Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers
founding	1970
history	Portland Trail Blazers since 1970
Stadion	Moda Center
Location	Portland , Oregon
Club colors	Red, black, white   
league	NBA
Conference	Western Conference
division	Northwest Division
Head coach	Terry Stotts
General manager	Neil Olshey
owner	Jody Allen
Championships	1 (1977)
Conference title	3 (1977, 1990, 1992)
Division title	7 (1977, 1978, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2015, 2018)
Association Icon Statement

The Portland Trail Blazers are a franchise of the North American professional basketball league NBA . The team originally played their home games at the Portland Memorial Coliseum ; since 1995 the games have been held at the Moda Center in Portland , Oregon .

The team has made it into the finals of the playoffs three times and won the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy for winning the NBA championship so far (as of 2019) once in 1977.

history

Hall of Famer Bill Walton (left) and coach Jack Ramsay winning the first championship (1977)

Center Arvydas Sabonis in the jersey of the Blazers

LaMarcus Aldridge played for the Blazers from 2006 to 2015

On February 6, 1970, the Trail Blazers were inducted into the NBA after paying $ 3.7 million for it. Originally the team name "Portland Pioneers" was intended, but since there were already teams in college sports that had the same name, an agreement was made on the current name. The original logo of the Blazers showed a pinwheel-shaped logo in which five black spiral lines from the top left merge into five red spiral lines at the bottom right: this symbolizes the sport of basketball with the competition between two five-person teams. In later versions the black lines became gray, but the basic principle remained.

The Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Buffalo Braves . The first years were marked by failure. The playoffs were regularly missed , despite young talents like Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks . In 1972 they got the first pick in the NBA draft and chose LaRue Martin , who never lived up to expectations.

In 1974, the Blazers received their first star player Bill Walton via the NBA draft . In 1976, ABA star Maurice Lucas and trainer Jack Ramsay joined the Blazers. Wicks and Petrie, on the other hand, left the Blazers. With the two newcomers and Bill Walton, the Blazers' upswing began, so that in 1977 the Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 in the final after Philadelphia had led 2-0 after two games. Only a few clubs have succeeded in turning a 0-2 deficit in an NBA final.

Waltons left the Blazers for the San Diego Clippers in 1978 after sustaining multiple injuries . In 1980, Lucas also left the team. In the 1983 draft, Clyde Drexler was selected in 14th place . This developed into one of the superstars of the 80s and regularly led the Blazers into the playoffs. The Blazers built a powerful team around him with players like Kevin Duckworth , Jerome Kersey , Terry Porter , Kiki Vandeweghe and Fat Lever . In 1984 the Blazers had the second draft pick, choosing Sam Bowie rather than Michael Jordan , whom the Chicago Bulls chose after them. This was later classified by many critics as the biggest mistake in the draft of all time. On the other hand, you chose in the 1986 NBA draft with the Lithuanian Arvydas Sabonis and the Croatian Dražen Petrović , the first European stars who later switched to the NBA.

In 1988 billionaire Paul Allen bought the club and the team made it to the playoff finals in 1990 and 1992, losing to the Detroit Pistons in 1990 and the Chicago Bulls in 1992 .

In 1995 the Blazers left the old Portland Memorial Coliseum and from then on played in the new Rose Garden Arena (today: Moda Center). Drexler left the Blazers after eleven years and was sold to the Houston Rockets . Porter, Kersey, Buck Williams and Clifford Robinson also changed teams one after the other. Despite the rebuilding, the Blazers remained a constant playoff candidate. The Trail Blazers had one of the most talented teams around at the turn of the millennium and were close to the NBA title. In 1999 and 2000, Portland reached the Conference Finals, in which they failed at the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers , respectively . In the three following seasons, the Blazers were eliminated in the first play-off round. At the same time, various Portland players came into conflict with the law, which earned the team the dubious nickname Jailblazers . High achievers such as Rasheed Wallace , Isaiah Rider , Bonzi Wells and Damon Stoudamire , but also bank players such as Ruben Patterson or Qyntel Woods were involved. Half the team was then replaced several times. Between 2003 and 2008, the previously successful franchise never reached the playoffs.

In 2005 the Rose Garden Stadium went to some investment firms due to the bankruptcy of the Oregon Arena Corporation. In 2007 Paul Allen bought the stadium again after the then manager was fired.

