Blazer's Edge

On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Trail Blazers Beat Reporter Casey Holdahl to talk about the insanity in Salt Lake City, how ridiculous Damian Lillard has been, how has it been covering Carmelo Anthony, the emergence of Gary Trent Jr. and more! Intro Opening comments Casey Holdahl! Reactions from at the game following the blown goaltending call 2:00 Guys were definitely irritated 3:00 Gary Trent Jr needs to speed up his post game dressing 4:20 When was the last time a Blazer was as mad as Damian Lillard was 5:30 Royce O’Neale getting under the skin, and feet, of the Blazers 9:00 Relationships between players and officials falling apart 11:30 How do you miss that call? 15:00 The NBA got one thing right- they didn’t fine anyone. 17:00 Will that game be a galvanizing point? 18:00 The Blazers finding that magic in January again 19:00 Why are we shocked that this happens every year? 23:00 What is happening on the floor that’s got the Blazers in a

Cassidy and Tara talk on the eve of the NBA trade deadline. They discuss the huge four team trade that occurred on Wednesday, remark on how many former Blazers are scattered throughout teams in the Northwest Division and wonder how their friends in Memphis are dealing with Andre Iguodala leaving for Miami?  LeBron was chosen as Player of the Month over Damian Lillard, can we let this stand? Anfernee Simons was passed up for the dunk contest but Pat Connaughton got the nod. How do we feel?  Finally, to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Cassidy tells us about the first U.S. Women’s National Team and the 1976 Olympics.  Highlights 00:30 Facts about the new players! Swanigan graduated from Purdue this summer. Trevor Ariza’s brother died very young and he is his inspiration because he’s been trying to live out the dreams that his brother had.  3:00 Trevor Ariza looks really good in his uniform.  3:30 Imagine being Wenyen Gabriel and getting your first start against LeBron James and blocking Javale

On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang marvel and discuss Damian Lillard's absolutely epic week, running out of superlatives along the way. Then it's the emergence of the "pink show crew"; Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr and Nassir Little, ranking Dame as an MVP candidate, all the listener questions about the upcoming trade deadline and what Portland would/could/should do, even more Damian Lillard praise and so much more! Intro  Opening comments Damian Lillard having the best run ever for a Trail Blazer What’s your favorite part of what Dame is doing 3:00 He’s so good that the defense that defined him years ago is now obsolete 4:30 What’s one of the greatest things about having him on the team? 6:00 Appreciating Lillard for what he’s done 7:00 Where does Dame sit in the MVP ladder now? Is he up there with Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James and Luka Doncic? 10:00 What about the guys not named Lillard - Hassan Whiteside, Gary Trent Jr, Anfernee Simons and Nassir

Jasmine D. Brown, production assistant for ESPN and former beat writer for Washington Mystics and Capital City Go-Go (the Wizard’s G-League affiliate) joined the Hoops And Talks Podcast to talk about her journey to working full-time in sports.She talked about Trevor Ariza’s time with the Wizards, Maryland alumni who have played for the Trail Blazers and the trajectory of the Washington Mystics leading to their 2019 WNBA Championship.  We had a great time learning that there was a Twitter account for Jake Layman’s hair (@jakelaymanshair), how a mechanical engineering major pivoted to sports, and what are some of the highlights of the new WNBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. All of this and more on the latest podcast.  Highlights 1:00 Icebreaker: Favorite kind of cookies these days?  3:00 How did you get into basketball? Never played but loves to shoot. Enjoys the “something to prove” aspect of college hoops.  6:15 As someone dialed in to the Washington DC sports scene, what can you tell us about the newest

On this week’s episode we remember Kobe Bryant, our own memories of him, stories that we’ll never forget and what a perfect villain he was for Portland fans. We talk about what he must have meant to players in the league, how his active retirement showed us a different side of him, and wonder who in the league plays with the same passion that Kobe did?  Then we talk about the amazing week Damian Lillard just had, how the ball seems to be moving around more, what we saw from Trevor Ariza and how Gary Trent Jr has made the most of extended minutes.  5:30 We thought Kobe Bryant would live forever.  16:00 He was such a good foil, such a good villain. 22:15 Post retirement Kobe and the muse cage.  26:45 How players are reacting to his death. There are two different generations who had different relationships with Kobe. There are the guys who came in the league shortly after he did, and then there are the players who watched him play when they were young.  32:15 Kobe stories: Kobe taking away his teammates’ Kobe sh

