With the holidays approaching and Oregon Sports New taking their annual winter vacation, we thought the best way to celebrate the magic of a lot of important milestones taking place in the NBA, NFL, and NCAA football would be to grant our favorite teams a wish for a brighter future.
Bryant Knox (BK) and Casey Mabbott (CM) are filling in as Santa and handing out season-defining gifts for the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Seattle Seahawks, and a surprise team to be named last.
Portland Trail Blazers
BK: It’d make sense to ask for a delayed gift here, like the promise of the No. 1 pick in June or a new head coach, if you’re like me and think Chauncey Billups’ time has all but run out. That said, I’m greedy and asking for something the whole team can play with every day after Christmas morning.
I want Scoot Henderson to visibly and tangibly raise his ceiling, forcing every fan on Reddit to remove the word “bust” from their vocabularies.
So far, Scoot has underwhelmed. That’s partly due to roster makeup, specifically Anfernee Simons’ role and usage as a starter and ball-handler taking reps. The coaching element, too, has contributed, with the second-year guard struggling to find spots in the flow of the offense where he can play to his strengths. However, it’s also, and maybe mostly, about Scoot not playing efficiently and often playing rushed. He can’t reliably shoot, and he’s nowhere near the Derrick Rose or Ja Morant comparisons we once saw, ambitious as they may have always been. Asking him to flip a switch is a lot, but that’s what a Holiday Wish List is all about.
CM: I wholeheartedly agree with Bryant’s take, Scoot being a bigger talent on a team begging for a superstar would be an amazing gift for the whole team.
But let’s be jail blazers blunt for a minute – star power does not automatically equate to championships, and that’s what this team has been chasing since 1978. The 1990 and 1992 Blazers had plenty of star power; they went to the Finals twice and appeared in three consecutive conference finals. They were the 3rd best franchise in the league at a time when they needed to be at least 2nd best. Their late 90’s/early 2000s teams had a similar problem, they were the third best team in the league and needed to be in the top 2.
Even during Damian Lillard’s best seasons as a Blazer, they were in the top 4 at best, never in the top 2. This team needs a builder, but more than that, they need someone who is interested in sports enough to want to own a team but knows they don’t know as much as the people running the team. It’s a tough balancing act, but it needs to happen.
What made this team great for decades was the guiding hand of ownership, and that seems to be missing these days. A new owner or group of owners can’t guarantee a fix, but it might not hurt. This team has had issues with the front office and ownership since Paul Allen passed and even before that. It’s not a perfect wish because there are too many problems, but a new owner would be a start. Damian Lillard had too many bad seasons here. He deserved better. So did LaMarcus Aldridge, and now Scoot. It’s going to be an uphill climb, but I think the right owner who hires a GM and lets them pick a coach who wants to work with a talented but raw roster would be the way to finally turn things around.
I don’t think Chauncey Billups is the guy who can turn this team around, and even with a new coach, there are a lot of challenges I’m not convinced Joe Cronin can fix.
Honor Paul Allen’s wish: sell the team to an owner who wants to run a championship basketball team, and then see what you can do with the rest.
Seattle Seahawks
CM: They tell you that a healthy star QB can cover up a lot of issues, but I think we are seeing the limit of Geno Smith’s superpower to hide his team’s weaknesses. He’s done a more than commendable job running an offense that would have been a career killer or at least a severe injury for most mortals. Geno has been one of the top passers in the league the last couple of years, but he has had to do it with a very inconsistent offensive line, and the playcalling has been suspect at best. He deserves better.
But would an offensive line fix the issue? Even with good protection, I’m not sure the offensive coordinator is calling the right plays often enough. It seems too random, where a lot of coaches have a list of plays they like to run and know will work in the right situation. Ryan Grubb seems like a high school kid playing a video game, calling his favorite plays against any defense and throwing their controller when it doesn’t work.
This team deserves to host and win a playoff game, and that will only happen if they win their division this year. And they likely only win their division if Geno is healthy, the offensive line plays well, and the OC calls the right plays.
So, let’s throw a handful of quarters in the fountain and wish for a home playoff game this January and a Seattle victory. It would be Seattle’s first playoff win since 2019 and their first win in a home playoff game since 2016.
BK: Casey touched on much of what I would’ve hit under the “Offensive Efficiency” umbrella. So, I’ll go a different direction and say that I want Lumen Field to be a place teams are terrified to infiltrate once again.
In 2024, Seattle is just 3-5 at home. The most recent loss came to the Green Bay Packers, 30-13, and the game couldn’t have been more different from the Fail Mary game of 2012.
Of course, just a year ago, the team went 5-3 at home, and the year before, the team managed to go .500 in their first season post-Russell Wilson. But with the Minnesota Vikings up next for Seattle this season, the team will, in all likelihood, fall to a 3-6 home record for the year.
That outlook, as some may say, is not great, Bob.
A renewed home-field advantage would be great, Santa.
Oregon Ducks
BK: If I never have to hear another USC fan, Ohio State fan, or anyone else crack the joke that “Oregon displays its number of championships at midfield” while f–king cackling as if they’re the first ever to say it…it’ll be too soon.
There are no two ways around it. A national title is the only item on Oregon’s only holiday wishlist
Of course, the question has already been posed whether or not this season would be a “Bust” or a disappointment without a title. The immediate, most simple answer is yes—not winning a national championship would be a disappointment. That said, this is also Year 1 in the Big Ten for Dan Lanning’s Ducks. This is an undefeated season, something so few college programs will ever experience.
