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The Blazer roster between 1996 and 2004 included a cast of characters that would make HBO blush. Here's what happened to six of the most memorable players, and what they have to say about the city that came to despise them.
Rasheed Wallace
Joined team in: 1996
Quotes from his Blazer days: "As long as somebody 'CTC,' at the end of the day I'm with them," he told Oregonian columnist John Canzano in 2003. "For all you that don't know what CTC means, that's 'cut the check.'" That same year, he responded to all questions in a 2003 postgame interview with the same answer: "Both teams played hard, my man."
Low point: The NBA suspended Wallace for seven games—a league record—after he allegedly threatened referee Tim Donaghy and charged him on the Rose Garden's loading dock after a game in 2003.
Where he is now: After leaving the Blazers in 2004, he won an NBA title with the Detroit Pistons. He retired in 2013 with an NBA record for most technical fouls—317. He lives in North Carolina.
What he says now: Last year, he told Kevin Garnett on TNT that the Portland media treated the team poorly: "They were going to do that in Portland because we were the only show in town. …So we knew it was all about us and we had to stick together and fight through it. And that we did no matter what they labeled us."
Isaiah "J.R." Rider
Joined team in: 1996
Quote from his Blazer days: "Forty miles from here," he said of Portland in 2000, "they're probably still hanging people from trees."
Low point: In 1997, he missed a team flight to Phoenix. The company arranging the charter flight declined to book Rider his own plane. He allegedly spat at an employee, shouted obscenities and smashed a cellphone. He later spat on a fan.
Where he is now: His life fell apart after his forced retirement from the league in 2001, but he seems to be picking up the pieces. He started a kids' basketball training program in Arizona called Sky Rider. According to his Twitter account, he's a "current family man" and his 6-year-old son is a spelling bee champion.
What he says now: "No one is immune from pain," the now-46-year-old says in a YouTube video. "No one is immune from falling down very, very, very hard. The spiritual journey is that you've still got to get up and make something of yourself."
Damon Stoudamire
Joined team in: 1998
Quote from his Blazer days: "I feel like there are a lot of people out there who are living through me," the hometown hero told The Oregonian in 1999. "So the same dreams that they had, they might not have gotten there, but I'm living their dreams. They want to see me do well. And when I don't do well, I feel like I'm letting them down, too."
Low point: In July 2003, Stoudamire was arrested at Tucson International Airport for trying to pass through a metal detector with an ounce and a half of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil. He was suspended from the team for three months, fined $250,000 and spent the next year under constant media scrutiny (see page 12).
Where he is now: Coaching the Tigers for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.
What he says now: "Portland has been notorious for being a place that people come back to," he told MassLive.com in 2015. "Some people come back to be in it, some people come back to live, and that's just not happening anymore. For better or worse, you ran guys off. It's not that kind of place anymore."
Bonzi Wells
Joined team in: 1998
Quote from his Blazer days: "We're not really going to worry about what the hell [the fans] think about us," he told Sports Illustrated in 2001. "They really don't matter to us. They can boo us every day, but they're still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That's why they're fans and we're NBA players."
Low point: After one Blazers loss in 2002, Wells flipped off a fan in the Rose Garden. He told a reporter he couldn't recall doing it: "I black out sometimes."
Where he is now: After leaving the NBA in 2009, Wells played stints in China and Puerto Rico. Last September, at the age of 40, he suffered a heart attack in his Indiana home but lived.
What he says now: "I miss Portland," Wells told a Portland radio station last year. "I haven't been to Portland in so long. Honestly, I've been wanting to come to games and do stuff, but I just didn't really know how I would be received.…I just want to get back into the Portland family somehow, some way."
Ruben Patterson
Joined team in: 2001
Quote from his Blazer days: "I'm not no bad guy," he said during his introductory press conference. "I'm not no rapist. I'm a great guy.''
Low point: In 2001, shortly before the Blazers signed him, he allegedly forced the 24-year-old nanny of his children to perform a sex act on him.
Where he is now: After retiring from the NBA in 2007, he joined the National Basketball Retired Players Association and received help to go back to school to finish his college degree.
What he says now: He has granted few interviews since retirement and hasn't discussed Portland.
Zach Randolph
Joined team in: 2001
Low point: In 2003, he sucker-punched Ruben Patterson in the face during practice, as two teammates held Patterson back. Oregonian reporter John Canzano said Randolph hid at another teammate's house for two days, fearing that Patterson would shoot him.
Quote from his Blazer days: "I'm a gangster," he allegedly told police in 2006, "not a Blazer."
Where he is now: In 2009, Randolph joined the Memphis Grizzlies. He thrived on the court and became a mentor in poor, black neighborhoods. Last July, he signed a contract with the Sacramento Kings.
What he says now: In 2012, Randolph told the sports website Grantland that Portland police and media were unfair: "They don't take well to young, black urban kids coming out, having came from nothing. You come to Portland with braids, come with cornrows, people can't relate to that. They peg you a different way and look at you a different way. If a guy's got braids, he's a thug."