In the 2006 NBA draft , the Blazers traded college stars LaMarcus Aldridge from the Chicago Bulls and Brandon Roy from the Minnesota Timberwolves . Both players quickly established themselves as key players in the rotation. Roy won the Rookie Of The Year award . Despite the increase in the balance sheet, the Trail Blazers missed the playoffs.

The Blazers won the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery . This gave them the first right in the annual talent selection. The choice fell on Greg Oden , who was considered one of the greatest center talents of the last ten years. However, Oden was injured before the start of the first game of the season and was out the entire season. The Blazers were able to compensate for the failure well. Through the performance increases of Roy, Aldridge, Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster , they were able to improve the balance again, but the Blazers failed just about the playoff qualification.

The team from Oregon started the new season with a lot of praise and praise. For the first time in five years they reached the playoffs, but they did not get past the first round. The 2009/10 season got off to a promising start for the Blazers, before Greg Oden broke his kneecap on December 5, 2009 and no longer returned to the field in the Blazers' jersey and was dismissed by them in 2012. In retrospect, the Blazers, as with Sam Bowie's election, were also criticized for choosing Oden, as Kevin Durant could have been taken. The Blazers reached the playoffs again, but had to do without Brandon Roy, who had previously suffered a serious injury to his right knee. Accordingly, the end followed in the first round.

To replace the injured Roy, the Blazers signed Wesley Matthews of the Utah Jazz . Despite the failure of Oden and the physically handicapped Roy, the Blazers were able to reach the playoffs again. This was mainly due to the explosions in performance of Aldridge and Matthews and the signing of Gerald Wallace .

Point Guard Damian Lillard has played for the Blazers since 2012

In June 2011, the Blazers point guard Raymond Felton were able to commit from the Denver Nuggets . After a lockout in the NBA was ended in December, Brandon Roy announced his retirement from professional basketball due to persistent knee problems. The Blazers responded by hiring Jamal Crawford of the Atlanta Hawks . In mid-March 2012, Greg Oden was sacked and with him coach Nate McMillan . Caleb Canales took over McMillan's duties until further notice. They also split from Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace. Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn from the Houston Rockets came for Camby and Mehmet Okur and Shawne Williams from the New Jersey Nets for Wallace . Williams and Okur didn't play a single game for the Blazers, however.

CJ McCollum has been with the Blazers since 2013

The Blazers did not reach the 2012 playoffs. In the summer of 2012, Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford left the team. They strengthened themselves through the 2012 NBA draft with the lottery picks Damian Lillard and Meyers Leonard . The Blazers also committed the Europeans Victor Claver and Joel Freeland , whose rights they secured in the previous drafts. In August 2012, Terry Stotts was introduced as a new head coach. Compared to the previous season, the Trail Blazers achieved a significantly better record, but did not qualify for the playoffs in the 2012/13 season . Lillard was named Rookie of the Year for his performance , making it the fourth blazer to receive this award after Geoff Petrie , Sidney Wicks and Brandon Roy .

In the 2013/14 season , the Blazers managed to qualify for the playoffs again. They moved into the second round of the playoffs, where they were defeated by the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs . With Lillard and Aldridge, two Blazers players were invited to the NBA All-Star Game . In the 2014/15 season they won the division title for the first time since 1999 and qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. After the season, star player Aldridge announced that he would join the San Antonio Spurs. Thus a rebuilding was initiated in Portland, in which the starters Robin Lopez , Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum also left the team.

The team strengthened itself in summer 2015 mainly with young players like Ed Davis , Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless . Against all odds, the Blazers qualified for the 2016 playoffs with 44 wins . This was due, among other things, to the scoring backcourt from CJ McCollum , who was named the most improved player of the season and Lillard, who led the Blazers as scorer with over 25 points on average. In the first round of playoff, they surprisingly defeated the Los Angeles Clippers. In the next round followed against the champions Golden State Warriors after five games, the end. Also in the summer of 2016 they strengthened themselves with Evan Turner and Allen Crabbe , but this time the Blazers disappointed and only narrowly qualified, where they again lost to the Warriors 0-4 in the first round. In the 2017/18 NBA season , the Blazers achieved the third-best record in the Western Conference with a core of Lillard, McCollum and the Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkić . In the first round you had the home advantage against the New Orleans Pelicans , who competed without their star center DeMarcus cousins . Despite the favorite role of the Blazers, they were surprisingly eliminated with 0-4 against the Pelicans without a win.

