Building the Portland Trail Blazers All-Decade Team (2010-19)

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LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the Portland Trail Blazers high fives fans before Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Memphis Grizzlies (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Power Forwards

Starter: LaMarcus Aldridge (2010-15, 428 Games)

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny the fact LaMarcus Aldridge put Portland basketball back on the map. The natural talent he exudes helped carry the team through their dark ages. After missing the postseason in five consecutive years, Aldridge took the team back to the playoffs in his junior season. He also pushed Portland to their first playoff series win and best record since the year 2000.

Although he played for the Portland Trail Blazers for nine seasons, only six of those took place during this decade. In that time, he racked up four All-Star appearances and three All-NBA nominations. All very well deserved, considering he averaged 21.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game over the course of that time span. Who knows, if current speculation is to be believed, maybe LMA even winds up wearing a Blazers jersey in three separate decades.

Key Reserve: Al-Farouq Aminu (2016-19, 293 Games)

In the same vein as Moe Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu earned his keep with the team by becoming a versatile forward that plays tough defense and sets his teammates up on the other end. During the last four seasons, Aminu has been Portland’s most competent defender on the roster. Despite being entrusted to guard the opposing team’s best players, Aminu has achieved a positive DBPM in each year of his career.

He’s also made great strides on the offensive end since coming to Portland. In his first five seasons, Aminu only hit 28.6 percent of 3-point attempts; with the Blazers, he has hit 35.3 percent on sample size three times as big. Last year also brought with it a career high true shooting percentage for Aminu and the first time he’s ever posted a positive OBPM in his career. That level of work ethic and desire to improve is what makes good teams great, and why we’re grateful to have had the “Chief” in Portland for the last four years.

Extra Reserve: Ed Davis (2016-18, 205 Games)

Can you imagine a better end of the bench player than Ed Davis? As a quiet but charismatic locker room leader, Davis brought a level of intensity and passion to the game that helped shaped the Blazers locker room into what it is today. Davis averaged 12.9 rebounds (4.6 of which were offensive) per 36 minutes in Portland, hustling to crash the boards and box out for his teammates whenever he was on the court.

Damian Lillard also had some incredibly high praise to share about the gentle giant entering his last season with the team.

"“Look man, for me, the same way D-Wade was in Miami all those years and Udonis Haslem was there because he brought something to the team nobody else had … that’s how I feel about Ed… I always want Ed to be on my team. That’s the best way I can put it. I always want him on my team.’’ -Damian Lillard"

If that doesn’t make it clear enough, Davis embodies what it means to be a Trail Blazer and deserves to fill in this last spot in the rotation more than anybody else.