Kristen Kerbaugh has a front row seat to all the Trail Blazers’ home games as the Stage Manager for the broadcast team. We talked to her about how she got started in television and found out what she is doing up at the front table during the games. She’s got some fun memories and funny stories about what it is like to be so close to the action. Game 5 against the Thunder? We got chills just hearing her talk about it! We also discuss how we’re feeling about Trevor Ariza joining the Trail Blazers, wonder how Caleb Swanigan will fit back in and, of course, we can’t stop talking about Damian Lillard. We’ve got some great listener feedback to share, and speculation about what kind of suit Skal Labissiere might wear when he makes it back to the bench. All this and more on the latest Women’s Hoops And Talks Podcast. 3:30 Kristen comes from a family that works in television so she started by holding mics on the side of the field. Worked as a runner or production assistant until she got the job as stage manager. Has

1:00 Initial reaction to trade: Does this trade make more clear the plan for the rest of year 2:15 Is it possible to make a move that makes everyone happy? Blazers usually work with a small group of teams.  9:00 Remembering the Anthony Tolliver game.  15:00 Kent Bazemore had a nice game against Houston. 17:00 Things basketball wise seem like they are starting to fall into place.  22:00 Carmelo Anthony has been having a good week, here’s why. Not taking too many shots, getting guys in the post and backing them down in the post. He’s not a black hole on offense because if he gets in trouble he can pass out.  25:30 @Burlacious_M Is Ariza going to surprise everyone with a Melo like revival in Portland where he’s playing major minutes and can really help us win? 30:00 @ReverendRomulus Is this the upgrade at SF, in the team's mind, that we've been looking for or is this just a way to save money and kick the can down the road a bit? And is there any chance Ariza doesn't stay past the deadline? 34:00 @emilyvkarr Woul

Expectations have changed dramatically for the Golden State Warriors this season, so we checked in with our friend Jannelle Moore of goldenstateofmind.com to compare notes about surviving a down season. We learn about how the Warriors are juggling 45-day contracts and how being hard capped lead to letting Marquese Chriss go. (Since we recorded, Chriss himself was signed to a 45-day contract.) Talking to her was illuminating because even though the Trail Blazers are having a tough year, at least they are not hard-capped, and they have some flexibility. We are also thankful that the coaching staff has always had a strong focus on development.  Listen to the latest episode of the WHAT podcast to hear all of this plus our favorite NBA family dynasties, NBA All Star votes, and more Olympic basketball history!  Highlights 3:00 Which NBA family dynasty is your favorite? Some of our favorites are the Millers, the McGees, the Currys and the Grants.  7:30 How has watching the Warriors changed for Jannelle? 13:00 Is the

On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang take a look the impending return of Jusuf Nurkic in the coming weeks and want to expect, what Jody Allen's motivations at the deadline could be, Tara's desire to have Ed Davis back, the development of Anfernee Simons, and more! Intro Opening Comments Tara really wants Ed Davis back 2:40 How much longer can the team go without making a move? 6:00 What are Jody Allen’s motivations? 7:00 Are the Blazers being prudent? 8:00 How messaging has changed from the beginning of the season until now? 9:00 Blazers dealing with an outbreak: 11:00 The return of Jusuf Nurkic 12:30 Expectations for his play 13:30 Will the basketball change when Nurk returns? 17:00 Why haven’t we seen Nassir Little or Gary Trent Jr. as much? 21:00 What do you hope and/or expect from Little, Trent and Jaylen Hoard? 22:00 What do you see as best case scenario for the young guys? 30:00 How do you think the Blazers are looking at developing Anfernee Simons and

We are fired up about a few things this week: why aren't the Utah Jazz playing Ed Davis? Can we see Anfernee Simons in the NBA All Star Dunk Contest already? And why shouldn't we just enjoy Carmelo Anthony while he is with the Blazers? Highlights 1:15 What past NBA players would have done better in today’s NBA rather than their own time?  7:00 Blazers highlights from the game in Toronto.  10:45 Skal Update: 4 more weeks before he is evaluated. Former Blazer Al-Farouq Aminu is out for the season (Orlando applied for a disabled player exception). 11:45 Could the Trail Blazers bring back Ed Davis? He’s not fitting in with the Jazz.  19:15 Anfernee Simons should be in the dunk contest. He has the hops, skills, and charm, plus he is the future of the NBA 22:30 The NBA should update the All Star voting so the players vote for each other (East players vote for the Western Conference and vice versa) and fans should vote for who gets to be in the contests.  24:55 The historical significance of Carmelo Anthony’s game-w

