The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. They played their games at the Rose Garden. The team folded after the 2002 season, its third in the league. They were the only WNBA team that ceased operations without having made the playoffs.
Daniel Ray Ainge is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his 18-year career as general manager for the Boston Celtics, Ainge was known for making bold moves to help the team rebuild, and clearing cap space. He served as the Celtics' president of basketball operations from 2003 until his retirement in 2021.
James Arthur Jackson is an American former professional basketball player. Over his 14 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons, Jackson was on the active roster of 12 different teams, which was an NBA record shared with Joe Smith, Tony Massenburg, Chucky Brown, and Ish Smith; until Ish played with the Denver Nuggets, his 13th team, in the 2022–23 season. He is currently a basketball analyst for Fox Sports, Turner Sports and the Los Angeles Clippers on Bally Sports West, having previously worked for the Big Ten Network. Jim Jackson also works as an analyst for the NBA Playoffs on NBATV.
Damon Lamon Stoudamire, nicknamed Mighty Mouse, is an American college basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 171 lb (78 kg) point guard was selected with the 7th overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 NBA draft and won the 1995–96 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He played collegiately at the University of Arizona, and professionally for the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs.
Steven Hanson Blake is an American professional basketball coach and former player. After winning the 2002 NCAA Championship with Maryland, Blake was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 38th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft. Over his 13-year NBA career, Blake had stints with the Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, and three stints with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Earl Joseph Watson Jr. is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, where he was a four-year starter and named all-conference as a senior in the Pac-10. Watson was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft with the 39th overall selection. He played 13 seasons in the NBA with seven teams before becoming a coach in 2014. He was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 2016 to 2017.
Kevin Lee Pritchard is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and was also the general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Indiana Pacers.
Wesley Lavon Person is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After his playing career, Person became a women's basketball assistant coach and then the head men's basketball coach at Enterprise-Ozark Community College. He was fired from the latter position in 2010.
Dorell Lawrence Wright is an American former professional basketball player. Wright was drafted in the 2004 NBA draft by the Miami Heat directly out of high school. He has also played for the Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers. He has previously led the league in three-pointers made, and was selected to participate in the NBA Three-Point Contest in 2011.
Alaa Abdelnaby, is an Egyptian-American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils followed by a five-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career, and then stints in various other leagues. Abdelnaby is one of two Egyptian-born players in the history of the NBA, along with Abdel Nader.
Tracy Lamont Murray is an American former professional basketball player who works as an analyst with the UCLA Sports Network for all of the games during the UCLA Bruins' basketball season. Tracy is also a part-time analyst on the Slam Dunk Show on ABC7 Los Angeles. He worked as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the 2015–16 NBA season.
Darrick David Martin is an American basketball coach, most recently head coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA G League. He played basketball for more than a decade, shuttling between the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he won the 2003 CBA Playoffs MVP, and the NBA. In 2003, he even played for the Harlem Globetrotters. He then went on to play for the Los Angeles Lightning of the Independent Basketball Association (IBL). He was named the head coach of Reno in June 2016.
John Garfield "Toby" Bailey is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently a sports agent.
Kevin Paul Calabro is an American sportscaster based in Seattle, Washington. The longtime voice of the former Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise, Calabro has primarily called NBA basketball but has also announced collegiate football and basketball as well as MLS soccer. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the television play-by-play voice for the Portland Trail Blazers. He rejoined the Portland Trail Blazers as the Play-By-Play Voice for the 2021-22 season after stepping down in 2020 to be with his family in order to avoid exposure to COVID-19. As of the 2015–16 season, Calabro is the lead play-by-play announcer for NBA on ESPN Radio, including NBA Finals games in 2007, 2014 and 2016 alongside personalities such as Jack Ramsay and Hubie Brown. Calabro has done ESPN radio play-by-play for the NBA Conference Finals for a decade in addition to being a regular contributor to TNT's NBA broadcasts. Calabro worked college basketball and football games for the Pac-12 Network and postseason college basketball for Westwood One Sports, including NCAA tournament action.
Brandon Leray Rush is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted in the first round of the 2008 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, before being traded to the Indiana Pacers on draft day, after playing for Kansas for three seasons, including the 2008 championship season. He was selected as a Wooden Award All-American in both 2007 and 2008 as a Jayhawk. Rush has also played for the Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, and Minnesota Timberwolves, winning an NBA championship with the Warriors in 2015.
Robin Byron Lopez is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 15th pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in 2012 and was traded to Portland in 2013. He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal alongside his twin brother Brook Lopez. He has played for six other teams, including a four-year stint with the Chicago Bulls and two stints with the Bucks.
The 2009–10 Philadelphia 76ers season was the seventy-first season of the franchise and the sixty-first in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 1996–97 NBA season was the 27th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Trail Blazers signed free agent Kenny Anderson, acquired Isaiah Rider from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and acquired second-year forward Rasheed Wallace and Mitchell Butler from the Washington Bullets. This season is also notable for the team drafting high school basketball star Jermaine O'Neal with the 17th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. The Blazers would hover around .500 for most of the first half of the season, holding a 25–23 record at the All-Star break. At midseason, the team traded Aaron McKie to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Stacey Augmon. The Blazers then posted a 13–2 record in March, which included an 11-game winning streak, then won their final four games of the season. The Blazers finished third in the Pacific Division, and fifth in the Western Conference with a 49–33 record. Making their 15th straight trip to the postseason and 20th in 21 years.
The Portland Trail Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise was founded in the 1970–71 NBA season. The team made their first draft pick in the 1970 NBA draft and have selected 283 players total. The franchise won its only NBA championship in 1977, when the team was led by their 1974 first overall pick, Bill Walton, as well as multiple other former draft picks who went on to have their numbers retired by Portland. Many of the players selected have gone on to have accomplished careers while playing for the team. Clyde Drexler and Damian Lillard hold multiple Blazer records and are first in many stats. Along with Walton and Drexler, two other draft picks, Dražen Petrović and Arvydas Sabonis, went on to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after their playing careers ended, with Petrović being inducted posthumously.
Jaylen Tairique Adams is an American professional basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, earning co-Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year honors as a senior in 2018.
