The Patterson/Nash Era
Patterson and Nash immediately began a campaign to clean up the team's image. A "25 point pledge" was announced and published, describing a standard of conduct that all Blazer personnel would be required to live up to. The Blazers' draft choice that year, Travis Outlaw, was the son of a police officer and had a spotless record.
Not long after the 2003-04 season started, Bonzi Wells launched a tirade at Cheeks during practice; he was suspended and soon traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Wesley Person and a first round pick. Soon after that, Rasheed Wallace gave an extended interview in which he claimed that the NBA exploited African American players. This interview was widely denounced by the team, the media, and the league, but no official punishment resulted.
During the season, two other "character" trades occurred. Point guard Jeff McInnis, considered by many to be disruptive in the locker room, was sent to Cleveland with Ruben Boumtje Boumtje for forward Darius Miles and cash. Wallace was sent to the Atlanta Hawks along with Person for forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, center Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau. Many of these trades were welcomed by the fan base, but they were disruptive to team chemistry: the Wallace trade occurred during a "hot streak", after the trade was commenced the hot streak abruptly ended. The team posted a 41-41 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1981. The Blazers' 21 straight playoff appearances was an NBA record and one short of the all-time record of 22 years in US professional team sports, held by the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Portland Trail Blazers
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—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)
“...I had grown up in a world that was dominated by immature age. Not by vigorous immaturity, but by immaturity that was old and tired and prudent, that loved ritual and rubric, and was utterly wanting in curiosity about the new and the strange. Its era has passed away, and the world it made has crumbled around us. Its finest creation, a code of manners, has been ridiculed and discarded.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)