Top 100 NBA Players: #93

Terry Porter

(BBR: #145)

Today's entry in the all-time list is another member of the Portland Trail Blazers teams that made it to two NBA Finals in the early 1990's. For six seasons Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey started alongside each other in Portland, both hitting their peaks together during that time, then both lost their starting jobs in 1993-94 to younger players, Clifford Robinson and Rod Strickland, neither of whom ever measured up to their predecessors.

While Clyde Drexler was definitely the star and best player on those great Trail Blazer teams, without Porter and Kersey those teams would never have made it as far as they did. In both 1990 and 1992, when they advanced to the NBA Finals, Porter raised his scoring average above his regular season average by at least 3 points per game, from 17.6 to 20.6 in 1990 and from 18.1 to 21.4 in 1992. In both of those seasons he also led all playoff participants in 3-point field goals made.

Like Kersey, Porter became a championship chaser after leaving Portland, moving from team to team hoping to get that elusive ring. Kersey finally got his ring with the 1999 Spurs, and Porter joined him there the following season, but a repeat did not happen. Porter retired in 2002, just one year before San Antonio finally did get its second championship.

Now, on to the part about putting Porter ahead of Fat Lever. There are actually a lot of similarities between the two. Both were 6-3 and less than 200 pounds. Both were pretty good scorers and passers. Both had peaks that ended suddenly after their 8th season in the league. Lever was a much better rebounder, but Porter was able to hang around the league for longer. The thing that really puts Porter ahead of Lever is that he enjoyed a bit of playoff success, making it to 3 straight Western Conference Finals and 2 NBA Finals, while Lever only played in one Western Conference Final series in his career, and that was long before his peak years. Porter was never the statistical giant Lever became in the late 1980's, but Porter knew how to turn it on when it counted, which moves him just ahead of his contemporary on this list.