Netflix Reveals 'Jail Blazers' Trailer About Rasheed Wallace and Early 2000s Blazers
The "Jail Blazers" era will get the documentary treatment as part of Netflix's Untold series.
The streaming service released a trailer ahead of the show's April 14 release:
The late 1990s and early 2000s were a memorable period for the Portland Trail Blazers. They remained a regular playoff contender with a much different nucleus than the one led by franchise icon Clyde Drexler.
Headlined by Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire, Portland made the Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, and it was one win away from the 2000 NBA Finals.
As much as the Blazers achieved on the court, their off-court exploits might've surpassed that, however. The "Jail Blazers" moniker is pretty self-explanatory as players ran afoul of the law, and internal dysfunction spoiled any chance of challenging for a title again.
As with a lot of teams that captured the popular imagination, it's impossible to avoid wondering what could've been.
Wallace went on to be a key player for the Detroit Pistons during their back-to-back Finals appearances in 2004 and 2005. Zach Randolph, a first-round pick for Portland in 2001, played a starring role for the Memphis Grizzlies in their "Grit and Grind" era. Jermaine O'Neal got traded for Dale Davis ahead of the 2000-01 season and made a run of six straight All-Star appearances with the Indiana Pacers.
Bob Whitsitt resigned as the Blazers' general manager in May 2003, a time when the organization was the wide source of scorn and mockery. With the benefit of hindsight, Whitsitt's vision wasn't as misguided as many thought at the time.
