Forwards, Then & Now

[wizenheimer]

there does seem to be a general consensus here that Portland needs some serious upgrades at the forard positions; in both talent and length (let's not get into the trade-CJ-Powell-to-SG stuff)

it got me thinking, if you could magically transport past Blazer SF's and PF's to today, which ones would be the best fit for today's Blazers and today's NBA?

SF:

Bob Gross
Kiki Vandeweigh
Jerome Kersey
Scottie Pippen (Blazer version not Bulls version)
Nic Batum

PF:

Sydney Wicks
Maurice Lucas
Buck Williams
Rasheed Wallace
Lamarcus Aldridge

if you have other candidates, say so

I'm kind of thinking along the lines of Rasheed & Kiki, although it's awful hard to ignore the playmaking and defense of Pippen

 

[Predator]

Viktor Khryapa and Josh McRoberts
Or RLEC

maybe Kaniel Dickins

 

[Orion Bailey]

there does seem to be a general consensus here that Portland needs some serious upgrades at the forard positions; in both talent and length (let's not get into the trade-CJ-Powell-to-SG stuff)

it got me thinking, if you could magically transport past Blazer SF's and PF's to today, which ones would be the best fit for today's Blazers and today's NBA?

SF:

Bob Gross
Kiki Vandeweigh
Jerome Kersey
Scottie Pippen (Blazer version not Bulls version)
Nic Batum

PF:

Sydney Wicks
Maurice Lucas
Buck Williams
Rasheed Wallace
Lamarcus Aldridge

if you have other candidates, say so

I'm kind of thinking along the lines of Rasheed & Kiki, although it's awful hard to ignore the playmaking and defense of Pippen

Kersey and Wallace.

 

[Hoopguru]

there does seem to be a general consensus here that Portland needs some serious upgrades at the forard positions; in both talent and length (let's not get into the trade-CJ-Powell-to-SG stuff)

it got me thinking, if you could magically transport past Blazer SF's and PF's to today, which ones would be the best fit for today's Blazers and today's NBA?

SF:

Bob Gross
Kiki Vandeweigh
Jerome Kersey
Scottie Pippen (Blazer version not Bulls version)
Nic Batum

PF:

Sydney Wicks
Maurice Lucas
Buck Williams
Rasheed Wallace
Lamarcus Aldridge

if you have other candidates, say so

I'm kind of thinking along the lines of Rasheed & Kiki, although it's awful hard to ignore the playmaking and defense of Pippen

Lucas & Kiki

 

[twobullz]

Batum and Sheed I think Batum would solve a lot of our defense issues and Sheed would Thrive with his offense and defense ,plus would not have to be the face of the franchise, so could just play and not deal with the rest.

 

[Voodoo]

Pippen and Sheed or Kersey.

 

[42N8Bounce]

My first option would be Rasheed Wallace. Probably the most talented, and game that fits today's prototypical stretch power forward model. But I don't know if I could stand to watch all of the technicals again.



My next option would be Cliff Robinson.
He could stretch the floor (career 35.6% 3pt). Solid defense. Good size. And a great smile.

 

[Minstrel]

Pippen and Sheed seem made for this era.

Pippen's switchability on defense, play-making from a front court position and ability to take advantage of double-teams elsewhere--he'd be a souped-up version of Draymond Green, the player many of us have wished Lillard had to work with.

Wallace was also a strong, versatile defender that I think would thrive in a switching scheme, plus his ability to stretch the defense with perimeter shooting would now be seen as the virtue it is, rather than weakness. And his solid post game would allow him to punish mismatches on switches.

In this era, both could also bump up a position in a small ball configuration, with Sheed at center and Pippen at the 4.

 

[bigbailes]

Sheed's game on offense and defense fells like he was a generation too early to the NBA. As for SF ... Kersey being able to switch on defense and general hustle plays and JYD mentality is something I think this team lacks, plus I'm a JK homer.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

Sheed or Uncle Cliffie and Pippen.

Kiki was a great shooter who statistically would thrive in this era - but if he wasn't getting a ton of shots he wouldn't bring enough to the table. I loved Mo, Buck, and Jerome, but they would need to be paired with a center who can shoot 3s and operate as a high-post passer.

 

[LayneStaley]

Imagine having Cliffy at 3 and Wallace at 4 with Dame/CJ and Sabonis. That’s what I want. Throw in Buck or Brian Grant coming off the bench to add some toughness.

 

[mook]

Sheed is the obvious PF to me. There's some argument for Aldridge, as he's more of a natural scorer and rebounder. But Sheed is light years better at defense and would probably have been a better three point shooter in the current system.

