My favorite Blazers

(Editor’s note: My first season covering the Trail Blazers was 1989-90. Much time has passed, and many players have donned the Portland uniform since that time. We’ll run an occasional column in this space about some the players I’ve enjoyed getting to know.)

Often while covering a sports team, a journalist never makes a connection with a player. Sometimes, the two hit it off. That is what happened with me and Sergio Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was a Spanish native who played three seasons as a reserve point guard for the Blazers from 2006-09 under Nate McMillan. Rodriguez was 20 when he arrived in Portland as a flashy young player known as “Spanish Chocolate” for his flair and passing ability.

The Blazers paid the Phoenix Suns $3 million to select Rodriguez with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2006 draft, then ship him to Portland. He was used primarily as a backup during his first three seasons, first behind Jarrett Jack, then Steve Blake.

The 6-3, 175-pound Spaniard was clever with the basketball, and I thought he had the skills to make his mark as a fan favorite in Portland. I’ll never forget a game he played in January during his rookie season, scoring 23 points on 11-for-14 shooting with 10 assists in 30 minutes of a 109-93 win over Denver.

Rodriguez had only one double-figure scoring game the rest of the season. He had his best season with the Blazers in his third campaign with the Blazers in 2008-09, when he started 13 of 80 games, saw 15.3 minutes a game and averaged 4.5 points and 3.6 assists — mostly as the backup to Blake — on a team that went 54-28.

McMillan, though, never saw much value in Rodriguez, who was an excellent set-up guy but not a 3-point shooter at that point of his carer, nor a particularly strong defender. The Blazers sent him to Sacramento for a pair of second-round draft picks and he divided the 2009-10 season between there and New York, then headed back to Spain, where he spent the next six years and enjoyed great success with Real Madrid.

Rodriguez won EuroLeague Most Valuable Player honors in 2014 and was a first-team All-EuroLeague selection in 2015, helping Real Madrid to the EuroLeague championship the latter season. He improved his 3-point shooting and wound up firing at a 41-percent clip from beyond the arc during his European pro career.

Sergio represented his country in four Olympic Games — 2008, ’12, ’16 and ’21 — and teamed with another former Blazer guard, Rudy Fernandez, to lead the Spaniards to silver in ’08 and ’12 and to bronze in ’16. Fernandez, who played with Portland from 2008-11, was a teammate of Rodriguez with Real Madrid from 2012-16.

At 36 years of age, Rodriguez played the past season with Real Madrid, contributing 5.6 points and 3.5 assists in 15.8 minutes off the bench for a team that finished second in EuroLeague standings.

Sergio has a ready smile, great personality and gentle and humble demeanor. I always enjoyed my conversations with him. I felt he deserved better in Portland, but I’m glad he enjoyed a very successful career in Europe.

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