The Portland Trail Blazers haven’t found a rhythm and it seems like their roster is getting thinner all the time. Erik Garcia Gundersen of Associated Press and LeBron Wire joined Tara Bowen-Biggs on the podcast to try and make sense of how to watch this team. They are 11th in the league at rebound per game but are they a good rebounding team? How long can they play undermanned? What kind of improvement should we be looking for with the young players? Gundersen watched the Cavaliers for a full season while working for the LeBron Wire and he thinks that Kevin Love would be a good addition to the Trail Blazers. He is a willing and respected shooter and a smarter defender than people think. Gundersen is confident the Blazers can make the playoffs but time is of the essence. They can’t wait until the buyout market and Love is available (as he is letting it be well known) now. With Dan out sick it is up to Tara to push back.  All of this and more on the latest podcast.  1:00 If it makes anyone feel better, the Knic

Tara talked to Nekias Duncan (@nekaisNBA) about the upcoming matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Miami Heat. Who are the main characters? How is Meyers Leonard doing? What does he expect Hassan Whiteside’s return will be like? All this and more. Highlights: 1:00 Main characters in Miami are Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Butler has been great even though he is having a shooting slump. This has really been a coming-out year for Adebayo.  2:30 The rest of the starting lineup is Kendrick Nunn, Meyers Leonard and Duncan Robinson. 3:00 Meyers Leonard is a fan favorite. At the beginning of the season he was hesitating on his shots but now he is playing with more confidence. He is still a pretty low-volume shooter but more in rhythm and quite effective. 6:00 Going into the season, shooting was a big question for this team. They really didn’t know how effective anyone was going to be at shooting although they knew that Jimmy Butler would be an important playmaker. 7:00 When Portland comes to Miami, they

Happy New Year from the WHAT podcast. Tara and Cassidy are back to catch up (very quickly) on how the Trail Blazers are doing before rating some of the more memorable events of 2019 and of the 2010s. How important were Evan Turner’s back-to-back triple doubles? Did the elevator escapade leave any lasting impressions? How important was the drafting of CJ McCollum compared to drafting Lillard or signing Jusuf Nurkic? All this plus talk about taglines, ninja headbands (of course) and the 2020 Olympics and more  Highlights 2:00 We need your ideas for a new tagline for Women’s Hoops And Talks. Send us your ideas to hoopsandtalks@gmail.com, or tweet at us @hoopsandtalks or @tcbbiggs or @cassidygemmet. 5:00 Catching up on the Blazers, no Skal Labissiere, they are on a tough road trip. They are bringing in Jalen Hoard from Texas Legend. 8:00 We’re watching more of the rest of the NBA. The Golden State vs Rockets on Christmas was exciting, Houston under-estimated Golden State.  12:00 Rating interesting things that hap

Tara talks to China (@chiniqua) from Posting and Toasting about the Trail Blazers' upcoming game vs the New York Knicks. The two teams who commit the most fouls, have the lowest number of assists, in New York City on New Years day. Oh boy! As China says, “Someone has to win this game”. 00:15 Remembering the Enes Kanter experience. And sharing notes on the Melo experience. 4:30 What happened when David Fizdale left. It seems like he wasn’t able to make it work with the roster that he had and Mike Miller seems to be making it work. Miller came from the G-League and was used to having to deal with a constantly changing roster and he’s very adaptable. 7:30 Miller takes good timeouts. Things seem to be trending upwards.  8:00 Guess is that he will finish out the season as the coach. 10:00 Who are the key players? Julius Randall has been very divisive this season, under Miller he is doing really well and scoring lots of points.  12:00 Elfrid Payton is back from injury, coming off the bench playing well. Frank Ntil

On this week’s episode of the Blazer’s Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale to take a look at the defining moments of the decade for the Blazers, the impact of Damian Lillard, the spark points for NBA growth, Dan’s thoughts on Coach Stotts and expectations, looks at Anfernee Simons and Hassan Whiteside, listener questions and more! Intro Opening Comments Putting a piece together with so many contributors and so many points of view 4:00 The defining moment of the decade for the Blazers 7:00 Non-Damian Lillard defining moments of the decade 9:00 Brandon Roy, Rodney Hood and LaMarcus Aldridge 12:00 Deciding between "0.9" and "The Bad Shot" 14:00 Picking the NBA moment of the decade and what sparked so much growth and change 19:00 The shift of covering games vs covering memes 21:00 Asking Dan Favale how he views Coach Stotts 24:00 The correlation between ball movement and offensive success 27:00 Understanding the position the Blazers are in right now 33:00 Wha