I like Pippen, but in the current era he's just not enough of a three point threat. I'd go with Pippen-light, which is of course Batum. You get some of his ball handling with much better three point shooting and more athleticism. Whoever is our SF, he's going to get a lot of swing passes for open threes in the corner, and Batum is just a better floor spacer for that role.

I think Pip would probably struggle at times with giving up orchestration duties to Dame. We (foolishly) used to try to play Pip off ball a lot in favor of Damon Stoudamire, and it really negated a lot of his offense. That was just a dumb decision on Dunleavy's part. But we'd have the same problem with Dame, who wants to control the ball a lot and run his pick and rolls. Dame is a superstar, unlike the Mouse, so you pick players who fit the superstar.

Batum ran some plays, while Pip is at his best orchestrating the offense. If we're keeping Dame and CJ, we really need more of a Batum kind of guy.

 

[mook]

In this era, both could also bump up a position in a small ball configuration, with Sheed at center and Pippen at the 4.

That's a pretty good argument for Sheed and Pip. That would've been fun.

 

[Mediocre Man]

In a lot of polls you think “there are no wrong answers”, but clearly any choice other than Pippen and Sheed is a wrong answer.

 

[Minstrel]

Sheed is the obvious PF to me. There's some argument for Aldridge, as he's more of a natural scorer and rebounder. But Sheed is light years better at defense and would probably have been a better three point shooter in the current system.

I like Pippen, but in the current era he's just not enough of a three point threat. I'd go with Pippen-light, which is of course Batum. You get some of his ball handling with much better three point shooting and more athleticism. Whoever is our SF, he's going to get a lot of swing passes for open threes in the corner, and Batum is just a better floor spacer for that role.

I think Pip would probably struggle at times with giving up orchestration duties to Dame. We (foolishly) used to try to play Pip off ball a lot in favor of Damon Stoudamire, and it really negated a lot of his offense. That was just a dumb decision on Dunleavy's part. But we'd have the same problem with Dame, who wants to control the ball a lot and run his pick and rolls. Dame is a superstar, unlike the Mouse, so you pick players who fit the superstar.

Batum ran some plays, while Pip is at his best orchestrating the offense. If we're keeping Dame and CJ, we really need more of a Batum kind of guy.

Yeah, Pippen's not-great three-point shot did concern me, but Green has been so successful as the triggerman on the four-on-threes that Curry creates and I think Pippen would be even more so, as a much more explosive and powerful downhill attacker than Green. Similarly, while Green has figured out things to do when left unguarded on the perimeter (either cut or get involved in a dribble hand-off with a shooter), Pippen being left unguarded on the perimeter would either give him a running start on a rim attack or an easy walk-in mid-range jumper that he converted extremely well. Contested mid-range jumpers are the bane of this era, but wide-open ones for players who can knock them down are still not ideal for the defense.

Batum was among my favorite Blazers, though, so it was quite a back-and-forth for me between them.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The perfect C for this era of NBA:

Andrei Kirilenko

 

[tlongII]

Luke would hurt somebody.

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

Sheed or Uncle Cliffie and Pippen.

Kiki was a great shooter who statistically would thrive in this era - but if he wasn't getting a ton of shots he wouldn't bring enough to the table. I loved Mo, Buck, and Jerome, but they would need to be paired with a center who can shoot 3s and operate as a high-post passer.

Bobby Gross was runner-up to Walton in MVP voting of the ‘77 Finals. This guy moved without the ball like no other. Unsung hero of the Blazers” championship team. You gotta have earned the ring to be the best!

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Bobby Gross was runner-up to Walton in MVP voting of the ‘77 Finals. This guy moved without the ball like no other. Unsung hero of the Blazers” championship team. You gotta have earned the ring to be the best!

His number is retired in Portland, specifically because of that series. How is he "unsung"?

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

His number is retired in Portland, specifically because of that series. How is he "unsung"?

Unsung to most on this board. Most are not old enough to have experienced the Blazers playoff run nor the first 70 games of the following season. They played team basketball as well as any team in NBA history. And while Walton and to an extent Lucas get recognition for that era, Gross was the grease that made Ramsay’s “motion offense” work. I played ball while attending Lewis & Clark and coach Sempert employed the Ramsay “motion offense.” I learned it in great detail and as I watched Bobby Gross play, he truly moved without the ball - very similar player as was John Havlicek of the great Celtic teams.

really too bad Walton broke his foot or that Blazer team may have won back-to-back titles!