Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to the Moda Center in 1995 (called the Rose Garden until 2013). The franchise entered the league as an expansion team in 1970, and has enjoyed a strong following: from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time, and which has only since been surpassed by the Boston Red Sox and the Dallas Mavericks. The Trail Blazers are the only NBA team based in the Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001 and the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA championship once in 1977. Their other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has qualified for the playoffs in 37 seasons of their 54-season existence (through the 2023–24 season), including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, tied for the second longest streak in NBA history. The Trail Blazers' 37 playoff appearances rank fourth in the NBA only behind the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs since the team's inception in 1970. Six Hall of Fame players have played for the Trail Blazers (Lenny Wilkens, Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler, Dražen Petrović, Arvydas Sabonis, and Scottie Pippen). Bill Walton is the franchise's most decorated player; he was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1977, and the regular season MVP the following year. Four Blazers' rookies (Geoff Petrie, Sidney Wicks, Brandon Roy and Damian Lillard) have won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Three players have earned the Most Improved Player award: Kevin Duckworth (1988), Zach Randolph (2004), and CJ McCollum (2016). Three Hall of Fame coaches – Lenny Wilkens, Jack Ramsay, and Rick Adelman – have patrolled the sidelines for the Blazers, and two others, Mike Schuler and Mike Dunleavy, have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the team.

History

1970–1974: Franchise inception

Sports promoter and Trail Blazers founder Harry Glickman sought a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise for Portland as far back as 1955 when he proposed two new expansion teams, the other to be located in Los Angeles. When the Memorial Coliseum was opened in 1960 Glickman saw the potential it could serve as a professional basketball venue but it was not until February 6, 1970, that the NBA board of governors granted him the rights to a franchise in Portland. To raise the money for the $3.7 million admission tax, Glickman associated himself to real estate magnates Robert Schmertz of New Jersey, Larry Weinberg of Los Angeles and Herman Sarkowsky of Seattle. Two weeks later, on February 24, team management held a contest to select the team's name and received more than 10,000 entries. The most popular choice was "Pioneers", but that name was excluded from consideration as it was already used by sports teams at Portland's Lewis & Clark College. The name "Trail Blazers" received 172 entries, and was ultimately selected by the judging panel, being revealed on March 13 in the halftime of a SuperSonics game at the Memorial Coliseum. Derived from the trail blazing activity by explorers making paths through forests, Glickman considered it a name that could "reflect both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the start of a major league era in our state". Despite initial mixed response, the Trail Blazers name, often shortened to just "Blazers", became popular in Oregon. The information can be found on page 12. While not directly connected, the Portland Trail Blazers do bear the namesake of the Salem Trailblazers who played in the Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League (PCPBL).

Along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Buffalo Braves (now Los Angeles Clippers), the Trail Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team, under coach Rolland Todd. Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks led the team in its early years, and the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in its first six seasons of existence. During that span, the team had three head coaches (including future hall-of-famer Lenny Wilkens); team executive Stu Inman also served as coach. The team won the first pick in the NBA draft twice during that span. In 1972, the team drafted LaRue Martin with the number one pick.

1974–1979: Bringing a championship to Portland

In 1974 the team selected number one pick Bill Walton from UCLA. The ABA–NBA merger of 1976 saw those two rival leagues join forces. Four ABA teams joined the NBA; the remaining teams were dissolved and their players distributed among the remaining NBA squads in a dispersal draft. The Trail Blazers selected Maurice Lucas in the dispersal draft. That summer, they also hired Jack Ramsay as head coach.

The two moves, coupled with the team's stellar play, led Portland to several firsts: winning record (49–33), playoff appearance, and an NBA championship in 1977. Starting on April 5 of that year, the team began a sellout streak of 814 straight games—the longest in American major professional sports history—which did not end until 1995, after the team moved into a larger facility.

The team started the 1977–78 season with a 50–10 mark, and some predicted a dynasty in Portland. However, Bill Walton suffered a foot injury that ended his season and would plague him over the remainder of his career, and the team struggled to an 8–14 finish, going 58–24 overall. In the playoffs, Portland lost to the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1978 conference semifinals. That summer, Walton demanded to be traded to a team of his choice (Clippers, Knicks, Warriors, or 76ers), because he was unhappy with his medical treatment in Portland. Walton was never traded, and he held out the entire 1978–79 season and left the team as a free agent thereafter. The team was further dismantled as Lucas left in 1980.

1980–1983: Transitioning

During the 1980s, the team was a consistent presence in the NBA postseason, failing to qualify for the playoffs only in 1982. However, they never advanced past the conference semifinals during the decade. The Pacific Division of the NBA was dominated by the Los Angeles Lakers throughout the decade, and only the Lakers and the Houston Rockets represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Key players for the Blazers during the early 1980s included Mychal Thompson, Billy Ray Bates, Fat Lever, Darnell Valentine, Wayne Cooper, T. R. Dunn, Jim Paxson, and Calvin Natt.

