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Casey Holdahl

Greetings loyal podcast listeners! Long time, no listen. After an extended post-summer league hiatus, things are starting to pick up around Rip City as training camp rapidly approaches, so it seemed time to dust off the mics to record the 52nd edition of The Brief Case, which you can listen/subscribe to below...

While the NBA news is still pretty lean a little less than two weeks before players are required to report for camp, there's just enough out there to fill out the episode, with topics that include...

• The past and future Rip City Remix open workouts

• The trades the Remix have made in the last few weeks

• The Rip City Rally making its way across the state

• Details about the 2023 Fan's Fest, which is scheduled for Sunday, October 8

But the good stuff comes at the end in the form of a little catchup with Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, who is already back in town and participating in informal workouts at the team's facility in Tualatin. The 6-6 guard entering his second season out of Kentucky (sort of) discusses his offseason, what skills he's been working on and why, building chemistry on and off the court with Anfernee Simons and Scoot Henderson, the prospect of starting this season, being a part of Nike's "GT Squad" and the play of Team Canada at the FIBA World Cup and his hopes of joining his fellow countrymen at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer, PlayerFM. New editions will get more frequent starting this week, so now is a great time to subscribe!

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Shaedon Sharpe Talks Offseason, Playing with Ant And Scoot and Team Canada on The Brief Case

This week, the NBA released the 2023-24 regular season schedule for all 30 teams, including for your Portland Trail Blazers. NBA schedules don’t really change all that much from year to year -- you play most teams in your conference four times other than the few you only play three times and then two games versus every team from the other conference -- so the release can feel a little anticlimactic. However, with the advent of the In-Season Tournament and a continued emphasis on reducing travel, Portland’s 2023-24 schedule has a few new wrinkles. So let’s go ahead and consider some of those changes along with the facets of the schedule that have mostly stayed the same…

First, the basics. The Trail Blazers begin their season with an October 25 tilt versus the Clippers in Los Angeles before hosting the Orlando Magic in their home opener on October 27. Then it’s off to the east coast for a three-game trip, after which they return to Portland to host consecutive games versus the Grizzlies -- the first being their opening group stage game of the In-Season Tournament. Roughly six months later, Portland’s regular season home schedule ends with a game versus the Rockets on April 12 before they close out their season on the road versus the Sacramento Kings on April 14.

GAMES BY MONTHOctober: 4 (1 home, 3 away)November: 14 (6 home, 8 away)December: 13 (9 home, 4 away)January: 17 (6 home, 11 away)February: 9 (7 home, 2 away)March: 17 (9 home, 8 away)April: 8 (3 home, 5 away)

ROAD TRIPSSeven games: 2Six games: 0Five games: 0 (though maybe one)Four games: 2 (though maybe one)Three games: 3Two games: 2 (though maybe three)One game: 5 (though maybe four)

As you can see, the Blazers have a road-heavy start to the season -- 11 of their first 18 games are away from Moda Center -- spend a lot of time in Rip City in the last month of 2023, spend most of the first month of 2024 on the road before things even out in the last two and a half months of the regular season. The details are up for debate, but at first glance, January looks to be the Trail Blazers’ most difficult month of the season, while December has to be the odds-on favorite for easiest month, as it has the fewest number of games for a full month, is incredibly home-heavy and of the two back-to-backs that month, both require no travel. That’s about as good as you’re going to get.

Now here is where Portland’s schedule looks a bit different than other years, for two different reasons.

First, it’s not possible to be certain at this point of the actual number of five, four and one game road trips due to the flexibility required by the In-Season Tournament. The way it works is the Trail Blazers will play the four other teams -- Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers and Jazz -- in the “West A” group, with the team with the best record moving on to the knockout rounds while the other four resume regular season play (one “wild card” team in each conference also advances, but let’s not worry about that right now).

So if the Trail Blazers did advance out of group play, they would play on either December 4 or 5, which is at the “end” of a four-game road trip, though where that game would be held will be defined after the participants in the knockout round are set. So it’s possible the Blazers will play that game on the road, which would technically make the four-game road trip with stops in Milwaukee, Indiana, Cleveland and Utah, a five-game trip. If they played that game at home, it would remain a four-game trip.

