William Theodore Walton III was an American basketball player and television sportscaster. He played collegiately for UCLA Bruins and professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers, and Boston Celtics. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. In 1978, owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises with then-Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who then moved the team to San Diego, where it was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1984, becoming the Los Angeles Clippers.
Darius LaVar Miles is an American former professional basketball player.
Zachary McKenley Randolph is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Z-Bo", the 2-time NBA All-Star played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans before being drafted in the 2001 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He played for five teams over the course of his professional career, making the All-NBA Third Team in 2011 with the Memphis Grizzlies. He also played with the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings before retiring in December 2019. Randolph later planned to come out of retirement in 2020 to join the Big3.
Jarron Thomas Collins is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz, and played 10 seasons in the NBA. He has a twin brother, Jason, who also played in the league.
The 1991–92 NBA season was the 46th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the Chicago Bulls winning their second straight NBA Championship, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. This was Larry Bird's final season as a player in the NBA.
The 1985–86 NBA season was the 40th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning their third championship of the decade, beating the Houston Rockets 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. This will be their last championship until winning it again in 2008.
Gregory Fuller Kite is an American retired professional basketball player. Kite was a member of two NBA Championship teams with the Boston Celtics in 1984 and 1986. Kite played eleven NBA seasons.
The 1971 NBA draft was the 25th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 29 and 30, 1971, before the 1971–72 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each conference, with the order determined by a coin flip. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Portland Trail Blazers were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Prior to the start of the season, the San Diego Rockets and the San Francisco Warriors relocated to Houston, Texas, and Oakland, California, and became the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors respectively. The draft consisted of 19 rounds comprising the selection of 237 players. The league also hosted a supplemental hardship draft on September 20, 1971, for college underclassmen who wished to join the league.
The 1971–72 Portland Trail Blazers season was the second season of the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Geoff Petrie missed 22 games due to injury. Petrie who averaged 24.8 points per game in his rookie season would drop nearly 6 points per game as the Blazers finished with an NBA worst record of 18–64. One of the highlights of the season was Sidney Wicks. He would win the Rookie of the Year with a team best 24.5 points per game.
The Portland Trail Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise entered the NBA in 1970, and is one of two major league franchise in Oregon. The Trail Blazers sold out 814 consecutive home games from 1977 through 1995, the second longest such streak for American professional sports teams which was broken July 9, 2011, by the Dayton Dragons. The team has played their home games at the Moda Center, since the 1995–96 NBA season. The Trail Blazers are owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust chaired by Jody Allen, since the passing of owner Paul Allen in 2018. Since the team joined the NBA in 1970, it has won one NBA championship, three conference championships, six division championships, and has appeared in the NBA playoffs 34 times.
Al-Farouq Ajadi Aminu is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player who last played for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Internationally he represented the Nigeria national basketball team. Aminu was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2010 NBA draft with the eighth overall pick, and has also played for the New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic.
The 1971–72 NBA season was the 26th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals.
Kim Galen Hughes is an American former basketball player and coach. He played professional basketball in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New York / New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, and Milwaukee Bucks between 1975 and 1981. Hughes served as the interim head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers for 33 games in 2010. On July 4, 2015, he was fired from his position as an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 1994–95 Portland Trail Blazers season was the 25th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. The Trail Blazers 25th season was marked by change as they played their final season at the Memorial Coliseum with new head coach P.J. Carlesimo. The team also had the seventeenth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, and selected Aaron McKie out of Temple University. The Trail Blazers started the regular season by defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in their first two games, which were played overseas in Yokohama, Japan. The team got off to a 6–6 start, and played around .500 for the first half of the season, holding a 25–20 record at the All-Star break, as Terry Porter only played just 35 games due to an ankle injury.
The 1997–98 Portland Trail Blazers season was the 28th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Trail Blazers signed free agents Brian Grant, and Vincent Askew, and hired former Milwaukee Bucks General Manager and head coach Mike Dunleavy as their new coach. After losing their season opener, the Trail Blazers went on a five-game winning streak, which ended with a 140–139 quadruple overtime home loss to the Phoenix Suns on November 14, 1997. The Trail Blazers continued to play above .500 for the remainder of the season, holding a 26–20 record at the All-Star break.
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.
Norman Powell is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Powell played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, where he was an all-conference player in the Pac-12. He was selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, who subsequently traded his draft rights to the Toronto Raptors. He won an NBA championship with Toronto in 2019.
Larry Donnell Nance Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wyoming Cowboys, where he was considered one of the best big men in the Mountain West Conference after leading the 2014–15 team to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Nance was drafted 27th overall in the 2015 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He became part of the team's roster rebuild focusing around younger players. During the 2017–18 season, Nance was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with whom he reached the 2018 NBA Finals. During the 2021 offseason, he was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers, who traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans midway through the 2021–22 season.
Moses Shirief-Lamar Brown is an American professional basketball player for the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins.