Current squad

Portland Trail Blazers roster as of July 7, 2020

player	Coaches
No. Nat. Surname position birth size info college 00 Carmelo Anthony Forward 05/29/1984 203 cm Syracuse  0 Damian Lillard Guard 07/15/1990 191 cm Weber State 1 Anfernee Simons Guard 06/08/1999 193 cm IMG Academy 2 Gary Trent, Jr. Guard 01/18/1999 198 cm Duke 3 CJ McCollum Guard 09/19/1991 191 cm Lehigh 4th Moses Brown center 10/13/1999 216 cm G / R UCLA 5 Rodney Hood Forward 10/20/1992 203 cm Duke 6th Jaylen Hoard Forward 03/30/1999 206 cm G / R Wake Forest 9 Nassir Little Forward 02/11/2000 198 cm R / UNC 10 Jaylen Adams Guard 05/04/1996 188 cm St. Bonaventure 21st Hassan Whiteside center 06/13/1989 213 cm Marshall 27 Jusuf Nurkić center 08/23/1994 211 cm Bosnia 33 Zach Collins center 11/19/1997 213 cm Gonzaga 35 Wenyen Gabriel Forward 03/26/1997 206 cm R. Kentucky 44 Mario Hezonja Guard / Forward 02/25/1995 203 cm Croatia	Nat. Surname position Terry Stotts Head coach Nate Tibbetts Deputy head coach Jim Moran Assistant coach John McCullough Assistant coach Dale Osbourne Assistant coach Jannero Pargo Assistant coach Jonathan Yim Assistant coach for player development Ben Kenyon Strength and conditioning trainer Geoff Clark Medical trainer
	Legend Abbr. meaning No. Jersey number Nat. nationality C. Team captain R. Rookie G Two-way contract Inactivity due to injury

Honors and achievements worth mentioning

Clyde Drexler played in Portland from 1984 to 1994

Guard Brandon Roy

Jersey numbers that are no longer assigned

No.	Nat.	Surname	position	time
1		Larry Weinberg	Team founder and former owner	1970-1988
13		Dave Twardzik	Guard	1976-1980
14th		Lionel Hollins	Guard	1975-1980
15th		Larry Steele	Guard	1971-1980
20th		Maurice Lucas	Forward	1976-1980 and 1987/88
22nd		Clyde Drexler	Guard	1984-1994
30th		Bob Gross	Forward	1975-1982
30th		Terry Porter	Guard	1985-1995
32		Bill Walton	center	1974-1988
36		Lloyd Neal	center	1972-1979
45		Geoff Petrie	Guard	1970-1976
77		Jack Ramsay	Coach (1977 year of the only championship)	1976-1986

Members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Nat.	Surname	position	time
	Clyde Drexler	Guard	1983-1995
	Drazen Petrovic	Guard	1989-1991
	Arvydas Sabonis	center	1995-2001 2002-2003
	Bill Walton	center	1974-1979
	Lenny Wilkens	Guard trainer	1974/75 1974-1976
	Jack Ramsay	Trainer	1976-1986

Well-known former players

Surname	current club
LaMarcus Aldridge	San Antonio Spurs
Nicolas Batum	Charlotte Hornets
Sam Bowie	Career ended
Kevin Duckworth	† 2008
Maurice Lucas	† 2010
Shawn Kemp	Career ended
Jerome Kersey	† 2015
Wesley Matthews	Milwaukee Bucks
Greg Oden	Career ended
Scottie Pippen	Career ended
Terry Porter	Career ended
Zach Randolph	Career ended
Isaiah Rider	Career ended
Clifford Robinson	Career ended
Brandon Roy	Career ended
Arvydas Sabonis	Career ended
Detlef Schrempf	Career ended
Steve Smith	Career ended
Damon Stoudamire	Career ended
Rod Strickland	Career ended
Mychal Thompson	Career ended
Kiki Vandeweghe	Career ended
Rasheed Wallace	Career ended
Sidney Wicks	Career ended
Buck Williams	Career ended

statistics

Trainer

Surname	time
Rolland Todd	1970-1972
Stu Inman	1972 as an interim trainer
Jack McCloskey	1972-1974
Lenny Wilkens	1974-1976
Jack Ramsay	1976-1986
Mike Schuler	1986-1989
Rick Adelman	1989 as interim trainer and 1989-1994
PJ Carlesimo	1994-1997
Mike Dunleavy	1997-2001
Maurice Cheeks	2001-2005
Kevin Pritchard	2005 as an interim trainer
Nate McMillan	2005–2012
Caleb Canales	2012 as an interim trainer
Terry Stotts	2012 – today