Dillon Sage, co-host of Holy Backboard podcast, joined Tara to talk about the New Orleans Pelicans.  00:30 How have expectations changed for the Pelicans? High expectations were quickly adjusted when Zion Williamson went down, but he’s not the only one who has been injured. Basically Pelicans fans have already had their hearts broke a number of ways this season. 2:45 What is the plan moving forward for this season? Will Zion play at all? The front office is adamant that he will play, although they are asking for patience.  4:00 Brandon Ingram has been fantastic. He has really blossomed since he got out from under LeBron James and shown that he can be the featured player. Its been a very long time since the Pelicans (or Hornets) have had a good small forward. Ingram has great chemistry with all the players on the team.  5:45 Lonzo Ball has been tough to watch. He’s not flourishing in a system that you would think would be good for point guards. He just keeps taking 3s, he is not penetrating. As a result he is

On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Blazer's Edge editor Steve Dewald to take a look at fringe moves, making the first trade, the never ending links to Kevin Love, understanding GM speak, the improvement of Hassan Whiteside, buyers vs. sellers market, the next 5 games and how it could set the tone - and a lot more! Intro  Opening Comments 2:00 Changing Expectations Using the DPE 4:00 Making fringe moves 5:00 Steve Dewald talks smaller moves 6:00 Torrey Craig, Justin Jackson & DJ Wilson Risks of waiting to address the bench 11:30 Has the outside view of POR possibly changed with Free Agents? 12:30 Could POR moving expiring deals hurt how they’re viewed? 18:00 Were things as busy Dec 15th last year? 21:00 How often do the Blazers do the thing that they telegraph? 22:00 Likelihood of getting Kevin Love Reading between the lines and GM speak 24:00 The appearance of desperation 26:00 Taking a look at Kevin Love 28:00 When could POR look to make a mo

Just in time for the holidays Tara and Cassidy have ideas for gifts to give the Trail Blazers this season. What gift might help channel Hezonja’s intensity or help Whiteside focus? What could we possibly give to Damian Lillard, the man who has it all, that would adequately express our appreciation for everything he does? What experience would Anfernee Simons remember forever?  Highlights 2:45 Rodney Hood goes down.  5:30 What do the Blazers do next? They will still fight. 10:15 Holiday gifts: For Lillard we picked out a gift for his son that we think someone should actually sell in the store, a game of Trail Blazers Guess Who! 14:00 How do we make sure we don’t take Damian Lillard for granted? 16:00 It has taken a while for Kent Bazemore to find his groove. Hope he can score more and get a couple more shots per game. We would give him a mountain bike because we think he’d like shredding downhill. But only in the off season. We think he needs more time in the starting lineup to have any opinion on how that is

On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Dave DuFour of The Athletic podcast network to discuss all things Portland; the Carmelo Anthony Experiment results are in, Rodney Hood's season ending injury, what the Blazers should/would/could do going forward, tank vs chase, asset management, expectations and goals for the season, the problem with Portland's defense, developing young players, tribute videos and more! Intro Dave DuFour! The most surprising thing about being closer to the Blazers 2:00 Why do the Blazers foul so much? 4:00 Defensive schemes and personnel 7:20 Who has been the best defender for Portland recently? 12:30 The loss of Rodney Hood for the season 15:00 Next man up 18:30 Rodney Hood and Jusuf Nurkic parallels 20:30 Identities and injuries 22:30 LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers 24:00 Signaling a change for the season 25:00 What kind of help is out there right now? 32:00 Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford! 33:00 Andre Iguodala and Jae Cr

Blazers Edge editor Steve DeWald and special guest Scott Hatley of Incight join Tara to discuss our choices for the all-decade team for 2010’s. But there was a twist: we couldn’t select a current Blazer.  Who did we chose for point guard? Which other players from the 2010s made the list? Listen or read the highlights below and let us know who would be on your All-Decade team for the 2010s? Whose team would win?  Incight, an organization dedicated to unlocking the potential of people with disabilities and other barriers, is raffling off a basketball signed by all of the Portland Trail Blazers. Enter for a chance to win for $15 per ticket. Drawing to be held on December 16 at 4pm. All proceeds from the raffle go to Incight.  Highlights 1:00 Introducing Scott Hatley of Incight.org. 2:00 Born in 1979 and started attending games with his family very young. Remembers crying when the team lost and loving the players. Remembers sneaking peanuts and soda into games with his dad.  3:00 Incight is an organization that f