User:ZooBlazer/sandbox8



The Portland Trail Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon that competes 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.

Harry Glickman became interested in creating an NBA team in his hometown of Portland when Memorial Coliseum opened in 1960, but the NBA commissioner at the time, Maurice Podoloff, refused on the grounds that Oregon was too far. However, Podoloff's successor, J. Walter Kennedy expanded the league into the West throughout the 60's. On February 6, 1970, the NBA board of governors granted Portland – along with Buffalo, New York and Cleveland, Ohio – the rights to a franchise in return for a US$3.7 million admission. To name the team, management held a contest and received more than 10,000 entries. The name "Trail Blazers" received 172 entries, and was ultimately selected by the judging panel. 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".

The 1970s
The team was led by coach Rolland Todd in their first season and ended with a record of 29–53, which was the best of the three new teams in the NBA. The following season the team had just 18 wins, which is still the fewest wins in franchise history. The Blazers drafted Bill Walton from UCLA in 1974 and found success after hiring Jack Ramsay in 1976. Ramsay and Walton led the team to the playoffs for the first time in 1977 after a 49-33 record, the first winning season in franchise history. The team went on to win the NBA Championship, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals 4–2. Following his performance, Walton was named Finals MVP. The team started the next season with a 50–10 mark, and many predicted a dynasty in Portland. Walton was named the league's regular season MVP and both he and Maurice Lucas were named to the NBA All-Defensive first team. However, injuries built up, most notably an injury to Walton's foot that ended his season and would plague him over the remainder of his career. The team struggled to an 8–14 finish, and lost to the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1978 conference semifinals. That summer, Walton demanded to be traded because he was unhappy with his medical treatment in Portland. Walton was not traded, so he held out the entire 1978–79 season and left the Blazers in free agency.

The 1980s
Despite the loss of Walton and then losing Lucas in 1980, the Blazers continued to be mostly competitive, and selected Clyde Drexler in the 1983 NBA draft. The team then used the #2 pick in the 1984 draft to select Sam Bowie. Despite missing two full collegiate seasons due to injuries, the Blazers took him over Michael Jordan. Bowie suffered a series of leg injuries that limited his production for the team, missing the entire 1987–88 season due to injuries. He has since been listed as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. The Blazers had far better luck with their second-round pick, Jerome Kersey, who would be one of the anchors of the franchise for the next decade. In 1985, the team selected point guard Terry Porter in the draft. After several consecutive seasons of losing in the first round, the Ramsay era ended in the summer of 1986 when the long-time coach was fired and replaced with Mike Schuler.

In the first round of the draft, the Blazers (who had two picks) selected forward Walter Berry out of St. John's and center Arvydas Sabonis out of the Soviet Union. Later in the draft, the team reached behind the Iron Curtain again, and chose guard Dražen Petrović from what was then Yugoslavia. Drafting two players from the Eastern Bloc was highly controversial—the Cold War was still going on, and many doubted that either player would be permitted to come play in the NBA. (The selection of Sabonis would become even more controversial in 1988, when the Lithuanian center was allowed to come to Portland to train, and then led the Soviet Union to a gold medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.)

After only a few months with the team, Berry was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for another rookie, center Kevin Duckworth.

1986–88: Mike Schuler era
Mike Schuler was hired prior to the start of the 1986–87 season as head coach of the Blazers. In his first two campaigns, the Schuler-led Blazers posted records of 49–33 (in 1986–87) and 53–29 (in 1987–88). Both teams made the playoffs (with home court advantage) but were defeated in the first round (to Houston in 1987, and to the Utah Jazz in 1988). In both years, the Blazers were among league leaders in scoring, but near the bottom of league rankings in defense and rebounding statistics.

The Schuler era was marked by several controversies regarding the starting lineup. The first such controversy occurred when Clyde Drexler won the starting guard spot over veteran Jim Paxson, who subsequently demanded (and got) a trade; eventually traded to Boston for Jerry Sichting. In the 1987–88 campaign, veteran center Steve Johnson was injured, and was replaced in the lineup by Duckworth, who went on to win the starting job from the foul-prone Johnson. As the team was winning, these controversies were glossed over at first.