Seasons in the National Basketball Association (Status: Reg.Season August 2020)

year	Victories: defeats	Wins [%]	Play-offs
1970/71	29:53	35.4	Not qualified for the play-offs
1971/72	18:64	22.0	Not qualified for the play-offs
1972/73	21:61	25.6	Not qualified for the play-offs
1973/74	27:55	32.9	Not qualified for the play-offs
1974/75	38:44	46.3	Not qualified for the play-offs
1975/76	37:45	45.1	Not qualified for the play-offs
1976/77	49:33	59.8	NBA champions 4-2 in the NBA final against the Philadelphia 76ers
1977/78	58:24	70.7	2-4 in the Western Conference semifinals against the Seattle SuperSonics
1978/79	45:37	54.9	1: 2 in the first round against the Phoenix Suns
1979/80	38:44	46.3	1: 2 in the first round against the Seattle SuperSonics
1980/81	45:37	54.9	1: 2 in the first round against the Kansas City Kings
1981/82	42:40	51.2	Not qualified for the play-offs
1982/83	46:36	56.1	1: 4 in the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers
1983/84	48:34	58.5	2: 3 in the first round against the Phoenix Suns
1984/85	42:40	51.2	1: 4 in the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers
1985/86	40:42	48.8	1: 3 in the first round against the Denver Nuggets
1986/87	49:33	59.8	1: 3 in the first round against the Houston Rockets
1987/88	53:29	64.6	1: 3 in the first round against the Utah Jazz
1988/89	39:43	47.6	0: 3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers
1989/90	59:23	72.0	1: 4 in the NBA final against the Detroit Pistons
1990/91	63:19	76.8	2: 4 in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers
1991/92	57:25	69.5	2: 4 in the NBA final against the Chicago Bulls
1992/93	51:31	62.2	1: 3 in the first round against the San Antonio Spurs
1993/94	47:35	57.3	1: 3 in the first round against the Houston Rockets
1994/95	44:38	53.7	0: 3 in the first round against the Phoenix Suns
1995/96	44:38	53.7	2: 3 in the first round against the Utah Jazz
1996/97	49:33	59.8	1: 3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers
1997/98	46:36	56.1	1: 3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers
1998/99	35:15	70.0	0: 4 in the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs
1999/00	59:23	72.0	3: 4 in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers
2000/01	50:32	61.0	0: 3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers
2001/02	49:33	59.8	0: 3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers
2002/03	50:32	61.0	3-4 in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks
2003/04	41:41	50.0	Not qualified for the play-offs
2004/05	27:55	32.9	Not qualified for the play-offs
2005/06	21:61	25.6	Not qualified for the play-offs
2006/07	32:50	39.0	Not qualified for the play-offs
2007/08	41:41	50.0	Not qualified for the play-offs
2008/09	54:28	65.9	2-4 in the first round against the Houston Rockets
2009/10	50:32	61.0	2-4 in the first round against the Phoenix Suns
2010/11	48:34	58.5	2-4 in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks
2011/12	28:38	42.4	Not qualified for the play-offs
2012/13	33:49	40.2	Not qualified for the play-offs
2013/14	54:28	65.9	1: 4 in the Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs
2014/15	51:31	62.2	1: 4 in the first round against the Memphis Grizzlies
2015/16	44:38	53.7	1: 4 in the Western Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors
2016/17	41:41	50.0	0-4 in the first round against the Golden State Warriors
2017/18	49:33	59.8	0-4 in the first round against the New Orleans Pelicans
2018/19	53:39	64.6	0: 4 in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors
2019/20	35:39	47.3
total	2169: 1875	53.6	116: 147 in the playoffs (44.1%) - 1 NBA championship

Web links

• Official website of the Portland Trail Blazers
• Official squad of the team

Individual evidence