Ranking the 6 Portland Trail Blazers on NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team
Ed Stein
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This week the NBA announced their 75th Anniversary Team. Pacific Northwest Sports ranks the six Portland Trail Blazers included among the league’s all-time greats.
The NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary this season. To commemorate the event, they announced the 75 best players in league history. Six of the players spent all or part of their careers with the Portland Trail Blazers.
As with any sports all-time list, controversy surrounds who made it and who was left off. That’s not our call. There are already plenty of articles discussing the worthiness of various players.
Instead, Pacific Northwest Sports ranks the Rip City Six. Our basis was pretty simple, the impact each player had during their time with the Portland Trail Blazers. Of course, our rankings won’t be without controversy, but that’s where the fun starts. Here’s the countdown.
*Denotes active NBA player
Rip City Six
6. Lenny Wilkens
NBA Career: 15 seasons. Years in Portland: 1 (1974-75).
By the time Lenny Wilkens made it to the Portland Trail Blazers in 1974, his spectacular NBA career was basically over. He came in as a player-coach taking over a team that never won more than 29 games in a season. Off the floor, Wilkens led the team to 39 wins in his first season. As a player, there wasn’t much to write home about. He averaged 6.5 points and 3.8 assists as a player.
5. Carmelo Anthony
NBA Career: 19 seasons*. Years in Portland: 2 (2019-20 – 2020-21).
When injuries decimated the Blazers forwards in November of 2019, General Manager Neil Olshey signed 35-year-old Carmello Anthony to fill the void. Maybe an extra month or two was what Melo needed to recharge his batteries. In 58 games, he averaged 15.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per player. Anthony came back the following season as a bench player and still averaged 13.4 ppg.