1988–89: The season of change
At the conclusion of the 1987–88 campaign, the team was purchased by current owner Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft for $70 million from Larry Weinberg. The sale made Allen, then 35, the youngest team owner in all of the Big Four professional sports. The team quickly fell apart during the year, as the issue of who should start became paramount. In addition, many veterans were unhappy with Mike Schuler's coaching style; as a result the team limped to a 39–43 record and barely made the playoffs (where it was ousted by the Lakers 3–0 in the first round). Schuler was fired; assistant Rick Adelman was given the head coaching job on an interim basis.

That summer, Sam Bowie and a draft pick were traded to the New Jersey Nets for veteran forward Buck Williams, a respectable defensive and rebounding power forward. Vandeweghe was sent to the New York Knicks for a draft pick, and Johnson was taken by the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in the expansion draft. Dražen Petrović was permitted by the Yugoslav authorities to come to Portland and join the team. For the second round of the draft, Portland selected a young forward from UConn, Clifford Robinson.

1989–92: Return to the finals
With the exception of the championship year of 1976–77 (and the following season), the early 1990s is generally regarded as the greatest era in team history. In the 1989–90 campaign, the team posted a 59–23 record, and defeated the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference playoffs. The team was ultimately defeated by the defending-champion Detroit Pistons, led by Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas, 4–1.

That off-season, Petrović joined the New Jersey Nets, where he would perform at an All-Star level before his death in an auto accident in 1993. To replace him, the team signed free agent guard Danny Ainge, who had won three titles with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s. In the 1990–91 season, the Blazers posted a 63–19 record—the best in the league and the best in franchise history. They ended the Lakers' nine-year reign over the Pacific Division and won home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The season ended when the Lakers defeated the Blazers 4–2 in the Western Conference finals.

In the 1991–92 campaign, the Blazers repeated as Pacific champions. They steamrolled through the Western Conference playoffs en route to a showdown with the Chicago Bulls in the Finals—one that they lost 4–2, and which cemented the reputations of both Jordan and Drexler (placing the latter firmly in the former's shadow).

1992–94: End of the Adelman era
After the 1991–92 campaign, Ainge left for Phoenix and became a major player in the Suns' run to the finals in the following season. To replace him in the backcourt, the Trail Blazers signed free agent guard Rod Strickland, who was a rather controversial player.

A series of injuries and other issues started to plague the team. Kevin Duckworth's performance dropped off significantly. Drexler, Kersey, and Buck Williams also started showing signs of age; Drexler and Kersey missed a combined 50 games due to injury. Despite this, the team posted a 51–31 record. A bright spot was the continuing emergence of Clifford Robinson; "Uncle Cliffy" was awarded the Sixth Man Award.

The team failed to advance in the playoffs, losing to David Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

Two other events occurred in the team in the 1992–93 season. Owner Paul Allen started breaking ground on the Rose Garden, which would replace the Memorial Coliseum, which was the Blazers' home court at the time.

On a far more negative note was the infamous "Blazer Sex Scandal." While on a road trip to Utah, several members of the team were charged by a Utah prosecutor with statutory rape. Eventually, four players, including Jerome Kersey, received suspensions from the team; the criminal charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

In the 1993–94 campaign, Terry Porter suffered an injury and was replaced in the starting lineup with Strickland. Duckworth was traded in the off-season to the Washington Bullets for forward Harvey Grant. To replace Duckworth, center Chris Dudley was signed to a one-year contract (a deal which incurred the wrath of NBA commissioner David Stern who viewed it as an attempt to circumvent the league's salary cap—the Blazers prevailed in arbitration over the matter). Portland went 49-33 and was eliminated by eventual champion Houston in the first round. Adelman was fired and replaced with Seton Hall coach P. J. Carlesimo.

The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the championship once in 1977. They are the only team in NBA history to win a championship in a franchise's first-ever visit to the postseason. Their other Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992.

As of the end of their 53rd season in 2023, the Blazers have an all-time record of 2,271 wins and 2,006 losses in the regular season, with an additional 119 wins and 155 losses in the playoffs. The team has had 32 winning seasons, 18 losing seasons, and three seasons with a 41–41 record. The Blazers have qualified for the NBA playoffs 37 times, including a streak of 21 straight playoff appearances from 1983 through 2003.