The Most underrated Portland Trail Blazers of the last 3 decades
By Dave Nelson
We often hear fans say a player has to be the most overrated player. We hardly ever hear that a player is the most underrated. The Portland Trail Blazers have players from their 50-plus seasons who did a lot of the little things and were overshadowed by the stars and big-name players. Here are three of those players from the last three decades. If an award were given for, the most underrated player, it could be awarded to them.
1990s
We all know who mostly led the Blazers in the 1990s, helping get the team to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. It was after when a point guard by the name of Rod Strickland came in and signed with Portland in the offseason of ’92, averaging 13.7 points per game and starting 35 of those his first season. He was with the team until 1996, when he was traded along with Harvey Grant to Washington for Rasheed Wallace. Strickland returned in 2000-01. In six Portland seasons, he averaged 16.2 points and dished 8.2 assists.
2000’s
An era most Portland fans would love to forget — the “Jail Blazers.” The 2000s had many players in the spotlight, mainly for the wrong reasons. Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, and Scottie Pippen could be considered the stars. Twice they made it to the Conference Finals (1998-1999) and would make one other appearance that decade (1999-2000). The Jail Blazers pretty much came to an end in 2003, although they did have some players who made questionable choices a few seasons after. A center many fans will remember quite well was signed in 2004 and remained with until 2011. Joel Przybilla’s numbers weren’t spectacular, but it was the little things that he did.
2010s
Also known as the Lillard era…many players could be determined as the most underrated player of this decade. Once Dame was drafted in 2012 with CJ McCollum in 2013, the attention would mostly be on them and less on some of the others who likely deserved it too.
Players such as Wesley Matthews (2010-2015) averaged 15.4 points. Al-Farouq Aminu (2015-2019) put up 9.4 points and grabbed 7.5 rebounds in 81 starts, helping get the Blazers to the Western Conference Finals in 2019. We all remember the final result. However, without him, they likely wouldn’t have made it as far as they did.
Those are your most underrated players of the past three decades. While they may not be the stars of the team, it’s players like them who added to the success of the club, even if we might not appreciate them like we do the franchise-type players.