Rip City Project
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Portland Trail Blazers: 4 thoughts from the “Rip City Revival” documentary

By Marlow Ferguson Jr.

Terry Porter, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Terry Porter, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

The Dame Dollas before Dame Dolla?

There’s just something about memorable Portland Trail Blazers teams and their inclination to put a musical act to it. Long before current star Damian Lillard was hopping on instrumentals to discuss his NBA adventures, Jerome Kersey and his teammates were doing the same.

Two weeks into the 2019-20 season, it was announced that the Portland Trail Blazers would be releasing an album, the “Blazers Greatest Hits, 50th Collection,” the highlight of which coming from two songs Kersey appeared on, “Rip City Rhapsody” and “Bust a Bucket.”

It doesn’t quite get much more 1990s than that, seeing Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter and Danny Young huddled up in front of the booth yelling, “Rip City, Rhapsody. For the Oregon, USA.” The Blazers were one of many memorable teams of that era to make rally songs together (think the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl shuffle, or the rap song Shaquille O’Neal and Brian Shaw confidently produced before the 1995 Finals.

Evidently, the fans loved it. The “Bust a Bucket” song, which featured the likes of Kersey, Porter and Kevin Duckworth, sold north of 30,000 cassettes. In the social media era — heck, even the illegally downloading Limewire era — they likely see those numbers jump tenfold.

If nothing else, it grants us a segue to appreciate some of the game’s most underrated talents, and players whose talents went far beyond the basketball court.

The late great Kersey far outpunched the weight of that of normal No. 46 picks. He went on to have arguably the best career of anyone at that spot besides Jeff Hornacek.

Duckworth and Williams went on to comprise one of the most underrated frontcourts in hoops history. The same goes for Porter, who, from 1989 to 1992, scored more Playoff points than any player not named Jordan, Pippen or Drexler, and did so on a 62.5 true shooting percentage. We generally take time out to appreciate what they did on-court, but this documentary gave us a chance to enjoy the off-court experience, too.