Portland Trail Blazers, NBA 2K20 Get Legendary With Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge … Steve Blake(!)

NBA 2K teased on Tuesday that it would feature new Legendary teams in the 2020 edition of the popular video game series set to release Sept. 6. 

Wednesday morning, the same Twitter profile gave Portland Trail Blazers fans one more reason to pick up a copy. 

Although the 2009-10 Trail Blazers lost to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs, fans should feel some sort of nostalgia for the days of Andre Miller, Steve Blake (?Rip City legend three times over ?), Marcus Camby and Joel Przybilla. Who could forget Rudy Fernandez, Juwan Howard, Travis Outlaw or Dante Cunningham? Portland even got 21 games out of Greg Oden that season, as well as two showings from former—and current—Trail Blazers legend Anthony Tolliver. 

Those guys Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were pretty good at basketball, too. 

Per Game Table
  Age GS FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS/G
LaMarcus Aldridge2478.495.313.7578.02.10.90.617.9
Brandon Roy2565.473.330.7804.44.70.90.221.5
Marcus Camby3523.497.000.58111.11.51.12.07.0
Andre Miller3366.445.200.8213.25.41.10.114.0
Steve Blake2928.403.377.7502.34.00.70.07.6
Nicolas Batum2125.519.409.8433.81.20.60.710.1
Martell Webster2349.405.373.8133.30.80.50.59.4
Greg Oden2221.605.7668.50.90.42.311.1
Rudy Fern�ndez242.378.368.8672.62.01.00.28.1
Joel Przybilla309.523.6477.90.30.31.44.1
Juwan Howard3627.509.000.7864.60.80.40.16.0
Travis Outlaw250.376.387.8753.50.70.60.79.9
Jerryd Bayless2111.414.315.8311.62.30.40.18.5
Dante Cunningham222.495.000.6462.50.20.40.33.9
Jeff Ayres224.662.9002.50.00.20.42.7
Travis Diener270.250.000.5000.20.80.20.00.6
Patty Mills210.417.500.5710.20.50.00.02.6
Shavlik Randolph260.3331.0000.30.30.00.01.3
Anthony Tolliver240.000.0000.50.00.00.00.0
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/15/2019.

Admittedly, this team’s inclusion as a Legendary roster can confuse those who didn’t witness it firsthand. This is a squad that fell to Steve Nash in six games after watching Oden fall for the final time earlier in the year. Roy only played 65 contests, and the Vanilla Gorilla was lost to a torn patellar tendon. Rudy Fernandez, once considered a high-upside albeit mysterious X-factor, underwhelmed at best and also fell victim to injury. 

To casual watchers on the outside looking in, this was a team that disappointed after a third-place Western Conference finish. Throughout the city of Portland, this roster represented the beginning of the end—another “what if?”

For those who love to loathe the team for which they long, you’ll remember this was also the year RLEC came and went with as much disappointment as it had promise. Raef Lafrentz’s Expiring Contract was a $12.7 million golden ticket. Trade-block mainstays Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Gerald Wallace and Luol Deng were seemingly up for the taking, and Portland failed to trade the final months of a contract that was 80 percent paid for by insurance. 

Lafrentz remained on the team, continued playing zero games brilliantly, and the Blazers went on to implode almost two years to the day following their failed ‘09 deadline. 

***

Well…that got Real-o-Clock. Let’s bring this back home. 

Portland’s dynasty that never was may have fallen apart shortly after that season, but the talent on this team was undisputed. The Blazers were considered fringe title contenders entering the year, and despite a No. 30 pace under Nate McMillan, Roy and Co. carved apart defenses to the tune of a No. 7 offensive rating, per Basketball Reference

The fans dug it, too. You dug it. You went to those home games. And if you chose not to or you weren’t able to, there were an average of 20,497 other Blazermaniacs screaming their heads off at the Rose Garden all 41 games, good enough for third in the league that season. 

Not satisfied? Only the Blazers and Mavericks sold over 100 percent capacity throughout the season thanks to standing-room-only fanatics thrilled just to be in the building.

This team, with all its flaws and all its misfortune, holds a special spot in the hearts of Portland fans.  

Oh, also…

Come back any time, Steve. The Portland Trail Blakesters welcome your return literally whenever you’re ready.