The Trail Blazers are without a doubt one of the most loved sports teams in Portland. Driving around the city you’ll see billboards, bumper stickers, flags, and jerseys with the Blazers logo. Everyone knows the main heroes of Blazers basketball; Damian Lillard, Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler, CJ McCollum, or Brandon Roy, but they weren’t the only ones contributing to the historic shots and playoff runs. Not every player is gonna put up those all-star numbers. Most have one or two roles that they provide the team, and who doesn’t love players who play their positions really well? Nonetheless, I think we should talk. Not about the stars, but about some of those players who had a smaller role but were great at it.
My favorite player that embodies this is Ed Davis. Davis was taken by the Toronto Raptors in the 2010 draft where he would spend an unremarkable two and a half seasons before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he would spend one and a half seasons. After the Grizzlies, he spent one season with the Los Angeles Lakers where he started a few games, and then he finally made his way to the Portland Trail Blazers on a three year deal. Davis played three seasons in a Blazers jersey, only starting 12 games and averaging around five and a half points per game and seven rebounds, but as a backup player his role wasn’t to put up crazy numbers. His role was to rebound and play solid defense off the bench, a role he was great at. He wasn’t making any crazy highlight plays or getting crazy numbers but he was doing all the dirty work that makes a team successful. After his time in Portland, he bounced around to four different teams in four years before retiring, but many will remember Ed Davis as an important part in some of those playoff runs.
Peyton Miles, a junior and varsity basketball player at Franklin, told me her favorite underappreciated Blazer is Anfernee Simons. “This year with Lillard leaving, Simons has had to take on a leading role on the team as a playmaker and point guard,” Miles shared. “However, during the Lillard era Blazers, when Simons was just a rookie starting out on the team during the 2019 playoff run, he was already doing great things for the team in the few minutes he was playing in the postseason, he was just outshined by all the veteran stars that were carrying the team through this run.”
Simons, who was drafted by the Trail Blazers in 2018, spent his first three seasons making short appearances off the bench and showing flashes of a great scorer. “His support and consistency he has brought to the team during his time with the players and under Lillard’s captainship has supported the team greatly, and I think he will continue his consistency in playmaking, high IQ plays and quick long range threes,” said Miles. The past two seasons, Damian Lillard sustained long term injuries; this provided an opportunity for other guards like Simons to shine, showing his high level scoring, averaging 21.1 points last season in 65 games. This year, he hasn’t played much because of an early injury, but it seems he could transcend being underappreciated and become a real star before we know it.
I also asked Franklin senior Jiles Everly which Blazer he thought deserved more love, and Al-Farouq Aminu is the player he chose. Everly told me he loved his play style and his abnormal jumpshot. He also shouted out the player’s background, saying, “[…] his family’s background is awesome and interesting.” Aminu is a descendant of a line of Nigerian kings and his name translates to “the chief has arrived.” Aminu was taken eighth by the Los Angeles Clippers but would only spend one season with them before being included in the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Clippers and Aminu, amongst others, to the New Orleans Hornets. He spent three seasons in New Orleans and one with the Dallas Mavericks before coming to Portland. During his time in Portland, he started most games and played mostly power forward. Offensively he wasn’t a big contributor, but he really shined on the defensive end. He spent his four seasons in Portland guarding the best forward on the team, whether it was LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Kawhi Leonard; he was on them. On the Blazers, which have been routinely solid defensively, I believe he was one of the reasons for that, as most of the players around him weren’t exactly known as good defenders.
Last but not least, I asked Carmine Mitchell, a junior and basketball player at Franklin, and he gave me a throwback player: Damon Stoudamire. “I like the way he plays a lot, plus he’s a shorter player and he was born in Portland,” Mitchell stated. Stoudamire ran the point in Portland from 1997 to 2005 after being traded from the Toronto Raptors. At a height of five feet 10 inches — with the nickname the “Mighty Mouse” — he was one of the shorter players in the league, but that didn’t stop him from being a prolific scorer and having a 13-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Stoudamire, who graduated from Ida B Wells high school in Portland, played mostly during the infamous “jailblazers” era in which the team was known less for the basketball and more for the off-court shenanigans the players got into. Although he wasn’t the greatest player and never made an All-Star team, the Portland native made a good impact whenever he was on the court and took part in some deep playoff runs.
Although most of these players won’t be remembered by the average person, players like them will always be appreciated by those who love a diligent and consistent player. Someone who might not be the best player on the team or be a record breaker, still has a place in fans’ hearts.