But we know that it will be no longer than a five-game trip, as one of the TBD games is at home and the other is on the road, so if nothing else, the Blazers will play again at Moda Center before heading out to face the Clippers in LA on December 11. And if the Blazers don’t make the knockout round, they play regular season games on December 6 and 8, one home, one road.

So to recap, they “maybe” have one five-game trip if their first In-Season Tournament game after group play concludes is on the road. If it’s at home, that remains a four-game trip. However, in that instance, they add another two-game trip to their schedule since their second In-Season Tournament game after group play would be a road game, as is their first game after the tournament, the December 11 game in LA versus the Clippers. And that could also end up being a one-game trip if the whole thing is flipped, hence there maybe being four one-game trips rather than five. However, the main takeaway is that regardless of if it’s a five, four or one game trip, it’s not a very important distinction.

But what is important is the increased length of Portland’s road trips going into the 2023-24 season.

After having none last season, the Trail Blazers have two seven-game road trips this season, the longest of which spans 14 days. Those trips are about as long as I can remember in my 15-plus years with the team, though it seems like the NBA took steps to lessen the impact of being out for so long.

The first seven-game trip, which starts in Phoenix on New Year’s Day and ends in Minneapolis on January 12, has a four-game run -- two in Dallas and one each against the New York teams -- in which the team will only get on a plane once. As for the seven-game, two-week trip at the end of March/beginning of April, there’s at least one day off in between every game.

By extending trips (not to mention increasing the number of consecutive games versus the same team, which we’ll look at in a moment) the NBA is able to reduce the number of miles the team logs. For instance, the Blazers almost always used to play the Knicks and Nets on separate trips, requiring two flights to the east coast. By playing those games together, you eliminate a cross-country flight, which is is way more detrimental than adding another game to a trip. Portland has two fewer one-game trips this season than last season, and those two seven-game trips are likely the reason why.

But on the slightly negative side, Portland’s longest homestand this season is just six games spread out over nine days.However, they do have a stretch in December in which they play just one road game -- a one off to Golden State -- over the course of 15 days and nine games. That’s almost a homestand.

BACK-TO-BACKS: 14 (7 home/home, 0 home/away, 5 away/away, 2 away/home)

TWO-GAME SERIES11/3 - 11/5: vs. Memphis12/28 - 12/29: vs. San Antonio1/3 - 1/5: @ Dallas2/2 - 2/4: @ Denver2/13 - 2/15: vs. Minnesota3/1 - 3/2: @ Memphis3/20 - 3/22: vs. Clippers

The number of back-to-backs a team has is always one of the hot topics around the schedule release, and this year, the Blazers have the same number as they’ve had the last two seasons.

But what is different is that of those 14 back-to-backs, eight require no travel, almost three more than the league average, in between the games thanks to having one back-to-back versus the Grizzlies in Memphis and seven back-to-backs played entirely at Moda Center. Travel is only one facet of the difficulty of playing back-to-backs, but more rest in between those games is one way to limit the strain on players, not to mention coaches and staff. And again, it also serves to reduce travel, as only visiting Denver, Dallas and Memphis once cuts out three flights, two of which are a significant distance from Portland. For comparison, the Blazers had five no travel back-to-backs last season.

Portland has just one back-to-back this season that requires more than 750 miles of travel and three that result in a change of timezone (though I think they pick up an hour rather than lose an hour in all three instances).

By way of the tweaks described above, the NBA has gotten Portland’s estimated miles traveled down to 46,000, which is 2,000 miles less than last season and 5,000 miles less than the season before that. What’s more, Portland’s 46,000 miles traveled is just 2,000 miles more than the league average, a triumph considering how far Portland is from the next closest team.

And after years of traveling the most or the second-most miles of any team, the Blazers are traveling 5,000 miles less than the team logging the most miles this season. And though the NBA doesn’t make note of which team that is, it seems logical to assume there is at least one additional team, potentially two, traveling a longer collective distance than the Trail Blazers this season. Again, longer trips and playing consecutive games versus the same team has lead to a significant reduction in travel, those are easy tradeoffs.

