So it’s that time of year again. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and the city of Seattle is still left without a basketball franchise to root for. For die-hard Seattle SuperSonics fans, this time of the year brings along a mixed bag of emotions, sadness, anger, and excitement to name a few. But since the Sonics aren’t in town, why cry over spilt milk?
So my fellow Seattleites, who should we root for this year?
Certainly not the Oklahoma City Thunder; forgot those guys, and I really wanted to use a different F word.
Nevertheless, this can be a confusing question to answer. There are many different teams to pick and choose from, depending on who your favorite player is, where your family is from, and even which jerseys you like the best.
However, when you take a deeper delve into the history of Seattle, and the Sonics alike, I think it is quite obvious who the city of Seattle should collectively cheer for.
All you have to do is drive south down Interstate-5 for three or four hours and you have your answer. This article is going to explain why all Seattleites should be cheering for the Portland Trail Blazers this postseason.
When looking at the franchises of the Trail Blazers and the Sonics, it becomes clear that the teams are strongly interconnected. They are so strongly correlated with one another that it actually becomes a little eery at times.
Ok, time to dive into the meat of the article…mmm meat…shouts to Homer Simpson.
Paul Allen
The first reason why the city of Seattle should root for the Blazers is Paul Allen. Allen passed away this last year in 2018. He was the man that built this current Portland squad with the likes of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
If you don’t know who Allen is, you have been living under a rock. He is a Seattle Native and attended Lakeside High school. He is also the co-founder of Microsoft along with Bill Gates.
Allen was also the owner of the Blazers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Seattle Sounders.
He bought the Blazers in 1988 from a California real estate developer by the name of Larry Weinberg. Allen purchased the team for $70 million.
The Portland squads had experienced many years of mediocrity and trouble, before the 2006 NBA draft. Before 2006, some of the better Blazers teams had earned the nickname the Portland “Jail-Blazers.”
In the 2006 draft, this narrative all changed. Allen, along with other executives in the Portland franchise, were able to maneuver six trades that eventually landed them two elite players, these players were LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy. The duo immediately changed the trajectory of the franchise.
The newfound talent got the city of Portland interested in the Blaze again, and at one point even led to a streak of 195 consecutive home sellouts.
Allen is a Seattleite that everyone should be proud of. Beyond building successful sports franchises and world changing technology, he was also an honorable man. He donated to, and founded, many charitable causes such as: The Allen Institute for Brain Science, which he donated $100 million to, $100 million to The Ebola crisis is West Africa, and $30 million to provide permanent housing to homelessness and low income families in Seattle.
It would be nice to see the Trail Blazers get a championship ring in his honor. And “The Emerald City” can rejoice knowing that one of our own got the NBA Title that he was always chasing.
The “Spirit of Allen” would be rocking out on his guitar to celebrate the occasion.
Brandon Roy
Remember one of those star players that Allen acquired in the 2006 NBA Draft?
Well guess what? Brandon Roy was also born and raised in Seattle. Roy attended Garfield High School, dominated the Pac-12 at the University of Washington, and went on to be a two-time All-Star for the Trail Blazers franchise.
Even though he isn’t in the league anymore, he is the best NBA player to come out of the city of Seattle. Fellow NBA player and Seattleite Avery Bradley agrees with me. When asked who he thought the best player to come out of “The Emerald City” is, without hesitation he immediately answered Roy.
If it wasn’t for his knees giving out at such a young age he could have been the best Blazers player in history. Ok maybe not the best; he was never going to as good as “Clyde the Glide” Clyde Drexler.
Nevertheless, in his short tenure, he is one of the best Portland players of all time.
In his first year in the 2006-07 NBA season, he won the Rookie of the Year award. He was almost a unanimous decision; he received 127 out of the 128 possible votes. He also made the All-NBA team twice with Portland.
His career stats were impressive tallying 18.8 points, 4.3 rebs, and 4.7 assists per game. He led the Blazers to the playoffs three times but sadly was never able to advance past the first round.
He put UW basketball on the map along with the likes of Nate Robinson before UW basketball was even a real thing.
Roy also brought Portland back to prominence when the franchise was going through a rough stretch.
C’mon, Seattle—don’t forget about him; you know you loved him at one point or another. And even though I can’t prove it, I bet there’s a big part of him that is cheering for the Blaze this postseason.
Nate McMillan
Ok, so there’s two connections between the city of Seattle and the Trail Blazers franchise; that’s not that much, right? Well guess what? This is where things get a little eery. Wanna know who the Coach of Roy’s Portland playoffs teams was? Mr. Sonic himself, Nate McMillan.
According to kitsapsun.com, McMillan was such a big deal in Seattle that the city named a day after him.
He spent 19 combined years in the Sonics organization. He was a player for 12, a head coach for 5, and spent 2 years as an assistant coach. He was also a part of the 1995-96 Seattle team that reached the NBA Finals and lost to an average Chicago Bulls team. They were led by a player named Miguel Jordan or something like that.
Sadly for Nate, he was battling an injury during this series. His tenacity and defensive prowess at the backup point guard position may have given Seattle a chance to win the title. They probably still would have lost, but he would have been another solid defender to at least try and annoy Jordan from time to time.
His measly stats don’t do his career justice, which is why they are not included in this piece. He was a floor general, a pesky defender, and a perfect backup point guard to star Gary Payton.
As aforementioned, after his playing days, he eventually became the Head Coach of the Sups for five seasons. When he was finally ready to leave “The Emerald City” guess where he ended up coaching next? The Portland Trail Blazers franchise.
He was the head coach of Portland for seven years and made the NBA Playoffs three times with fellow Seattle alumni Roy. If you have a short-term memory problem (recreational marijuana), the pair never advanced past the first round.
Nate is yet another powerful connection between the city of Seattle and the Trail Blazers franchise. If Mr. Sonic is willing to make the move down south then all of us Seattleites should follow his lead and cheer on D-Lil and CJ this postseason.
Terry Stotts
And while we’re still on the topic of the 1995-96 SuperSonics team that made the NBA finals, guess who was an assistant coach on this squad? Current Trail Blazers head coach, Terry Stotts.
We’ve really come full circle here now, haven’t we?
Now self-admittedly I had no idea that Stotts was a part of the Sonics staff. If it wasn’t for my Dad relaying me this information, (and most of the information in this article) I probably would have never thought about Stotts again in my life.
I’m not going to explain in much more detail about him because let’s be honest you don’t really care that much about an assistant coach.
I can make fun of assistant coaches I’ve been there.
But he has had a successful run as the head man in Portland. He has been the head coach for the Blazers for the past seven years and has made the playoffs six times.
He is the final important connection that I can think of (or my Dad), in this weird family tree between the Blaze and the city of Seattle.
Shouts to my Dad for pushing me to write this article. Most of the credit goes to Charles Bartlett; seriously, I wouldn’t have thought of any of this information on my own.
I was going to write an article this week on how the DeMarcus Cousins injury makes the Golden State Warriors a better squad. But when I was presented with all the information linking the two teams, the choice became easy.
In closing, there are a couple more important reasons why Seattleites need to cheer on the Portland Trail Blazers.
First off, the Blazers organization was one out of two teams who voted against the Sonics move to OKC. Which leads me to my final point, Portland is currently playing the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.
Forget those guys, and go Blazers.
