My first season as a Portland Trail Blazers beat writer is one I’ll never forget.
The job was the biggest professional challenge of my young life — a graduate course in sports reporting full of long nights, lots of learning and constant pressure on my comfort zone. It was also the realization of a childhood dream to cover my hometown team full-time and on-site, the same franchise I grew up watching and reading about in the morning paper.
To me, there’s not a more meaningful story to tell in sports than the Portland Trail Blazers. What an honor to get the chance.
My work for the 2024-25 season began back at Media Day in September. Then the schedule took me through training camp and practices at the team’s Tualatin facility, over 40 preseason and regular-season games at the Moda Center, and various other events. It all came to a sudden close on April 13, when the Blazers finished the season with a 36-46 record, failing to qualify for the NBA Playoffs.
As a way of formally reflecting on all those experiences, I decided I would share a countdown of my favorite reporting moments from the lot. I should specify that “favorite” doesn’t necessarily mean “positive” for the Blazers or even for me. Rather, the countdown is a list of the most interesting or memorable moments to be a part of over the 2024-25 campaign. By doing this exercise, it’ll give us all a chance to revisit some of the most interesting characters, moments and games from another year in Rip City.
15. Klaus Wins a Toyota
Out of all the people I heard speak this season, including All-Star players and championship-winning head coaches, not many had more swagger than Klaus Becker. I’m, of course, talking about the 23-year-old Blazers fan who nailed the Toyota Half-Court Shot to win a new car.
Becker’s one shining moment came on Oct. 25 during Portland’s second game of the season against the New Orleans Pelicans. At a timeout in the third quarter, Becker stepped onto the court donning a Brandon Roy jersey. He nodded his head a little as the crowd encouraged him with a cheer, then he let it launch from a solid two feet behind the line. The shot was an absolute bullseye, and Becker celebrated by tapping his wrist to remind everybody he was operating on Dame Time.
The make won Becker a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It also snapped a streak dating back to 2017 of 94 straight misses in the Toyota Half-Court Shot challenge. The feat gave me an early and unique chance to put Blazer’s Edge’s re-established press credentials to use: I got an exclusive interview with the man of the hour in the concourse during the fourth quarter.
Winning a car in front of thousands of strangers because you make a faraway basketball shot is at once awesome and ridiculous. Becker came across as somebody who knew how to give that bizarre moment in the spotlight its proper gravitas. He said that he knew the shot was true before it even hit the net.
“As soon as it left my hand: Water,” Becker said with bravado.
Then he complemented that confidence with a moment of humorous humility.
“I drive my dad’s car, so this is great for me,” he said. “This is really great. I think my dad’s gonna be really excited.”
That’s showmanship. That’s owning the moment. That’s tact. Nobody else made a Toyota Half-Court Shot over the remaining 80 games, truly making Klaus Becker 1 of 1 this season.
No. 14: The Chillest Win in Franchise History
The Blazers lost some horrendous games over the course of the season, especially in the first half. The two worst losses came at home by margins of 45 and 42. Not only were those games painful to sit through, but the atmosphere at the Moda Center was tense. Boos broke out at various points and fans seemed restless, frustrated that the team wasted their night.
With those low points as a reference, there was something so pleasant about the Blazers’ 141-88 home win over the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 22. The 53-point victory, the largest in franchise history, was practically over from the opening tip. It made the atmosphere in the arena so light and peaceful, the second half felt more like Fan Fest than a regular-season game. In my recap from that night, I said you could’ve pitched a hammock and shut your eyes for the second half. I really do think it became an environment fit for napping. Not because of boredom. More in the way that one might doze off on the couch to the comfort and familiarity of sitcom reruns.
The game featured one of Toumani Camara’s best two-way performances of the season: 20 points on 7-9 shooting, 10 rebounds and six assists, while shutting down Hornets star LaMelo Ball (1-10 shooting, five points). He also had a nice highlight in the postgame press conference. The second-year forward typically brushed off praise this season with the media, focusing on how the Blazers can improve rather than resting on laurels. He did the same after the Hornets game when a reporter asked if he had ever won by that many points.
“I’ve lost by that much,” Camara responded.