WEST TEAMS PLAYED ONLY THREE TIMES: Kings, Lakers, Mavericks, Warriors, Spurs, Pelicans

Usually there are four teams in conference that you only play three times, but this year there are currently six. I say “currently” because it’s very possible that one or both of the TBD games after the knockout round of the In-Season Tournament will be against these teams. The only other option is playing at least one West team as many as five times, which seems like a likely scenario.

FRESH GAMES: 14TIRED GAMES: 9EVEN GAMES: 57

In the last few seasons, the NBA has broken down which games a team is “fresh,” meaning they did not play the day before while their opponent did, “tired,” the exact opposite of “fresh,” and “even,” meaning both teams either had the previous night off or played the night before. So Portland has five more “fresh” games this season than “tired” games. They also have four more “fresh” games this season than last season and one fewer “tired” games. That's an improvement, though one assumes Portland’s roster this season will have quite a few fresh legs regardless.

So now you can start your planning for next season. Season Ticket Holders can purchase single-game tickets starting Tuesday, August 22 with the public on-sale beginning August 25.

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2023-24 Schedule Breakdown: Fewer Miles, Longer Trips And More Two-Game Series

Greetings from North Portland! With the NBA releasing the full schedules for all 30 teams (save for two TBD games due to the in-season tournament), the time was right to dust off the mics to record the 97th edition of The Blazers Balcony with Brooke Olzendam. Give it a listen for all your Trail Blazers' schedule questions...

• Initial thoughts on Portland's 2023-24 schedule• How this schedule is a little different from previous schedules due to the in-season tournament• The first things we look for when the schedule is released• The best and worst month of the season• The best and worst road trips• Back-to-backs and an welcomed increase in consecutive games against the same team• Brooke's birthday, it getting messy trying to watch Messi in person and takes from the lake house

You can subscribe to the Blazers Balcony on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Deezer, Spotify, I Heart Radio,  Pocket Casts and Pandora. 

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Schedule Unleashed On The Blazers Balcony

Greetings from the offseason. Not much NBA news to speak of lately (not that I'm complaining), but with the league announcing the four group stage games for each team in the inaugural In-Season Tournament, it seemed like a good time to fire up the podcast studio to record the 51st edition of The Brief Case, which you can listen/subscribe to below...

• An overview of the NBA's In-Season Tournament• The Trail Blazers' four-game group stage schedule, which was released on Tuesday, which features games versus the Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers and Jazz• Portland's four-game preseason schedule• The performance of the Trail Blazers who are playing internationally this summer

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer, PlayerFM.  

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In-Season Tourney Talk on The Brief Case

Greetings from the real NBA offseason. With Portland's 2023 Las Vegas Summer League in the books, the time was right to record the 50th edition of The Brief Case podcast, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

• The Trail Blazers ending their 2023 Las Vegas Summer League with a lopsided loss to the Miami Heat Sunday night

• How Portland came this close to qualifying for the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League tournament semifinals

• The play of Shaedon Sharpe, Jabari Walker, Scoot Henderson and Kris Murray in Las Vegas

• What might be next for the players on Portland's summer league roster who are not currently under contract for next season

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer, PlayerFM. Thanks for listening to the first 50 episodes!

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Wrapping Up Summer League On The Brief Case, Episode 50

Everything almost fell into place Friday night for the Trail Blazers. Almost.

With a 3-1 record and a +6.3 point differential, Portland went into the last day of preliminary round play at the Las Vegas Summer League in fifth place, just behind the cut line to qualify for the tournament semifinals. If they were to have an opportunity to defend their 2022 Las Vegas Summer League tournament championship, they’d need quite a bit of help.

And they almost got enough. A number of teams that started Friday at 2-1 -- Oklahoma City, Indiana, Miami, Los Angeles and San Antonio -- lost their fourth games and even those teams that did win to get to 3-1 -- LA Clippers, Dallas, Detroit -- didn’t so by large enough margins to surpass Portland’s point differential, which is the multi-team tiebreaker at Summer League.

So the Trail Blazers remained in fifth going into the penultimate game of the preliminary round: a tilt between the Suns and the undefeated Jazz. If Utah, 3-0 going into Friday’s contest, lost, Portland would jump into fourth, thus qualifying for the semifinals along with Cleveland, Houston (the only team Portland lost to in Las Vegas) and Brooklyn.

