO makes this roster super tough. 

Petrovic- Excellent shooter and scorer. All-NBA 3rd team. Basketball Hall of Fame. With Strickland and Hollins creating and Walton’s passing – Petrovic might lead the league in scoring on this roster. 

Lever- NBA 2nd team all defense. All NBA 2nd team. 2 time NBA All-star. Playmaker and scorer. Outstanding defender. 

Steve Johnson- Outstanding low post scoring. Led league in FG percentage. NBA All Star. Would back up Walton on this roster making this a super efficient position for the Blazers.

Jermaine O.- Size, athleticism and scoring ability. 6 time NBA-All Star. Several selections to the all league team. 

Coach: Lenny Wilkins- NBA Champion coach. Named to the top 15 NBA coaches of all time. Basketball Hall of Fame as player and coach. On this roster he may be a player/coach as he did so during his career. First class character.

Team Erick M

COACH–Terry Stotts

1. Clyde Drexler
2. Sidney Wicks
3. Cliff Robinson
4. CJ McCollum
5. Kiki Vandeweghe
6. Nicolas Batum
7. Andre Miller
8. Shareef Abdur-Rahim
9. Kevin Duckworth
10. Kenny Carr

GM NOTES:

With the second pick, I got hit with the biggest Blazer debate – Dame or Clyde. I agonized but

ultimately went with Clyde because of his unique blend of size and skill.

I debated this one for quite a while. I wanted front court grit and scoring and took Sidney Wicks to fill that valuable role.

Looks like I’m building my team for the modern NBA. Uncle Cliffy could do it all from multiple

positions and was incredibly durable, so we can count on him night after night.

This Blazer team isn’t going to have trouble scoring! Kiki’s effortless touch, craftiness with the ball, and all-time great free throw shooting will help us outscore anyone and everyone.

Then the dread began. I wanted Mychal Thompson, Pippen or Paxson – all were gone.

But every team needs its Swiss Army Knife and now we have ours. Nico is a defensive stopper, capable of making a critical inbounds or connective pass and capable of scoring a bucket.

We need some swagger and Andre Miller is going to provide that in droves.

I can’t believe Shareef Abdur-Rahim was still available at that point! Such a versatile player. Plug him in anywhere on the floor and ring up 18 points.

Duckworth feels like a solid big to bring off the bench. He could score for us with his great touch, and I feel like his range would help this team.

I actually considered Mike Schuler as coach, the next best winning percentage among available coaches. Ultimately though, Stotts’ offensive acumen won out for me. I think he could coach this offensive-minded bunch to another march down Broadway.

Team Anthony

COACH–Rick Adelman

1. Damian Lillard
2. LaMarcus Aldridge
3. Jerome Kersey
4. Geoff Petrie
5. Mychal Thompson
6. Buck Williams
7. Wesley Matthews
8. Steve Smith
9. Deni Avdija
10. Theo Ratliff

GM NOTES:

Damian Lillard – Greatest Blazer of all time, superstar, one of the best leaders ever. Not much more needs to be said

LaMarcus Aldridge – Consistent, healthy, versatile two-way star. Would be a fun redo but with prime Dame firmly ensconced as the #1 (intended to pick Sheed/Cliffy 2-3, LMA/Kersey were fine fall backs but this is where my draft strategy started pivoting) 

Jerome Kersey – Gritty hustle play, strong defense, wing slashing and scoring, and his personality made him a fit next to Dame/LMA (tempting to take Porter as BPA though!) 

Geoff Petrie – I saw him as the clear BPA and last remaining star. A shooter in his era, love the potential as a flamethrower from three today

Mychal Thompson – Arguably most underrated Blazer of all time. Versatile two-way borderline star, first ever to start at all 5 positions 

Buck Williams – Adds defense, heart and grit, and rebounding (and never missed games). All-Star talent who was willing to take a backseat (this pick completed the pivot. Disappointed to miss Sheed/Cliffy, but then pleasantly surprised to snag Petrie and Buck. These four picks changed my draft)

Wes Matthews – Iron Man and franchise’s best 3nD player (imo) make him a great complementary piece for an all-time team. Supporting cast defensive, gritty identity now well established 

