Portland Trail Blazers.
Welcome to the 5 best Portland Trail Blazers teams of all time. I’m going to mix up this list a little bit. Otherwise, there would be multiple versions of the Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton-led Blazer teams taking up most of the top 5 spots. Hopefully, that is not much of a spoiler, but who on here would really expect to NOT have those teams on this list
The 2013-14 Portland Trail Blazers managed to get out of the first round, but this was the better team. Before the Wesley Matthews injury, the team was outpacing the previous year’s record. They still ended the regular season with a 51-31 record despite a 10-11 finish after the Matthews and LaMarcus Aldridge injuries.
With the same core starting five of Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Robin Lopez, the Blazers also solidified their bench with the additions of Steve Blake, ” The Birdman” Chris Kaman, and Aaron Afflalo. After Matthews tore his Achillies Tendon, Afflalo was thrust into a starting role.
Lack of chemistry down the stretch along with LaMarcus playing through injury, led to a disappointing 4-1 exit at the hands of Memphis. If this team had stayed healthy, this would have been Lillard’s best shot at a title.
This team was so young and yet so scary. The Trail Blazers were the youngest team in the league, yet they played with the half-court discipline of the San Antonio Spurs. Despite missing starting small forward Martell Webster for the entire season and starting center Greg Oden for 21 games.
Even with the injuries, they still managed to finish in a three-way tie for the second-best record in the Western Conference at 54-28. Tiebreakers, however, forced them into the 4th seed.
This team had size, defense, and a highly efficient ball-handling shooting guard in Brandon Roy. The Aldridge and Oden tandem was already becoming a nightmare down low for opposing defenses.
Staying with the starters, Portland had the high-flying Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw capable of creating their own shots, along with former starter Joel Przybilla acting as the enforcer off the bench.
Unfortunately, they ran into a Houston Rockets team capable of countering Portland’s bigs while also throwing all-defensive level wings at Roy throughout the series.
Adding veteran stars Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, and Detlef Schrempf to a team that already made the Western Conference Finals made Portland the early season favorite to win a Championship. If not for a disappointing fourth quarter collapse, this team could have occupied the top spot.
This group of Portland Trail Blazers was a legit 11 deep. There were young stars such as Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, and Brian Grant. Young talented players such as Jermaine O’ Neal and Bonzi Wells were on the way up. The roster was also stacked with veterans and former All-Stars in Pippen, Smith, Shrempf, Arvydas Sabonis, Greg Anthony, and Stacey Augman.
They could attack opponents in so many ways. If a team managed to muscle up and keep Rasheed in check, they had Brian Grant to deal with. Maybe someone could get through Pippen’s stifling perimeter defense, then they still had Greg Anthony and Stacey Augman to beat. If an opponent was relieved that Smith and Pippen were checking out, they were still disappointed to see Shrempf and Bonzi checking in.
A hot start in Rip City led to a 45-11 record. These Blazers bullied opponents, humiliated them, and beat them into submission.
The big roadblock that kept this team from a championship was a miracle comeback by the league’s other super team, the Los Angeles Lakers and (cough Tim Donaghy cough). Fans knew the real NBA Finals that year was the Western Conference Finals series between Portland and LA.
I had to go over all three Blazers teams from that run of contention between 1990 and 1992. Despite being the lone team that didn’t reach the Finals, the 1990-91 team is the runner-up. At any point in a game, they could flip the “energy switch.” This was the season that Portland looked like the clear-cut favorites to win the title.
Their starting lineup included All-Stars in Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, and Kevin Duckworth, along with former All-Star Buck Williams. Don’t forget Jerome Kersey, whose high-energy defense and open-court ferocity were the exclamation point of those squads.
Bench players such as former All-Star Danny Ainge and future All-Stars Cliff Robinson and Drazen Petrovic made this arguably the most talented Portland Trail Blazer roster in history.
This was the same team that had the league’s best record (also the best record in franchise history). They would have had the homecourt advantage against the eventual champion Chicago Bulls if the teams met. The Bulls were a team the Blazers had convincingly swept in the regular season. Who knows how that could have changed the legacies of both teams? How history would have viewed Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler?
Were there any Rip City fans that expected another team at #1? 1976-77 was the Portland Trail Blazers’ lone NBA Championship season. They were led by the big man tandem of Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas. Lionel Hollins, Larry Steele, and Bob Gross round out the rest of the starters. Key bench contributors like Dave Twardzik and Herm Gilliam were also big parts of the Blazers’ highly efficient rotation.
Portland featured a rotation with 4 of their top 7 scorers shooting over 50% from the field. Unheard of in the modern era. After going 49-33 in the regular season, The Blazers entered the playoffs as the third seed.
As an appetizer, the Blazers dispensed Chicago 2 games to 1 in the opening round. From there, they won the next three rounds playing as the underdog. This included a 4-0 sweep of the Kareem Abdul Jabbar-led Lakers and then upsetting the highly favored Philadelphia 76ers 4-2.
This team could have been back-to-back Champions, but the following season, Bill Walton injured his foot. It was a huge blow. In 1977-78 Portland was 48-10 in games in which Walton played. That injury set off a chain reaction that would derail the rest of Waltons career in Portland. Possible future performance aside, no one can take away that magical 1977 Championship season.
Feel free to share memories of your favorite Portland Trail Blazers teams in the comments section below.