However, the Jazz refused to cooperate. Utah trailed by as many as nine and were down 87-86 late in the fourth but closed the game out by outscoring Phoenix 11-6 in the final three minutes to come away with a 97-93 victory. With the win, Utah improved to 4-0 to finish the preliminary round in third and ensure Portland would miss a chance to add another Summer League Tournament championship ring to their collection.

The Trail Blazers will now wrap up their 2023 Summer League by facing the 2-2 Miami Heat on Sunday in their fifth and final game in Las Vegas. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. on ESPN2.

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Blazers Just Miss Summer League Semis, Face Heat On Sunday

Greetings from North Portland! Now that both Brooke Olzendam, she of Trail Blazers TV, is back from the lake and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com, am back from Las Vegas, it seemed like a good time to catch up on the latest doings in Rip City by recording yet another edition of The Blazers Balcony, which you can and should subscribe to below...

• The Trail Blazers going 3-1 at the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League

• Portland's hopes of repeating as Summer League champs being technically alive (at least as of the time of recording) and what needs to happen in order to advance

• Thoughts on what we saw from Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Jabari Walker, Kris Murray and Duop Reath in Las Vegas

• The official signings of Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybule and why those decisions were made

• Joe Cronin's comments in Las Vegas regarding the situation with Damian Lillard&nbsp;

• Losing in Las Vegas, Brooke's soccer futility, Pickles first pitch and not being a softball person 

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Podcast » The Blazers Balcony, Episode 96

If the Trail Blazers are to have any chance of repeating as Las Vegas Summer League Tournament champions, they’ll have to help themselves and will need a significant amount of help from outside.

With a 2-1 record, the Trail Blazers currently sit in 11th place in the Las Vegas Summer League standings with one scheduled game left to play, a 6 p.m. contest versus the Orlando Magic Thursday night on ESPN at Thomas & Mack Arena. And since it will take at least a 3-1 record to be one of the four teams that qualify for the tournament semifinal, Portland must win their game on Thursday -- Orlando is currently winless in three games in Las Vegas -- to have any chance of winning a second-straight Las Vegas Summer League tournament championship.

But winning Thursday’s contest alone won’t be enough, for multiple reasons.

First, there are currently three teams -- the Cavaliers, Rockets and Jazz -- that are 3-0 with one game to go. So if any of those three teams win their final game, they’re through to the tournament semifinal -- again, only the top four teams have an opportunity to play for the championship. So if you’re pulling for a summer league repeat, you want all three of those teams to lose their fourth game.

But with regard specifically to the Blazers, with 13 teams tied at 2-1 going into their last scheduled game, there is a mathematical certainty that multiple teams will finish tied at 3-1. And since point differential is the tiebreaker in the event of a multiple team tie, not only will the Trail Blazers need to best the Magic to get to 3-1, they’ll very likely need to do so by a significant margin.

At +2.7, Portland has the eighth-best point differential among the 13 teams with a 2-1 record -- for comparison, the Nets are the 2-1 team with the best point differential at +11.7 while the Bucks have the worst at -1.7 -- so if Portland is to have a legitimate chance of making the semifinal, they’ll need to win big. If you’re looking for reasons for optimism, the Magic are tied for the worst point differential at summer league at -12.

It’s also possible that we won’t know which four teams have qualified to play for the tournament championship until after all the games are completed Friday night. If the Cavaliers and Rockets, two of the three currently undefeated teams, win their games Thursday, we’ll know that only two spots are still up for grabs come Friday. However, the Jazz, the other undefeated team, play the Suns Friday night at 7:30 p.m., so we likely won’t know for sure which teams have qualified until after that game has been decided.

So if you're rooting for the Trail Blazers to repeat, you want Portland to win big versus Orlando, the undefeated teams to lose and the 2-1 teams above the Trail Blazers in the standings to lose, or at least win by small margins.

No word yet on the availability of Scoot Henderson (shoulder) and Keon Johnson (finger) for Portland's game versus Orlando Thursday night. The Blazers have started Michael Devoe, Shaedon Sharpe, Kris Murray, Jabari Walker and Ibou Badji in their last two games, both wins, in Las Vegas.

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Blazers With A Chance To Summer League Repeat, Though They'll Need Some Help

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