Steve Smith – Elite size and shooting, solid playmaking and defense. Leaning into health and good citizenship 

Deni Avdija – Adds to supporting cast identities while providing solid shooting and playmaking 

Theo Ratliff – Few minutes may be available, but adds elite rim protection. Might be okay offensively as a rim running big with shooters rather than basically a 0 as a 90s/00s style big 

Rick Adelman – BCA w/Dr. Jack gone, think he’d be a pretty good fit for this roster

Team Eric F

COACH–Jack Ramsay

1. Brandon Roy
2. Rasheed Wallace
3. Terry Porter
4. Arvydas Sabonis
5. Scottie Pippen
6. Jim Paxson
7. Brian Grant
8. Carmelo Anthony
9. Danny Ainge
10. Jusuf Nurkic

GM NOTES:

There’s only one Dr. Jack Ramsay and he would be the perfect coach to guide this team. Ramsay said that Bill Walton was the best player he ever coached and I suspect he would say the same about Sabonis. With Sabonis’ passing abilities and off the charts basketball IQ complimented by veteran leadership, shooting, grit and defense, one can envision the absolutely beautiful style of basketball this team would play with Ramsay’s guidance. Ramsay is the all-time winningest coach in Blazers history and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

My starting five (Porter, Roy, Wallace, Pippen, Sabonis) has it all: shooting, defense, size, rebounding, passing, court vision, leadership and toughness. Three of the five starters were All-Stars with the Blazers (Porter, Roy, Wallace) and Pippen was a 7x All-Star prior to coming to the Blazers which you can argue does add and translate to this team’s success.

Porter possesses a high basketball IQ, excellent outside shooting and his overall game compliments his backcourt mate Brandon Roy in virtually every way. A backcourt tandem of Roy and Porter would be lethal. Porter was a 2x All-Star with the Blazers.

One cannot argue with the talent, leadership, and clutch play of Brandon Roy. Kobe Bryant once said that Roy was the most difficult player to guard in the NBA because there were no weaknesses in his game. Roy was named Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie First Team, All NBA Third Team, All NBA Second Team, and a 3x NBA All-Star with the Blazers. Had his career not been cut short by injuries, he may well have gone on to become the greatest Blazer of all time.

Every team needs a great center and it doesn’t get much better than Sabonis. Arguably the best passing center of all time, his court vision and offensive arsenal are legend. He was Jokic before Jokic. Sabonis finished second in NBA Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year voting while with the Blazers. Sabonis is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Although some might say that Pippen was past his prime when he joined the Blazers in the late 90s, he instantly transformed the Blazers into real title contenders upon his arrival. His athleticism, defense, versatility, leadership and championship pedigree fits like a glove on any all-time great NBA team. Pippen is a top 50 player of all time, and is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, once for his individual career and once as a member of the Dream Team.

Wallace is arguably the most talented power forward in Blazers history. He was loved by his teammates and brought a toughness and grit that would serve any team extremely well. He was central to the Blazers’ success in the mid to late 90’s and early 2000’s. He was a 2x All-Star with the Blazers.

My bench has instant offense, shooting and high basketball IQ in the backcourt. In the front court, you have size, defense, rebounding, hustle, versatility and an all-time great shooter and scorer in Melo. Paxson was an All-Star with the Blazers and Melo was a 10x All-Star prior to coming to the Blazers.

The Big Questions

Having seen the squads and heard the explanations from the GM’s, here are the questions we’d like to address in the comments. Pick any or all.

1. Which team is the best overall? Analyze them as you would any NBA team. Offense? Defense? Three-point range? Chemistry? Get down and dirty. Remember to consider only a player’s tenure in Portland when making your judgments.
2. Which pick(s) surprised you most? Anyone taken too early or late?
3. If you want a fun bonus exercise, could you form a team of 10 from the players these GM’s didn’t select that could compete with any of the teams? What would your honorable mention squad be?

Thanks again to Anthony, Eric F, Joe, and Erick M! We’ll probably do this again in the next summer or two, maybe with eight GM’s and teams next time!