The win wasn’t some grand statement. The Hornets were one of the worst teams in the NBA this year. It still made for a relaxing watch and continued a nice second-half trend this season where the Blazers usually took care of business against lesser teams.
Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images
No. 13: Germany Comes to Rip City
One of the best parts about this job is it gives you a reason to connect with new people and hear their stories. That was the case at Portland’s preseason home game against German club Ratiopharm Ulm when I noticed a small but devout section of the opposing team’s fans in the crowd before tipoff. I approached the section, all wearing Ulm’s vibrant orange color, and asked for an interview. The first two women I asked made it clear they didn’t speak English, but they quickly grabbed another fan from the group, 24-year-old Simon Eigenmueller, who was happy to talk with me.
Eigenmueller explained he had traveled 5,213 miles from Frankfurt, Germany, to be at the Moda Center that night with his mom and his girlfriend. They were unwilling to miss the rare chance to see their hometown team play against NBA competition.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to an NBA game and also see your favorite team,” he said. “… It’s expensive, but as I said, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Along with explaining their travel journey, Eigenmueller provided some analysis about Ulm and how their season was going in Germany’s highest level of professional basketball. Then you could hear him and his fellow Ulm fans all night, cheering and chanting as their club stayed in the game before bowing out in a 111-100 loss to the Blazers.
I was happy to give a small spotlight to such genuine fans.
Conor Bergin
No. 12: The UConn Practice Controversy
My most viral reporting moment of the season happened at the Blazers’ first training camp practice on Oct. 1, my second day on the job. The moment was also an eye-opening introduction to the severe disapproval a faction of the Blazers fan base feels toward head coach Chauncey Billups. That was something I was aware of heading into the season, but it becomes more apparent and impactful when you’re providing day-to-day coverage of the team.
At the reporting scrum that day with Donovan Clingan, I recorded a short clip of the rookie center saying that practices at the University of Connecticut were “definitely harder” than NBA practices so far.
“[Danny Hurley’s] intense, man. It’s two-and-a-half hours of getting yelled at,” Clingan said about practices at UConn with head coach Danny Hurley.
I thought the clip was interesting, albeit a little innocuous. It’s common for college practices to be harder than NBA practices. Not that NBA practices aren’t intense, but there’s a different culture and style to them compared to college. For one, NBA head coaches are working with professional players who are full-grown adults, so the power dynamic and relationship is different. Secondly, NBA players are expected to come into the season with their conditioning already in good shape. There are some other reasons too, but this is all to say that college practices typically run players more ragged than NBA practices, especially when those college practices are led by Hurley, who is infamous for his militaristic style.
Without all that context and nuance, I posted Clingan’s response to X, formerly Twitter, and left the Tualatin practice facility. By the time I drove home, the clip was already unleashing a small social media firestorm against Billups. For Billups opponents, it was ammo to criticize the coach, proof he’s not doing what he needs to do if college practices are easier than his practices. As it stands today, the clip has over 179,000 views and 90 reposts, consisting mainly of negative reactions toward Billups. The other bulk of the reactions came from UConn fans, pleased to point to the clip as proof of their program’s greatness. (The Hartford Courant in Connecticut also picked it up for a story).
While the social media moment was peculiar — my Tweets usually got around two likes at the time — it felt tainted because in this case the criticism was unfair and Clingan’s words got blown out of proportion. Of course, there are valid criticisms of Billups. However, in this microcosm of journalism in the social media world back on Oct. 1, the criticism was misguided, and it felt a little slimy that it sparked from my account.
No. 11: The Bjorkgren Era
In late December, Billups stepped away from the team for two games to mourn the death of his grandmother. (I would just like to pause and make it clear that family, especially the loss of a loved one, is more important than work or basketball. Blazer’s Edge offered condolences in our article covering this news back when it happened, but before I go back over this period in the season, I’d like to offer condolences once more to Billups and his family for their loss).
From a reporting perspective, Billups’ absence was an interesting period to cover. Not only did it give the press corps a new personality to interview for a few games, but it provided a small glimpse into what games might be like with a different head coach managing the team, even one on Billups’ staff. In this case, that coach was assistant Nate Bjorkgren, who can usually be seen moving up and down the sideline during games, feeding intel into Billups’ ear.
Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images
The first game came against the Utah Jazz at home on Dec. 26. For the most part, the gameplan and decisions played out as usual, until the fourth quarter happened. Entering the fourth, Blazers reserves Scoot Henderson and Deni Avdija were in the midst of great performances and the score was tight. Meanwhile, starter Anfernee Simons was 1-9 from the field through three quarters and fellow starter Jerami Grant was playing fine, but not at the same level as Avdija.
At that point in time, Billups had often been reluctant to close with Henderson or Avdija, even on nights they had outplayed the starters at their position (it’s almost hard to remember that was ever the case with Avdija, considering how much he blossomed in the second half of the season). In this instance though, Bjorkgren rode with the hot hands, keeping Avdija in for all of the final quarter and Scoot in for the final 6:05.
The move paid off in spades. Avdija scored 14 fourth-quarter points on his way to 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Henderson rewarded the trust by delivering his first signature NBA moment: A turning, fadeaway mid-range jumper that went through the net with 0.1 seconds left. The shot gave Portland a 122-120 win, as Henderson backpedaled to mid-court, celebrating with his tongue out.
In the postgame press conference, multiple reporters asked Bjorkgren about the late-game lineup decisions.
“I did just exactly what Coach Billups would’ve done,” Bjorkgren responded like a good second lieutenant. “Some of those guys that were in there late, that group was just playing really well, so I decided to run that group longer.”
Bjorkgren served as head coach for one more game two days later at home. The Blazers defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 126-122. They finished the Bjorkgren Era with an unblemished 2-0 record, but the Dallas game was much more ordinary. Then Billups returned and things returned to business as usual. The Blazers’ defining stretch of the season — where they won 10 of 11 games — revitalized the atmosphere less than a month later.
Still, that Utah win felt like a turning point for Henderson and part of a larger turning point for Avdija. Avdija, who had picked up his play beginning in December after a bit of a rocky start, reclaimed his starting spot in that next game against Dallas and never gave it back up, cementing himself as one of Portland’s most important players by the end of the season.
Henderson never became a full-time starter, but he raised his play after that game-winner and took some valuable developmental steps during the second half of the season that lend optimism for his future in Portland.
No. 10: The Story of the Remix
Back in the fall, I wrote a big profile on the business team behind the Rip City Remix as they prepared to head into the franchise’s second-ever season. While looking ahead, the story reflected on the journey the business side took over the inaugural season of the Blazers’ G League affiliate and what it’s like to launch a minor-league sports franchise from scratch under an accelerated timeline.
This was the story from this season that took the most legwork, the most hair-pulling to put together, and the most hours. By those virtues, it must be included on this countdown. But more importantly, I like what the Remix team is trying to build, setting the franchise up as a low-cost, accessible entry into professional sports tailored toward community and children. I like that home games at the Chiles Center feel more like a small, local operation, compared to the corporate feel of the NBA. I enjoyed getting to dive deep into those aspects of the Remix story.
The story also gave me a reason to interview local celebrity Blane Hartleb. He’s the outrageous spokesman from the Outrageous Audio commercials and a man my family has quoted around the house from time to time. Hartleb worked into the story because he starred in the Remix’s season two schedule release video, listing off the slate of home games with that trademark high-energy, high-pitched voice. (For the record, he doesn’t speak like that over the phone).
I was kicking myself that I couldn’t work this into the finished piece, but Hartleb told me a wonderful story about how he became a Trail Blazers fan. The year was 1977, he was around 10 years old and had recently moved to Portland from Maine. That’s when he was in the backseat of his dad’s 1973 Cadillac. With his parents in the front two seats, they were driving near Lloyd Center when all of a sudden they got stuck in a traffic jam of cars and people celebrating in the street. It turns out, the raucous was because the Blazers had just defeated the Philadelphia 76ers to become World Champions.
“We were stopped in traffic, and somebody handed my dad a champagne bottle,” Hartleb recalled. “He took a swig off it. My mom took a swig off it, and then they handed it out the car to another person. It was so awesome. I remember it so clear, everybody in the street celebrating. … People were on cars. But the champagne thing as a 10-year-old, you know how some of those things just impact you, and you see it inside your head over and over?”
