Rip City Project
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The 5 worst draft picks in Portland Trail Blazers history

By Joe Capraro

HOLLYWOOD - JULY 11: NBA players Greg Oden (L) and Kevin Durant pose for photos in the press room during the 2007 ESPY Awards at the Kodak Theatre on July 11, 2007 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD - JULY 11: NBA players Greg Oden (L) and Kevin Durant pose for photos in the press room during the 2007 ESPY Awards at the Kodak Theatre on July 11, 2007 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) /
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Portland Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups, NBA lottery, Blazers draft, Mychal Thompson
BOSTON, MA – CIRCA 1987: Kevin McHale #32 of the Boston Celtics shoots over Mychal Thompson #43 of the Los Angeles Lakers during an NBA basketball game circa 1987 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.  (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Mychal Thompson had a borderline Hall of Fame career but wasn’t the best choice at first overall

I know Mychal Thompson was a star in the NBA for 13 seasons, seven of them with the Trail Blazers. And I am aware that he won two NBA titles with the Lakers, and averaged 13.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game over his nearly 1000 game career.

I do have the brains to appreciate his 16.7 point, 8.9 rebound, 3.4 assist, and 1.4 block per game averages in his time with the Blazers, and that he is 11th on the team’s all-time games played list.

I am aware that Thompson is from the Bahamas and made history as the first ever foreign-born player to be drafted first overall into the NBA. I know that he and son Klay are just the fourth father-son pair to win NBA championships as players.

I know that Thompson loved Portland enough to move here once he was done playing and that he stayed until taking a broadcasting job in Los Angeles in 2008. So what is such a great player and Portland fixture doing on this list?

It has far more to do with the man who was taken five spots later by the Boston Celtics. While Thompson was a Blazer stalwart and two-time champion, Larry Bird belongs on everyone’s 10 best of all time list.

Bird won three titles, all with the team that drafted him. But in an era when big men were overvalued, Thompson was a great pick. Just not the best pick.

But don’t worry, they quickly get worse from here.