1990s: How many Championships do Drexler and Dominique Wilkins win together?

[insidious301]

An extension from a thread I made recently..... Most people had Pippen>Drexler as the 90s second best perimeter player. It was close though.

Drexler is now saying he was ALL ABOUT THE TEAM and wasn't a "ballhog". So how many championships would he win if you paired him with Dominique Wilkins? Say both played on the Blazers from 1990 on through.

For reference, Wilkins put up 28PPG and 47% shooting from 90-93 (includes post achilles).

[Xiao Yao You]

zero

[Roundball_Rock]

This would be a situation where Wilkins would be the leading scorer but Drexler the best player. They would not be as good a combo as Jordan/Pippen but would be better prime vs. prime than Malone/Stockton, given Stockton's low peak compared to other top 40-50 all-time players.

1-2? 1990 is obvious. 1991 possible but more likely they get to the finals and lose to the Bulls. 1992 Wilkins wouldn't play in the playoffs due to injury. 1993 and 1988 would be possibilities. Portland won 53 in 88' as it was. 93' they won 51 but lost in the first round. If I had to guess with Nique' they make the finals in 93', given Kevin Johnson choked deep into that run, but lose to the Bulls. 88' would be tough since they would have to get past LA and Detroit to win but you can't rule it out with that superstar power.

[NBAGOAT]

0-1 unless the rest of their team is really good(better than the Bulls outside jordan/pippen not sure even por is good enough). they have a decent chance of winning one ring from 90-92 tbf.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

Zero but they would be a fun team in NBA Jam.

[tpols]

i'm not really seeing the fit... there's a real lack of shooting from that combo but adding them to terry porter is a sick big 3 the bulls didnt have.

I still think how MJ busted off on clyde though... even adding nique doesnt tilt it to their favor totally, its more of a 50/50.

holy shit i just looked up porter's productions from the '92 run... 21/6/5 on 132 ORTG.

that's better than clyde. that fella is seriously underrated and not talked about. that's ****ing insane.

[insidious301]

Those are great points, Roundball_Rock. Insightful post as usual.

i'm not really seeing the fit... there's a real lack of shooting from that combo but adding them to terry porter is a sick big 3 the bulls didnt have.

I still think how MJ busted off on clyde though... even adding nique doesnt tilt it to their favor totally, its more of a 50/50.

holy shit i just looked up porter's productions from the '92 run... 21/6/5 on 132 ORTG.

that's better than clyde. that fella is seriously underrated and not talked about. that's ****ing insane.

I liken the pairing to Wade and Lebron. People sleep on Drexler's playmaking skills. A great passer and could DEFINITELY play point-forward. Dominique would be a clear upgrade.

Let me also reiterate: this hypothetical assumes both were on the 90 Blazers. How far could a Drexler/Wilkins duo even last in the 90s?

[NBAGOAT]

i'm not really seeing the fit... there's a real lack of shooting from that combo but adding them to terry porter is a sick big 3 the bulls didnt have.

I still think how MJ busted off on clyde though... even adding nique doesnt tilt it to their favor totally, its more of a 50/50.

holy shit i just looked up porter's productions from the '92 run... 21/6/5 on 132 ORTG.

that's better than clyde. that fella is seriously underrated and not talked about. that's ****ing insane.

i dont know if that's bad. the blazers ran a lot with their atheleticism and nique fits that perfectly. you dont need 3 point shooting as much in the 90s and having nique with his iso scoring just means portland's halfcourt offense isnt as bad as it actually was. I agree that I wouldnt pick the blazers as big favorites and porter was arguably better than prime in the 92 playoffs. his prime was just too short

[3ball]

Every year

Drexler's peak stats > Kobe and lebron various year in RS, PO, and Finals

And see the 93' 1st Round to see what Dominique does to goat perimeter defense.... And 88' Nique was taking Bird 7 games - that would've won title with MJ instead of rookie Pippen's 10 ppg...

Pippen's poor play cost bulls 3-peat from 88-90'... He simply won "3-peat with MJ" lottery, so the winning spotlight inflated his inferior stats

[BigShotBob]

Assuming Nique stays healthy then that's a good, decent run since Clyde was a great playmaker and shooter but he could be stopped especially in the Finals. Terry Porter outplayed him.

[SouBeachTalents]

Every year

Drexler's peak stats > Kobe and lebron various year in RS, PO, and Finals

And see the 93' 1st Round to see what Dominique does to goat perimeter defense.... And 88' Nique was taking Bird 7 games - that would've won title with MJ instead of rookie Pippen's 10 ppg...

Pippen's poor play cost bulls 3-peat from 88-90'... He simply won "3-peat with MJ" lottery, so the winning spotlight inflated his inferior stats

Absolutely not. Drexler had one playoff run that could be argued as being on the level of those two ('92), and even then he had a pretty mediocre Finals. The only way you could justify that claim is to cherrypick 1 or 2 instances, which I'm sure you're going to do since that's your specialty

LeBron's playoff & Finals stats absolutely shit on Drexler's, and Kobe's playoff numbers are clearly superior as well

[bizil]

Drexler and Nique win AT LEAST one ring. If u simply throw Nique on that squad and SUBTRACT NOBODY, that's a TREMENDOUS SQUAD! That puts them over the top when it comes to winning a ring. Throughout the 90's, they would have had guys like Porter, Cliffy, Buck Williams, Duckworth, Kersey, Ainge, etc. as the supporting cast at various points. If Dominique Wilkins is your team's SECOND BEST PLAYER, that puts you in a great spot to win a ring! Clyde would be the best player. While Nique would lead the team in scoring. But Drexler was also an alpha dog scorer, so he could have led the team in scoring in certain seasons.

PLUS u had plenty of toughness, rebounding, and defense on that squad as well. I even think that Blazers team vs. the Bulls WOULD HAVE BEEN the Bulls toughest challenge. They NEVER CAME CLOSE to defending a SG-SF tandem like that in the Finals. Not even close! The only SG-SF tandem that could match their great scoring AND freak athletic ability in league would be Bron-Wade! They would have 3-4 year window to win a chip with both in their primes in they hooked up in 1990. IF they hooked up a year sooner, I think that series with the Pistons becomes a lot more interesting. It wouldn't have been a 4-1 gentleman's sweep I know that for sure!

[light]

Every year

Drexler's peak stats > Kobe and lebron various year in RS, PO, and Finals

And see the 93' 1st Round to see what Dominique does to goat perimeter defense.... And 88' Nique was taking Bird 7 games - that would've won title with MJ instead of rookie Pippen's 10 ppg...

Pippen's poor play cost bulls 3-peat from 88-90'... He simply won "3-peat with MJ" lottery, so the winning spotlight inflated his inferior stats

Peak Drexler couldn't shoot. That's why he slid so far in the draft.

His career high PER is 24.1. That's not even peak Kobe vicinity (28.0) so of course it's no where near LeBron (31.7).

He doesnt rate.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Assuming they played until 1997 or 1998?

One for sure in 1990. You put Human Highlight on that Blazer squad and there's no way Detroit thwarts both of them. Clyde had a decent series anyway AND now you're adding Nique? You're opening up a lot of room to operate. And lanes for days.

So one there. I think one or two more from 1991-93 and another one in 1994.

Three. Possibly 4 in total. Could be underselling them BUT I don't trust the pairing like I do Mike and Pip. Nique/Glide would be awesome though.

[Phoenix]

So basically, you're taking a team that made the finals in 90 and 92, and replacing Jerome Kersey with Dominique in the starting lineup. Hard to imagine they aren't winning at least 1 title. Probably get to the finals in 91 too.