Hartleb continued: “My dad was a dentist up at OHSU. I was like, ‘Dad, what are you doing!?’ It was so out of character.”
The companion piece to the Remix profile was a man-on-the-street style story I got from a Remix home game in late November. I interviewed various parents around the Chiles Center who attended the game with young children. Their responses, and the scenes of kids running around, showed the business side’s vision for the fan experience in action.
Conor Bergin
No. 9: Matisse Thybulle’s Defensive Philosophy
Blazers wing Matisse Thybulle plays a unique defensive style, but he also approaches that side of the ball with a unique demeanor. A lot of defensive specialists are known for their intense trash-talking and fiery personalities — the Draymond Greens, Tony Allens and Ron Artests of the world come to mind here. But Thybulle seems to approach defense with a calm glee, more likely to smile after a defensive gem than talk smack to his opponent like he’s Tyrese Haliburton’s dad or something.
At Trail Blazers Media Day on Sept. 30, I asked Thybulle about his demeanor and what drives his defensive motor. Thybulle’s intelligent response about his defensive philosophy was probably my favorite quote of the season (you can hear it at the 4:26 mark of the video below):
For me, it’s just fun. A lot of the narrative or verbiage in sports in general, but especially in defense, it’s like ‘war’ and ‘battle’ and ‘defeat,’ and it becomes this life or death thing. And I’m like, I just enjoy creating plays. For me, it’s like you’re kind of outwitting them and whether it’s like a physical battle or not, I’m able to use my tools to overcome yours and just enjoying that little game as opposed to shutting someone down or destroying someone.
Injuries would go on to severely limit Thybulle this season. They forced him to miss 67 games before he made his season debut on March 16 against the Toronto Raptors. It was disappointing because it would’ve been interesting to see what Thybulle could’ve added to Portland’s improving defense over the course of a full season. From a reporting perspective, it was disappointing because he’s one of the most interesting interviews on the team and the injuries meant Media Day was his only formal interview until his March return. He still managed to register some impressive performances and a few more quality soundbites over the last 15 games of the season.
Early signs point to Rip City getting another season of Thybulle defense and interviews. At his exit interview on April 13, Thybulle indicated he intends to pick up his $11.6 million player-option with the Blazers for next season.
“That’s what I told most of the coaches in the locker room: I can’t wait to get a full season under our belts,” he said. “Because this whole year, we forged our identity as being a defensive team. I was just champing at the bit. Me and [assistant coach Roy Rogers] are talking about how fun it would be having me out there as well, imagining the lineups we could throw together. Chauncey getting his extension is really exciting and definitely makes me optimistic for running it back with these guys.”
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
No. 8: DA’s Media Day
Trail Blazers Media Day was a little bland until 6-foot-11 center Deandre Ayton walked through the door. Ayton immediately lifted up the energy with his big personality, perhaps only outdone by the larger-than-life gold chain around his neck.
Among other topics, he talked of his juice routine: “All types of stuff the chef got me drinkin’, man. Beet juice, I’ve seen some orange juice with ginger in it. All the cleansing stuff.”
He dropped that trademark nickname: “Oh yeah, that’s me. That’s DominAyton.”
And he raved about his teammates, particularly rookie center Donovan Clingan: “He uses his body so well, and he sacrifices his body for his teammates. That’s how he plays, and he doesn’t even know how important that is in this league.”
The interview helped put to bed any lingering worries that Ayton may have been irked by the Blazers drafting another center with the No. 7 overall pick last summer. It also set a precedent in regards to the unpredictable and often comedic nature of Ayton’s interviews throughout the season, making the former No. 1 overall pick a fresh quote machine in a sports world of cliche and repetition.
In a similar vein, Ayton’s enthusiasm stood out the most at team charity events this season. You could see it at the Blazers holiday giveaway in December, as Ayton helped kids pick out toys with great focus and chatter. And you could see it when he led a large group of Boys and Girls Club kids to the gymnasium at an event in October.
