Portland Trail Blazers: 30 greatest players in franchise history

• Played four seasons with Trail Blazers (1976-80)
• Averaged 9.5 points and 3.4 assists per game
• 1x NBA champion with Trail Blazers

Dave Twardzik, also known as Pinball, played four seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Virginia Squires and made one All-Star team before heading to the NBA.

In 1976, Twardzik signed on in Portland just in time to be part of the Finals-winning squad at the end of the 1976-77 season. He played 26.2 minutes per game as the starting point guard on Dr. Jack Ramsey’s 49-win team that defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the championship round.

Twardzik averaged 10.3 points and 3.3 assists per game that season, while shooting an incredible 61.2 percent from the floor. Of course, he only attempted 5.8 field goals per game — in fact, he only averaged more than six shots per game one time in his career, and never in the NBA — but anything over 60 percent is crazy, and especially for a guy who was only listed at 6-foot-1.

He didn’t need to score, of course. He was playing alongside Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas, Lionel Hollins and Bob Gross, so being able to run the point and distribute a bit was more than enough.

Twardzik was consistent, hovering between nine and 10 points and three and four assists per game over his four years in Portland, although the team never again sniffed the heights that the 1976-77 squad achieved.

Pinball retired after the 1979-80 season due to injury and almost immediately joined the coaching ranks, followed by a long career as a front office executive.