Respect Maurice Lucas (Abbott)

[ABM]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/19956/respect-maurice-lucas

ESPN.com has this fun thing happening where you can pick your team's all-time starting five. As a Blazer fan, I recently stopped by to see who was named my team's all-time starting five.

Something terrible has happened, though. Perhaps the most important player in Blazer history didn't even make the starting five. Maurice Lucas should come in first or second as the franchise's all-time MVP, and instead finished behind both Rasheed Wallace and Sidney Wicks. Lucas got just 14.6% of the lousy power forward vote.

In August 1976, the Blazers had never had a winning season. They had never been to the playoffs. They had never really had any reason for hope.

Lucas arrived in town from the ABA and invited new teammates Bill Walton and Herm Gilliam to dinner at Jake's. They ate fish and talked about life. Walton would go on to name his son after Lucas, and the seeds of that friendship were nurtured at that dinner.

They finished eating, and stepped outside into the warm summer evening. Before saying goodbye, Walton remembers "Mo said 'Oh, by the way: We're going to win the championship. And we're going to win it this year.'"

Walton thought it was crazy talk, but smiled anyway, and said "OK, Maurice, whatever you say."

To make a long story incredibly short, Lucas made it so. ............

Opposing Views chimes in.....

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/greatest-power-forward-in-portland-trail-blazers-history

As we wait patiently for the 2010-11 season to get started, ESPN.com is entertaining fans by holding a vote for the greatest players in the history of each NBA franchise. Henry Abbott – of TrueHoop – checked in on this vote on Monday and discovered a result that left him unhappy.

Something terrible has happened. …Perhaps the most important player in Blazer history didn’t even make the starting five. Maurice Lucas should come in first or second as the franchise’s all-time MVP, and instead finished behind both Rasheed Wallace and Sidney Wicks. Lucas got just 14.6% of the lousy power forward vote.

For those unfamiliar with NBA history, Lucas began playing in the ABA in 1974. When the ABA merged with the NBA, Lucas joined the Portland Trail Blazers in 1976. That first season, Lucas produced approximately 10.2 wins* with a WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes] of 0.171. So Lucas was an above average performer on a team that went on to win the NBA title in 1977.

The next season the productivity of Lucas slipped to only 5.8 wins and a 0.131 WP48. In 1978-79, though Lucas returned to what we saw in the championship season. His WP48 that season was 0.166 and he produced 8.5 wins. In sum, Lucas was an above average performer from 1976-77 to 1978-79, posting numbers that are similar to what we saw from Amare Stoudemire this past season (Stoudemire’s WP48 was 0.170 in 2009-10).

Despite these numbers, Portland fans prefer Rasheed Wallace and Sidney Wicks. Both of these players, though, offered less than Lucas.....................

 

[ucatchtrout]

Not only that...Wicks and Wallace were TURDS. Luke was a leader, a great teammate, and a terrific human being.

 

[MickZagger]

I didn't realize Jake's was around back then. Great food!


Ahhhhh the late great Herm Gilliam was actually one my boss's supervisor at the Corvallis-Albany UPS hub back in the day.

 

[MickZagger]

Mo never took shit from anybody

 

[BGrantFan]

Luke was a great Blazer, but his whining about money helped derail things after the title. I don't blame him, since the players made peanuts then, but he basically pulled a "Rudy", but with money.

I also think that WS/48 is a silly statistic, but that's another story.

 

[MickZagger]

He just won the championship and was underpaid. He had a legitimate beef.

Rudy hasn't done shit to be whining like he has.

 

[crandc]

I voted for Luke.

 

[BBert]

Best Blazers PF ever? My vote is for Lucas as well. Buck Williams second. Sheed third (or turd if you prefer).