“That’s my boy right there! That’s Chauncey!” Ayton shouted as the group passed by the reporting scrum around head coach Chauncey Billups. “ … You see the cool kids walking!?”
Along with wing Matisse Thybulle, Ayton has cemented his standing as one of the most entertaining interviews on this Trail Blazers roster.
No. 7: The Rain City Showcase
The Rain City Showcase, a preseason exhibition between the Blazers and LA Clippers in Seattle on Oct. 11, featured a lot in terms of spectacle: a neutral site location in a major city; a strange but extravagant partnership with Pokemon that included Poke Ball-themed basketballs, Pokemon mascots and cardboard Pikachu hats for every fan; and a pregame speech from passionate Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
Above all, the most fascinating part of the day trip to the neighboring Pacific Northwest city was the swelling sea of Seattle Supersonics fans and legends who showed up. They arrived en masse in their green, gold and white to remind the NBA they’re still waiting to get their team back.
The atmosphere at preseason basketball games is usually tame; the attendance is lower and the cheers are softer. That was far from the case here, as Seattle fans used the event as a raucous demonstration to the league. They brought protest signs addressed to League Commissioner Adam Silver and got loud every time the jumbotron flashed another Supersonic legend in attendance, from Gary Payton to Lenny Wilkens to George Karl to Shawn Kemp. For the many Sonics fans in attendance, it was a celebratory reconnection to their dormant hometown team, an aching reminiscence and an angry call for action.
Along with my usual Blazer-centric coverage of the game, the scene in Seattle gave me a rare chance to write a story more from a national perspective. I walked around the arena at pregame, talking with local fans about their cause to bring the NBA back to Seattle for good. By nature, man-on-the-street style stories are unpredictable, only as good as the interview subjects you happen to pull aside. Luckily, the fans I chatted with were phenomenal speakers, providing a plethora of quotes to choose from.
There was 55-year-old LaHoma Walker, who attended the game with her husband, both decked out in full Sonics gear.
“It is a protest,” she said. “That is why I got the floor seat, so you can see my Sonics gear, so you guys can bring back my Sonics.”
There was also 13-year-old Elliott Anderson, who stood out in the crowd because of his age and how long he kept his sign held high. He wasn’t born yet when the Sonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008, but he was too devoted to the cause to worry about tired arms.
“I don’t know why they haven’t come back yet,” he said. “ … I love basketball, but I haven’t had anyone to root for.”
Grid View
As fate would have it, I would run into Elliott later this season at the Moda Center. I spotted him in the crowd prior to the Blazers-Lakers game on Feb. 20 and asked him how things were going with the pursuit to bring the Sonics back. He informed me about a joke Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell had made just that week in his State of the City address. Harrell brought out a basketball, saying he had an announcement to make — insinuating to the crowd he was going to announce the Sonics’ return. Then he abruptly pulled the ball back and said, “I’m just kidding, I just got you.”
The “gotchya” moment was viewed in poor taste by many and went viral for the wrong reasons, prompting Harrell to apologize. Elliott was one of those people who didn’t appreciate the attempt at humor, though he did see a silver lining in the situation.
“I was like, ‘Come on, dude,’” Elliott said. “But I feel like he wouldn’t have done that if there wasn’t something that he knew that was coming up in the near future.”
No. 6: The Luka Trade
The Blazers played a strange peripheral role to the most shocking trade in NBA history. Their home matchup with the Phoenix Suns was the only NBA game still going on Feb. 1 when the news blindsided the sports world — the Dallas Mavericks had sent generational star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. It created the strange opportunity to see the real-time reactions from Blazers players and opposing players like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Judging by their expressions, postgame quotes, and locker room chatter, they were just as shocked as the rest of us.
“Somebody told us on the bench,” Booker said. “They said ‘Luka [got traded].’ I said ‘Luka Garza?’”
The situation also fostered some unique interactions between players and fans. Moda Center fans were the ones who first alerted Durant. The 15-time All-Star later said his initial response was “Get the f— outta here.” I vividly remember seeing court-side fans draw the attention of Suns veteran Damion Lee near mid-court during free throws. They held up their phone with the screen pointed toward Lee. He bent down a little to get a better look, and then he immediately walked around the court telling everybody what he just read, including the referees. As far as I can tell, Lee got the satisfaction of being the first person to tell veteran NBA official Zach Zarba about the Luka trade. A minute or so later, Lee walked over to the Blazers bench during a dead-ball to tell them, too.
