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History of the Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Trail Blazers are currently celebrating their 50th NBA season. The franchise owner is Jody Allen, who assumed ownership upon the death of her brother Microsoft co-founder and Vulcan Inc. chairman Paul Allen, in 2018.

The Trail Blazers' rallying cry is "Rip City", coined by play-by-play announcer Bill Schonely during their inaugural season. The team holds the NBA record for most consecutive sell-out games – set between April 9, 1977, and November 16, 1995.[1]

The Trail Blazers have retired several players jerseys, including Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame members Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton. Jack Ramsay, who was the Trail Blazers head coach from 1976 to 1986, had the number 77 retired in honor of Portland's only NBA Finals victory in 1977. Portland has had four NBA Rookies of the Year; Geoff Petrie (1971), Sidney Wicks (1972), Brandon Roy (2007) and Damian Lillard (2013). The only NBA Most Valuable Player that earned the award as a member of the Trail Blazers was Bill Walton in 1978.

  1. ^ "Longest sellout streak, herosports.com". Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.