1983–1995: The Clyde Drexler era

Drafting Clyde Drexler

In the 1983 draft, the team selected University of Houston guard–forward Clyde Drexler with the 14th pick; "Clyde the Glide" would become the face of the franchise for over a decade, and the team's second-most decorated player (after Walton). In the next year's draft, the Trail Blazers landed the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft. After the Houston Rockets selected Drexler's college teammate Hakeem Olajuwon at No. 1, the Trail Blazers selected Kentucky center Sam Bowie. Drafting third, the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan. The selection of the injury-plagued Bowie over Jordan has been criticized as one of the worst draft picks in the history of American professional sports. That summer, the Blazers also made a controversial trade, sending Lever, Cooper, and Natt to the Denver Nuggets for high-scoring forward Kiki Vandeweghe. In the 1985 draft, the Blazers selected point guard Terry Porter with the last pick of the first round. Porter would go on to become one of the top point guards in the league, and the Blazers' all-time leader in assists.

However, the Blazers continued to struggle in the postseason, and in 1986, Ramsay was fired and replaced with Mike Schuler. Despite this, they were the only team to beat the Boston Celtics on the road that season. That following off-season, the team drafted two players from behind the Iron Curtain, Arvydas Sabonis and Dražen Petrović, and sent Thompson to the San Antonio Spurs for former Oregon State University star Steve Johnson. Johnson was a high-scoring forward-center who the team intended to pair with Bowie on the frontline. It was not to be, as Bowie broke his leg five games into the 1986–87 season, missing the next two and a half seasons. During Schuler's brief tenure, the Blazers failed to advance out of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Paul Allen ownership

In 1988, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen purchased the Blazers for $70 million. At the time of the purchase, Allen, then 35, became the youngest team owner in the Big Four professional sports. His first season as owner was one marked by turmoil, as conflicts erupted over who should start at several positions. Both Vandeweghe and Johnson suffered injuries; they were replaced in the starting lineup by Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth. Several players, most notably Drexler, were accused of undermining Schuler. The team went 25–22 to open the 1988–89 season, and Schuler was fired. He was replaced on an interim basis with assistant coach Rick Adelman, and Vandeweghe was traded to the New York Knicks. Under Adelman, the team went 14–21 to finish the season, and barely qualified for the playoffs. That off-season, the team traded Sam Bowie (who had returned to the team to end the season) to the New Jersey Nets for forward Buck Williams, and Adelman was given the coaching job on a non-interim basis.

Reaching the NBA Finals

The addition of Williams, and the replacement of the defensively challenged Vandeweghe with the defensive-minded Kersey, turned the team from a poor defensive squad into a good one. Led by Drexler, the team reached the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, losing to the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. Possibly inspired by the Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle", during the run-up to their 1990 Finals appearance, the Blazers recorded two songs: "Bust a Bucket" and "Rip City Rhapsody" (with music played and recorded by Josh Mellicker, "Rip City" being a reference to the city's nickname). The year in between their two finals appearances, the team posted a league-best 63–19 record before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals, including a heartbreaker in game 6 where, in the final seconds, Cliff Robinson dropped a pass while standing directly under the basket, and then, with a few seconds left, Terry Porter's desperation wide-open 20-footer bounced out. However, the team failed to win an NBA title, and failed to advance past the first round in 1993 and 1994. Adelman was fired after the 1994 season, and replaced with P. J. Carlesimo, which led to the resignation of executive vice-president Geoff Petrie, a close friend of Adelman's.

In July 1994, the Trail Blazers announced the hiring of a new team president, former Seattle SuperSonics general manager Bob Whitsitt. Whitsitt, known as "Trader Bob" for his penchant for engaging player-exchange transactions, immediately set about revamping the Blazers roster; this included dismantling the aging Drexler-led team that had twice been to the finals. Drexler requested to be traded to a contender, and the Trail Blazers traded him to the Houston Rockets. In the fall of 1995, the team left the Memorial Coliseum for a new home, the 20,000-seat Rose Garden Arena. The sellout streak ended in the new building.

1995–2006: Rebuilding and troubles

Several players left in free agency, including Terry Porter (1995), Buck Williams (1996), and Clifford Robinson (1997). Meanwhile, Trail Blazer management decided to leave Jerome Kersey unprotected in the 1995 expansion draft.

In an effort to quickly rebuild the team's roster, they acquired several players who were highly talented but had negative reputations for off-court troubles. Isaiah Rider was traded to the team by the Minnesota Timberwolves for a draft pick, and was considered to be a problematic player due to his previous arrests for assault, gambling and marijuana possession. He was arrested for marijuana possession just two days before his expected debut with the Blazers. Rasheed Wallace, who had garnered a reputation as a hot-tempered player since college, was also acquired in a trade with the Washington Bullets. Point guard Kenny Anderson was signed as a free agent, and subsequently traded to the Toronto Raptors for Damon Stoudamire in February 1998; the Raptors traded Anderson to the Boston Celtics five days later, because he did not want to play in Canada for the 3 year old franchise. The team found success and eventually returned to the Western Conference finals in 1999 under head coach Mike Dunleavy. They beat the Phoenix Suns in the first round, sweeping them 3-0 and made history as it was the first time the Blazers had advanced from the first round since 1992. In the Semi-finals, they defeated the two-time defending Western Conference champions Utah Jazz with a 4–2 victory series. In the Western Conference Finals, they faced the San Antonio Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, and were subsequently defeated in a 4–0 sweep.