“[I heard about it] a little bit everywhere,” Portland forward Toumani Camara said. “Some of my teammates said it, some of the coaches said it. I heard it from the fans.”
The beauty of the situation was the Blazers already had the game in the bag when the news broke. They were up big with less than five minutes remaining and the Suns had just emptied their bench, initiating garbage time. The insignificance of the game’s final minutes allowed the spotlight to fully turn to the significance of the off-court news. Maybe we don’t get the same scenes and fan/player interactions if the Blazers are locked in a crunch-time dogfight with the Suns.
But then again, maybe we do. The trade was that big and that unexpected.
One extra thought: As a Blazer’s Edge writer, it would be a disservice to not mention that, even with the Luka trade, the Lakers promptly got tossed out of the first round of the Playoffs in a gentleman’s sweep to the Timberwolves.
No. 5: The Game of the Year
If you were to ask me what was the best, most entertaining game of the Trail Blazers season, I’d know the answer right away: the overtime thriller against the New York Knicks in Portland on March 12.
So much packed into this one game: It featured 42 lead changes, one shy of the NBA record since the tracking era began; a well-represented, prideful faction of Knicks fans cheered blow for blow with Blazers faithful, lending to the atmosphere; second-year guard Scoot Henderson rescued the Blazers in regulation with eight straight points in the final 1:06, erasing a six-point deficit to force overtime; Blazers forward Deni Avdija scored 27, putting the Blazers ahead with three seconds left on a physical and-1 as John Cena music rang out; and then it all fittingly ended with a buzzer-beater.
Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images
The only thing the game didn’t include was a Blazers win. Knicks forward Mikal Bridges was the hero, hitting a leaning 3-pointer to deflate the crowd and seal a 114-113 New York win. The shot over Blazers 7-footer Donovan Clingan prompted a rare double-bang from legendary broadcaster Mike Breen.
Despite the loss, this game was too phenomenal to not declare it the best of the Blazers season. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better regular-season game around the Association this year.
The statement performance from Henderson is also hard to overlook when thinking back on this night. Henderson’s game-winner against the Jazz in December was nice, but his heroics against the Knicks here — part of a 30-point performance — made up his most impressive sequence of the season.
Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images
Competitive games like this against a playoff opponent are what have been missing from the later stages of recent Blazers seasons. It was nice to get a piece of that intensity and emotion once again in March.
No. 4: Clingan’s Block Party
Watching roster rebuilds can be tough, even painful. The process comes with terrible losses, losing seasons, no playoffs and other less shiny attributes. But the rewarding part is the novelty of the journey — the flashes of a team coming into its own, the pleasant surprise of watching guys pop, the joy of discovering something new. Blazers fans got to experience the high of that process when rookie center Donovan Clingan burst onto the scene on Nov. 13 in a spirited 106-98 home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
On that date, Clingan was enjoying a fine game in his second career start, filling in for an injured Deandre Ayton. Then he dominated the show in the fourth quarter with a heater of hustle and defensive paint dominance. The rookie recorded four blocks in the fourth. He dove on the floor for loose balls. He glared to the crowd after each denial. He stood up the bull-rushing Julius Randle multiple times. On one play, he didn’t need to jump to block NBA skyscraper Rudy Gobert. On another, he comfortably swatted Donte DiVincenzo’s shot off the backboard, sparking a fast break layup and a Minnesota timeout. Then he yelled to the crowd on his walk back to the bench.
Clingan was a 7-foot-2 defensive terror, and the momentum from his play pulled the Blazers away and across the finish line for the win. In the end, he finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks, just two shy of a triple-double.
Grid View
My favorite part about the game was the crowd. The defensive hot streak unleashed a euphoria in the arena similar to a hot streak of 3-pointers. With each play, the building got louder. Fans were delighted by the performance. They were delighted to discover what they had in their newest rookie. It brought proof to the potential that followed Clingan to Portland with the No. 7 overall pick last summer. No speculation. No in theory. It was right there in front of everybody. This is a dude who blocks shots and protects the rim, and he does those things very well.
