Portland Trail Blazers: The greatest go-to moves in Blazers history (No. 20 to 16)

The No. 19 selection shares close proximity to Wells in both era, and court location. But whereas Wells created his magic through scoring, Hall of Fame center Arvydas Sabonis found his production through crafty, and sometimes flashy post passing.

There are roughly two different sides to the story of Sabonis’ passing. He didn’t generate assists in the NBA as often as history would have you think, averaging just 2.1 for his career, and never cracked double-figure assists despite being top-five in usage in his first five NBA seasons; if this factored in his professional play in Lithuania and Spain, he would be contending for a No. 1 spot, though.

One thing, though, that stands out on film is how often Sabonis’ passes led to either hockey assists, or got teammates to the free throw line. When he was piling up assists, it often came in the post, through wraparounds, or behind-the-back passes, and quick dimes to cutters. Consider a few examples in this video.

Perhaps it’s best told this way: in a league that included Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett, and Pau Gasol, Sports Illustrated said in 2002 that “no other big man has the eyes” Sabonis had, even as a 37-year-old, when building the perfect center. His teammates, namely Damon Stoudamire agreed, referring to him as a “best big man passer to play the game.”