As we work our way through the Portland Trail Blazers offseason of 2025, an intriguing question has come to my mind. Usually people ask me the Mailbag questions, but today I’m going to ask all of you.
As we look at Trail Blazers players throughout history, an interesting reality presents itself. The actual play and/or contributions of players on the court doesn’t always align with the credit they get. Some players get a huge amount of notice and/or memory among Blazers fans. Others are quickly forgotten
even if they were really good for the franchise.
That forms the core of my question: if you had to name the most underrated Trail Blazers player ever, who would you nominate?
Let’s define terms for a second. Underrated does not imply good or bad necessarily. Like we just said, it measures the difference between a player’s actual impact and the credit/memory they receive. We’re not just talking about an individual’s talent, but how his talent is perceived and remembered by the fan base.
I can give you a clear example from the world of music. Bob Dylan has seen a resurrection in popular consciousness lately, wholly appropriate not just because of his individual talent, but his ability to speak out in song through times of turmoil and strife. Dylan was a legend in his own time and is generally credited as such today.
If you like or respect Bob Dylan’s music, though, I would like to introduce you to Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot. Like Dylan, both worked through the medium of guitar and both were skilled lyricists. Where Dylan’s melodies tended to be repetitive, Croce’s and Lightfoot’s were intricately crafted and, at times, near-symphonic. Dylan’s wordings were poetic. The things he said were striking and clever. Croce’s and Lightfoot’s lyrics weren’t as crafty, but they were somehow right, the perfect word and turn of phrase if not the most epic or beautiful.
In no way would I say Lightfoot and Croce were better than Dylan. But they are more underrated than Dylan, receiving less exposure and popular remembrance for songs that were, in their way, just as amazing.
See how that works? Now, who are the Jim Croci and Gordon Lightfeet for the Portland Trail Blazers? Share your impressions, nominees, and reasoning in the comment section as you help us take a walk down the less-traveled walks of memory lane.