Typical for rookies, Clingan’s season consisted of ebbs and flows as he dealt with the learning curve and injuries that broke up his rhythm. The louder performances were separated by lots of quieter ones. But those loud ones — like this night back in November — were impressive. At age 20, it was the type of performance that made you think Clingan could be a perennial All-Defensive guy, or at the very least a valuable player in this league.
No. 3: The Infamous Memphis Press Conference
On Nov. 10, just three days before the excitement of that Clingan performance, the Blazers crashed and saw the opposite side of the rebuild process. Portland got embarrassed on its home floor by the Memphis Grizzlies, losing 134-89. It was the type of end-to-end beatdown that sucked the soul out of the building, and it was only Game 11. To make it much worse, Memphis didn’t even have Ja Morant, Desmond Bane or Marcus Smart that night.
Following the loss, as I walked from press row to the press conference room, I was eager to see what that night’s postgame presser would bring. I figured it would include some sort of edge, but to what extent, I wasn’t sure. Then the first question from a reporter included the word “abomination” and head coach Chauncey Billups’ first answer included the F-bomb. And away we went.
Billups lit into the team for their performance and effort. He dropped so many fiery soundbites that I struggled to fit all of them into my postgame recap. Looking back, maybe just copy and pasting the transcript would’ve got the job done.
“It was just f— embarrassing, to be honest with you,” he said to the first question. “We were soft as hell the whole game. Nobody really fought. It was just embarrassing for everybody. That’s just not who we are. It really isn’t. There’s no excuse for that.”
“I told them that anybody that sleeps well tonight, you’re a loser,” he said at another point. “It’s just that simple. … You sleep well after this one, you’re a loser.”
While Billups called out his players, he said he’s also looking in the mirror and taking accountability. As head coach, he said he has to have his team more prepared.
“At the end of the day, that’s on me. I’m the leader of this,” Billups said. “This is our team but I’m the head of this. So to me, I take that very personal because I don’t have none of that, not one bone of that in my body, to just lay down, so that’s on me. I got to be better.”
As my time at Blazer’s Edge has plunged me deeper into the community and history surrounding the Blazers, I’ve become more enamored with the lore of the franchise: The different eras and characters; the good and the bad; the bigger and smaller moments that all add up to create the never-ending story of Portland’s NBA club.
This press conference felt like one of those moments that could be remembered in the lore. And not the good kind. It felt like a moment I would be reading about in a Kerry Eggers book some day. The bad loss, combined with the sour postgame, made me wonder if Billups’ days on the Blazers sideline were dwindling.
Then the Blazers surged out of the drama by ripping off three straight wins, including two rousing victories over Minnesota, one of which featured that great Clingan performance. The wins got the season back on a calmer track. Then the vibes really swung upward in late January when the Blazers unexpectedly won 10 of 11 games, helping to change the outlook on the season. On the heels of that second-half turnaround and improvements to the defense, Billups got a contract extension, and the drama of that bad Memphis loss faded away in the faraway archives of November.
Depending on how the remainder of Billups’ tenure goes, Blazers history could still look back on that Memphis loss and presser in very different ways. If a lack of success follows, the hindsight trial might point to this moment unkindly as Exhibit A. Or, it could amount to little more than a jagged dip on the path to much better days. A memory that makes you say: “Can you believe they got from there to here?”
Regardless of what the future brings, the night made for a fascinating chapter in the story of the 2024-25 Trail Blazers.
No. 2: Greg Oden’s Rip City Return
The best interview of the 2024-25 Trail Blazers season came from an unlikely source: 2007 No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden.
As part of the organization’s revitalized effort to stay connected with alumni, Oden returned to the Rose Garden (oops, I mean Moda Center) to watch Portland play against the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 28. It marked the 7-footer’s first attendance at a Blazers game since his tenure with the franchise unceremoniously ended in 2012.
The guest-of-honor treatment included a wide-ranging pregame media availability session with a room of reporters. The 36-year-old Oden discussed what he’s been up to since his playing days — a career in coaching, being a husband and a father, a masters degree from The Ohio State University, and more. He also reflected on his time in Portland, the disappointment of injuries depriving him of his vast potential, and the years-long process to make peace with it all.