“Bust” is definitely the wrong word because this year, title or not, will be a stepping stone. It’s a stepping stone toward recruiting, it’s a stepping stone toward learning the style (and influencing) the style of a new conference. And in case you haven’t caught on, “stepping stones” are not bad things.
There will be immediate disappointment if the Ducks don’t walk away as national champions, and if we’re being honest, it will sting more if they lose in the first round—especially if it’s to Ohio State. But “bust”? Never. Not this season. Just help us out, Santa, and make it so we can put that thought behind us altogether.
CM: Bryant is right. No matter what the Ducks do from here, this season has been a success. This was a playoffs or bust season, not a championship or bust. But now that they are the top seed and undefeated on a bye week, the expectation has changed, even if it’s not fair.
This team was just a fun story for decades until the early 2000s when they became a juggernaut seemingly overnight. By 2007, they were getting national attention, and by 2010, they played in their first championship game. They made it back to the championship in 2014 and celebrated their first Heisman winner in program history, but they didn’t go home with their first championship trophy.
After ten years, they are finally back in the playoffs. Oregon isn’t just a fun story anymore; they are THE story. They went to the Big 18 to run the table on their new rivals, and they pulled that off with only a few hiccups along the way. They have a Heisman-worthy QB, a head coach every school in the country envies, and they have a team that can beat you any way they need to.
This just has to be their year. They are the only team that can beat them when it counts.
Oregon State Beavers
BK: This one may feel especially greedy, but I’d wish for a Beavers conference title in 2025.
No, the Beavers didn’t look like a title team at any part of 2024, except during their “Pac-2” championship game against Washington State. And at this point, it’s impossible, if not irresponsible, to imagine what next year’s blueprint to success looks like against new competition. But that’s where the greed kicks in.
You see, the Beavers and Cougars just feel like they should own whatever version of the conference sticks. And now, with Cougs head coach Jake Dickert leaving the program for Wake Forest’s head coaching position, it feels even more so like Oregon State and Trent Bray
CM: Oregon State deserved to be in the Pac-12 as one of the founding members and also deserved to be included when the other founding teams bolted for the Big 18 (not a typo, but it should be). They weren’t extended an invite, which should have been a deal breaker, but somehow, it wasn’t.
How is it that a former Power 5 school is not affiliated with a major conference? With Boise State and Fresno State, among others, moving to the Pac-12 in 2026, it has the potential to be a major conference again. I don’t know if it will be the Conference of Champions, but perhaps the Conference of Dark Horses? That could be fun.
Boise State regularly fights its way into the contender conversation, and Fresno State has put together some of the most electrifying offenses the NCAA has ever seen. Oregon State plays a lot of old-school football, but it will be fun to see them competing with high-flying offenses. Hopefully, they will be able to put a ton of their own points on the board as well. It’s like the WAC never died.
If the Beavers can get a marquee quarterback and a good offensive coordinator for just a few years, they could really turn the program back into a contender. However, a legit conference is a good place to start, and I’m glad the Pac-two will only be around for one more year before they expand to where they started as the Pacific-8.
Seattle Supersonics
CM: If we’re making wishes, which means logic isn’t relevant, then I wish for Seattle to get their old team back—not just the team but the history, milestones, and championship trophy that went with it. The city didn’t just lose an iconic franchise that helped shape the modern era of NBA basketball; they also lost something that genuinely brought smiles to the faces of their fans.
The Space Needle wasn’t built until the 1962 World’s Fair; the SuperSonics only arrived five years later. Would the city be the same if the Space Needle was suddenly in Oklahoma? No, they would be devastated. There’s a reason every major basketball event sells out in two seconds when it’s in the Seattle area: this is a city starving for NBA basketball. This team was only around 41 years, some teams have been in the league even longer and are still waiting to compete for a championship in the post merger NBA. Four decades of history were erased overnight because a coffee company CEO didn’t know they couldn’t trust someone from another part of the country who didn’t have a team to not move the team there.
I wish for Seattle to get their old team back, and if that’s not in the cards, then I want them to at least get a new version of the Supersonics. It would be such an amazing sight to turn on the TV and see the Blazers playing a game in the I5 rivalry and to see kids and adults alike cheering on their favorite team in one of the many epic battles. It’s not just a piece of Seattle history that was lost. It’s also a piece of NW history. The Sonics deserve to return, and Seattle deserves to be their host city.
BK: I’ll double down on Casey’s call …but with a twist.
I want the Supersonics to return to Seattle and the old records re-installed and ripped away from OKC. But I also want Mr. Sonic to be the team’s newest and most fitting head coach.
Currently, Nate McMillan is an assistant coach at the Los Angeles Lakers. He hasn’t been a head coach up to this point, but if there was ever a team ready to test his chops as a lead man again, Seattle might be it.
Aside from the nostalgia, Nate in Seattle would make sense. We have NO idea what a roster would look like in Year 1, but we can assume it would be inexperienced, courtesy of the NBA’s expansion draft. What we do know is that there would be little expectation to compete for that reason. And we also know McMillan has experience grooming young players during his time with the Blazers.
I feel weirdly confident that when Seattle gets a team back (WHEN! Not if…), Nate will get an interview.
If Santa is real and has any pull with the NBA, like I believe to my core, he does … Old St. Nick will make this happen.
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