In their storied history, the Portland Trail Blazers have had several talented players, many of whom have been bold enough to suit up at small forward. These unique players have to play with the size and athletic ability of a guard while being able to play defense against the best shooters in the league. It’s a skill set many players don’t have the talent for, even if they have the height and length to play the position.
A true “3” on the lineup is not as common as it used to be; many small forwards today are just longer guards or players who don’t shoot as well as a guard and aren’t big enough to be a power forward. The small forward used to be the most versatile athlete on the court, but now it’s sometimes just a guy who doesn’t fit in another spot in the lineup. Some guys are defensive specialists, some are really good shooters, and some can gather enough rebounds to be considered an extra power forward. But once upon a time, the guy at the three spot was known as one of the best two-way players in the league, and Portland has been home to more than a few of them.
But who has been the best of the threes we have had in Portland? And are there any regrets over a couple of all-time greats we narrowly missed out on? And the bigger question – would the forwards we have had on the team be able to play out one of the greats that played somewhere else?
Jerome Kersey
One of the best players in Portland’s rich history, “No Mercy” Kersey was like a freight train on fast breaks. He could run and dunk as well as any athletic guard or forward in the league, and he was often tasked with playing defense against the best scorer the other team had to offer. His numbers didn’t pop in the stat sheet, and with three different guys running up and down the court in Portland’s up-tempo offense, it was easy to lose sight of Kersey when Clyde Drexler often shared the court with him. But those of us who watched the games at home and in the stands here in Portland knew just how valuable he was, and his relentless playing style wore out the guys on the other team on both sides of the court.
His best season came in 1990, which was also Portland’s long-awaited return to the NBA Finals. Kersey averaged 16 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1 block per game. His numbers weren’t flashy, and he didn’t have a highlight reel moment every game, but he was exactly the do-it-all player Portland needed in their early ’90s runs at a second title.
Cliff Robinson
Uncle Cliffy was one of the original unicorns in the NBA, a long and lean guy who could play multiple spots and do them all justice simultaneously. Many guys have the height and length to play any front-court spot, but Cliff could do them all with style. Just put a headband on him and tell him where he was needed most, and Cliff would make you proud. Cliff wasn’t a regular starter until the 1995 season, but leading up to that point, he was without question the most valuable 6th man in Portland’s history and helped the 1990 and 1992 squads that made the Finals be the teams they were on and off the court.
By the time Cliff took over he small forward spot in 95, the team was quite different. He was the new leader of a franchise desperate for a new building block, and Cliff more than delivered with averages of 21.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, one block, and one steal per game. He even made an average of two three-point shots per game, which many guys with length struggled with in the mid-90s.
Scottie Pippen
Pippen arrived after a failed experiment in Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley to get one last shot at a title, and was traded to Portland in 2000 to be their new defensive anchor on a team with title aspirations. Scottie immediately brought a championship-level defensive swagger to a team searching for an identity. He helped shape the new young core in Portland from a neat little story to title contenders overnight. Scottie didn’t have he same pop on offense he showcased in his prime in Chicago when he was the second option to Michael Jordan, but he proved he still had plenty in the tank as he played a full season for the first time since 1997.
Pippen averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.4 steals, and half a block per game in his first year in Portland. His long-range shooting was not as effective as it used to be, and he only made one three-pointer per game. He may not have been the offensive weapon he was as recently as two years prior. Still, he was in the conversation for the defensive player of the year and the all-NBA team, not small potatoes for an aging veteran at his last stop in a storied career.
Nic Batum
Batum was drafted as a raw project with tremendous upside, someone who could perhaps turn into a player like Pippen. Batum lacked Scottie’s overall size and strength but made up for it with underrated quickness and length. Batum struggled to produce on offense early on. Still, when LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard were putting the league on notice, Batum was a deadly weapon as a perimeter defender and a distance shooter. By the time he left Portland, Batum had a cult following of fans that greatly appreciated his ability to play anywhere from point guard to power forward and didn’t leave much to be desired, no matter where he lined up. He may not have been as athletic as Kersey or as tenacious as Scottie, but he never quit, no matter how many times he was forced to miss time with injuries.
In his 2014 season, Batum averaged 13 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, one block, and one steal per game while making 1.8 three-pointers per game and playing shut-down defense on the opponent’s best player.
Kevin Durant
In the 2007 NBA Draft, Portland selected Greg Oden first overall, passing on Durant, who went #2 to Seattle. One put together a hall of fame career and became one of the best scorers in league history, while the other was out of the league by 2012. Which one do you think Portlnad chose?? I’ll give you a hint, it was not Durant, and they were looking for a new center by 2010. By the time Portland was looking for Oden’s replacement, Durant led his team deep into the playoffs and was routinely seen at the top of the charts of leading scorers. He would get his team to the Finals by 2012, which could have been in Portland. Let’s assume Portland had drafted Durant; his 2014 season averages looked like this: 32 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and one block per game. Oh, and he won MVP that year. It’s probably something we could have used in Portland in the last decade, but they don’t pay me to make that decision.
Larry Bird
If you didn’t like missing out on Durant, I have bad news for you – you aren’t going to like what Larry did with his career out of Portland. Bird was taken 6th overall in 1978, just months after Bill Walton had led the Blazers to one of their best starts ever and had locked up the MVP before March. A foot injury sidelined Walton for the rest of the year, but most expected him to return at some point in 1979, and what better way to welcome him back than with one of the best players in college? Portland drafted center Mychal Thompson instead and let Bird drop a few spots to the Celtics, where he would not play until the following year after he finished his senior season at Indiana State.
Bird would have been the perfect player to build around after Walton left in 1980, and with Drexler likely still joining the team, they would have had an amazing 1-2 punch at guard and forward. Ideally, the rest of the band would still be here, and who knows, maybe Kersey can be an exclamation point for the second unit, and Cliff could do even more damage when he arrives.
In his second season in the NBA, Bird averaged 21.2 points, 10.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2 steals, and one block per game. The three-point line was brand new in Bird’s first years in the league, and most players didn’t know what to do with it, but Bird still made at least one three-pointer per game. He helped Boston reach the Finals in 1981, winning their first championship since 1976. He could have been helping Portland win its first title since 1977 instead.
Of all the great small forwards Portland has been home to, it’s tough to pick against Bird, but I really would love to see what Durant could have done in a Blazers jersey. He would have been a great face of the team when Brandon Roy got hurt, and would have been even better if they had still been in a position to draft Lillard. As much fun as it was to see Lillard here, I would begrudgingly admit I would accept losing out on Lillard if it means getting Durant here to pair with Roy and Aldridge for at least a few years. And who knows, maybe if Roy isn’t doing so much, maybe his knees will last a little longer, maybe even long enough for the trio of Roy, Durant, and Aldridge to add a second championship.