Despite that emotional, complex history, December’s interview was full of levity. Oden was easy to smile. He was funny, keeping a healthy jokes-to-serious ratio. And he carried himself with a secure confidence, even as he broached difficult topics with vulnerability.
“When I’m by myself, yes, [I think about the what-ifs], but I don’t let that take up too much of my life and my thoughts because all I can control is what’s going on right now,” Oden said. “… I love to think about what could’ve happened, but all I can do is start building for what I want now.”
Later that night, the arena jumbotron centered on Oden and his family sitting courtside. The crowd welcomed him back to Rip City with a warm reception of cheers and applause.
Oden’s story was the most important one I got to tell this season, dealing with universal themes of acceptance, purpose, and moving forward when life changes your path. It offers lessons and reflection in a way that goes beyond sports.
No. 1: 10 of 11
It didn’t reach the movie-worthy heights of the Moneyball Oakland A’s. Or even the local lore of Portland’s unlikely 13-game winning streak in 2007. But this year’s Trail Blazers went on an impressive, out-of-nowhere streak. Between Jan. 19 and Feb. 6, Portland ripped off 10 wins in 11 games.
The hot stretch went on to become the defining moment of the season. It helped flip the outlook on what was crawling toward another abysmal year, helping the Blazers ultimately improve their win total by 15 games from the season before. It played a role in the decisions to extend the contracts of general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups. And it lent hope to the foundation of size and defense the organization is building.
It all started with four (for the most part, kinda whatever) wins on the road. Then things really got rolling when the Blazers returned to the Moda Center for a long seven-game homestand. After an admirable tap-out against the OKC juggernaut, the Blazers played their best basketball of the year in six straight wins:
They beat Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks, 125-112; they mowed over the Orlando Magic in a chippy 119-90 bashing; they made professional work of the Phoenix Suns, 127-108; they outlasted the Suns again in a gritty 121-119 win in overtime; they ran the Indiana Pacers out of the gym in the second half on their way to a 112-89 rout; and then they wrapped it all up with a 108-102 win in crunch time against the Sacramento Kings.
Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
This was a team that had lost five games in a row leading up to Jan. 19. That had lost games by 45, 42 and 36 earlier that season and by margins of 62 and 60 in the year prior. That hadn’t won more than three games in a row since October 2023.
Yet here they were, running teams out of town, throwing alley oops in transition, and hanging on for narrow wins. The stretch was defined by a defense that ranked No. 1 in the NBA over the span and hustle plays that featured second, third, and fourth efforts. The wins were also brought on by committee, featuring contributions from up and down the roster, veterans and young guys.
Those six games revitalized the energy and brought back some needed optimism. They got the Moda Center rocking in a way that grew from night to night. In press row, I found myself nodding my head in approval more frequently because of the newfound competency the team was showing. Following that entertaining win over the Pacers, fans exiting the concourse broke out a chant of “Let’s Go Blazers!” I hadn’t heard anything like that all season. To quote one fan in the Blazer’s Edge comment section after that win:
“I can’t wait for the next blazers game! Haven’t been able to say that for a while.”
Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
Now, from a pessimistic angle, this stretch was the catalyst that blew Portland’s chances at high lottery odds this spring, likely dashing the organization’s chances at acquiring franchise-altering talent in the upcoming NBA Draft. To some, that consequence was the kiss of death because this roster still needs its superstar. With the Blazers still ultimately landing in the lottery, I don’t think I would’ve traded in that 10-of-11 burst unless it meant Cooper Flagg’s welcome parade was 100% certain (now, maybe I would’ve handled the late stages of the season a little differently, but that’s another discussion).
This roster is far from contention and Portland will need to find a solution to that superstar question somewhere along the way. But the season’s second-half turnaround showed real steps and promise. Regardless of long-term outlooks and crystal-ball speculation, that hot stretch was wicked fun. It set the course for the Blazers to enter next season with more tangible expectations and stakes for the first time in a few years. That’s something I’m looking forward to seeing.