After the failed championship run, Whitsitt sent Rider, who was the leading scorer that season with 13.9 points per game, and guard Jim Jackson to the Atlanta Hawks for guard Steve Smith. In one of their biggest acquisitions yet, the team added six-time champion and seven-time All-Star Scottie Pippen from the Houston Rockets. In the 1999–2000 season, the team advanced to the Western Conference finals, where they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 4–1 in the opening round and the Utah Jazz 4–3 in the semifinals. They advanced to the conference finals where they faced a Los Angeles Lakers team led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. In that series, the Trail Blazers lost 3 of the first 4 games but came back to win games 5 and 6, forcing a game 7. The Blazers had a 15-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but eventually lost their lead when the Lakers had a 25–4 run. The Trail Blazers lost game 7, 89–84 and the Lakers won the championship.

"The Jail Blazers"

One of the most infamous periods in Trail Blazers history is the era of the "Jail Blazers." Though the team had experienced its fair share of controversy and issues in prior seasons, many consider to the "Jail Blazers" saga starting during the 2000–2001 season. The team made a series of personnel moves in the 2000 and 2001 off-seasons that failed to produce success. Forward Jermaine O'Neal was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Dale Davis. Brian Grant signed with the Miami Heat, and was replaced with ex-Seattle forward Shawn Kemp. The team started off well and had a 12-game winning streak in February and March in the regular season. The team signed guard Rod Strickland mid-season to augment their point guard corps. The team finished as 6th seed in the Western Conference with a 49–33 record, which qualified them for the playoff finals for the 20th consecutive year. They were eliminated in the first round, losing 0–4 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Some media outlets began to criticize the team, and questioned Whitsitt's decisions and position as manager. A popular criticism was that Whitsitt was attempting to win a championship title by assembling a roster of stars, without paying attention to team chemistry. Longtime NBA coach and analyst, Doug Collins, referred to Whitsitt as a " rotisserie-league manager". Fans were publicly disapproving of Whitsitt; one fan even attending a game with a banner reading "Trade Whitsitt" that they displayed in the crowd before eventually getting ejected from the venue. Tensions continued to rise within the franchise and media outlets started reporting on the teams internal personnel issues and the criminal activity that players were involved in. Mainstream media began referring to the team as the now controversial nickname, " The Jail Blazers" because of all these problems.

That off-season, Dunleavy was fired and replaced with Maurice Cheeks, who was considered a "players' coach" because he was a former player in the NBA. The hiring of Cheeks was thought to be a positive decision as many believed he would relate more to the players than Dunleavy did. Cheeks brought on Dan Panaggio as assistant coach after a failed courtship with Henry Bibby of Southern California. More transactions followed as the Blazers traded Steve Smith to the Spurs for Derek Anderson, but issues began when Shawn Kemp checked himself into a rehab for cocaine use in April 2001. That same season, Whitsitt made one of his most controversial moves in signing free agent Ruben Patterson, who had previously pleaded no contest to a felony sexual assault charge and was required to register as a sex offender. In 2002, police responded to a security alarm alert at Damon Stoudamire's house, though no intruders were there. After smelling marijuana in the home, they searched the premises and found a pound of cannabis located in a crawlspace; the search was later declared illegal and all charges were dropped. In 2003, several of the players, including Wallace, Stoudamire, and Qyntel Woods, were cited for marijuana possession. That same year, Wallace was suspended for seven games for threatening a referee - one of many incidents in his tumultuous relationship with NBA referee's, which at the time stemmed from his belief that some of the ref's were fixing the games against him and his teammates. Also during the 2003 season, Zach Randolph and Patterson got into an altercation in the locker room in which Patterson slammed Randolph onto the floor, an incident that later became known as the NBA's "The Slam Heard Around The World." The feud between players continued and they later got in a fight during practice, with Randolph sucker punching his teammate and fracturing Patterson's left eye socket, an injury which took Patterson out of their playoff run. Guard Bonzi Wells famously told ''Sports Illustrated'' in a 2002 interview: "We're not really going to worry about what the hell (the fans) think about us. They really don't matter to us. They can boo us everyday, but they're still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That's why they're fans, and we're NBA players." Wells was fined $50,000 by the Blazers for the statement. Later in 2005, Woods pleaded guilty to first-degree animal abuse for staging dog fights in his house, some involving his pit bull named Hollywood. Woods' dogs were confiscated, and Woods was given eighty hours of community service. He also agreed to donate $10,000 to the Oregon Humane Society.

In the summer of 2003, attendance to games was steadily declining alongside the team's reputation. With an exorbitant payroll, Whitsitt announced that he would leave the team to focus on Paul Allen's other franchise, the Seattle Seahawks.

To replace Whitsitt, the team hired two men at new positions. John Nash, a veteran NBA executive, was hired as general manager, and Steve Patterson as team president. The new management promised a focus on character while remaining playoff contenders; the team soon published a "25-Point Pledge" to fans. Troublesome players including Wells, Wallace, and Jeff McInnis

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