The NBA A History of Hoops The Story of the Portland Trail Blazers Nate LeBoutillier C R E AT I V E D I G I TA L CREATIVE DIGITAL The NBA A History of Hoops The Story of the Nate LeBoutillier Portland Trail Blazers
T a b l e o f Co n t e n t s BLAZING INTO EXISTENCE 8 PINNACLE IN PORTLAND 16 MISSING OUT ON MICHAEL 22 BULLFIGHTING BASKETBALL-STYLE 30 RECOVERY AND RELAUNCH 38 INDEX 48 CO U R T S I D E S TO R I E S A FORTUITOUS FIGHT 13 BLAZERMANIA 21 CLYDE GLIDES AWAY 24 STREAKS OF SUCCESS 26 STIGMATIC SELECTION 33 ROY’S RENAISSANCE 44 INTRODUCING GEOFF PETRIE 11 JACK RAMSAY 15 BILL WALTON 19 CLYDE DREXLER 29 PAUL ALLEN 35 LaMARCUS ALDRIDGE 41 Table of Contents COURTSIDE STORIES INTRODUCING
BLAZING INTO EXISTENCE BELOW THE PEAK OF MOUNT HOOD THE CITY OF PORTLAND IS SURROUNDED BY NATURE 8 BLAZING INTO EXISTENCE
MAURICE LUCAS A big part of America’s expansion in the 1800s involved taming the tantalizing yet dangerous wilds of the American West To do this brave explorers often called trailblazers set out on perilous journeys beset by rough terrain a lack of food and hostile natives unsympathetic to American-style civilization These explorers had to be fearless intelligent and above all else tenacious In the end these explorers trailblazing paved the way for new settlers In the 1840s some of those settlers forged a trading post on the banks of the Willamette River at the far reaches of the American West in a place called Oregon Country In 1845 two men from back East who shared a claim on the land Asa Lovejoy a lawyer from Boston Massachusetts and Francis Pettygrove a trader from Portland Maine decided to name the post Problem was 9
