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Originally Posted by Adol
I'm starting to think so. The guy never gets much love on these boards. He seems to go overlooked by most as a second, possibly third tier great who gets lost in the conversation. This is a guy who was a perennial all star. A guy who was averaging over 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals per game over the course of most of his career.
When comparing him to other all time great guards I don't think he's as dangerous a Jordan or Kobe, but I do think he's the most versatile guard of all time. He's only the third player in NBA history, along with Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek, to top 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists.
He never seemed to have a very good team, yet at his peak led the Blazers to the finals twice, losing to the legendary Bad Boy Pistons and Jordans Bulls. It seems like his legacy is diminished by some people because he never won a title as "the man", instead having to play sidekick to Hakeem in Houston, but I don't think it tarnishes it at all.
It seems like the consensus is that he's a top 25-35 player of all time, which I guess seems fair, even though I have him more around the 20 area...But I guess the point of this thread is that it seems he's overlooked. Maybe we can show the glide a little love by posting some favorite moments?
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Drexler was a great player, and i would bet the vast majority of posters will rank him Top-5 All-time in the SG spot. Wich would seem about right.
The Blazers couldn't win a title because, at the time when it's core of players were in their primes or close to them, there was tough competition around. They had 3 great years when they reached the Finals twice and lost in the WCF once.
When i think back on the squad, and eventhough there were indeed quality players on all positions in the court, i still think that they never could adjust to play great playoff halfcourt game. Kersey couldn't consistently hit the jumper; Buck was not assigned be an option on offense. Duckworth could sink the jumper, but he had no traditional back-to-the-basket post game. And the bench sucked big time. So, the team had to rely on Drexler and Porter to do the heavy scoring. Drexler was much more at ease slashing to the basket than shooting mid-range jumpers, so IIRC, he struggled a bit against tight halfcourt defenses. And Porter's shooting was often streaky.
So, IMHO, Drexler had good enough help around him. At least, in the starting 5.
The fact that he didn't win a championship as "The Man" doesn't make me thing lesser of him. He was close enough.