Nightfly

Larry Steele's number 15 was retired on October 11th, 1981 during a preseason game (along with Geoff Petrie).

He was Selected in 3rd round, 37th pick overall, in the 1971 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky.

Steele was Portland's original Iron man. He played 9 seasons, all for the Blazers. When he left the team he had played in more games then any other Trail Blazer at the time.

He was the first Blazer to lead the league in a stat category, when he lead the NBA in steals during the '73-'74 season (which was also the first year steals were kept as an official stat).

During the 1977 Championship run, Steele helped out off the bench (he only started 9 games during the '76-'77 season). Despite not starting, he had his best year statically averaging 10.3 points per game, shooting .500 from the floor (and .806 from the foul line).

He retired following the '79-80 season after playing in just 16 games.

Post your memories about Larry Steele here!

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RedHot&Rolling

It's been a long time since I had memories of Larry Steele, but here goes:

He had a wonderful and accurate 3-pt Shot (set shot style - no jump) before that was another category. His 50% from the field included (IIRC) shots from long distance (pre 3pt shot). He had really quick hands which allowed him to lead the league in steals one year. He was always the guy who would lay it on the line, leaving his feet to dive for loose balls. The guy played the right way!!

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MARIS61

I was at a game where he took an inbound pass with 1 sec on the clock at halftime and drained a 70 footer.

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TLo

Most overrated former Blazer of all time. Why his number is retired boggles the mind.

Nightfly

At the time he retired, he held a number of team records, which is my guess.

Plus he was a key part of the Blazer's championship team.

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TLo

No he wasn't.

Nightfly

Despite only starting 9 games that season, Steele averaged double digits and helped spark the team's defense off the bench.

Unless you don't think that qualifies as being a key part of a team's success...

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Nightfly

I will say that the blazers likely could have pluged another player in place of Steele and had similar results.

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Radio is my life.

Once known as HearToTemptYou.

Hector

He was a good player like Steve Blake, but every team had someone similar. The Blazers have retired a lot of players, and maybe more teams should do that, but he was no league star.