Jusuf Nurkic is out for a month (at least) and the suddenly quite youthful Blazers were blasted off the court by the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

On this week’s episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron and Craig discuss the reemergence of the presumptive narrative that a high draft pick is unavoidable. Well, it sure is.

Here are some highlights from this week’s show:

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It's a question that would have been ludicrous a few weeks ago: Will the Trail Blazers lose again?

It's sort of a joke, but the Blazers are in a groove now and the tank appears to be in jeopardy. What's it all mean?

On the latest episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron and Craig discuss the Red Hot & Rollin' squad, the draft implications and much more.

They discussed:

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Now Blazer fans have nothing to do but wait -- for the Ping-Pong balls, for the draft, and for free agency.

On this week’s episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron Fentress and Craig Birnbach look back at the riveting week that was in Rip City.

They discussed:

·     Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups' comments

·     Josh Hart's arrival

·     What actual options exist in free agency

·     Fact or Fentress/Theen's No-Look Passes

Here’s the full episode: [I’ll drop audio hyperlink]

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The Dame and CJ era is officially over in Rip City.

On the latest episode of Blazer Focused, Aaron Fentress and Craig Birnbach dissect the two big deals in the past few days and give their takes on the overall direction of the franchise.

They discussed:

·     The Norman Powell and Robert Covington move

·     Josh Hart and Keon Johnson

·     McCollum with the Pels

·     How Cronin is trying to straddle blow it up with rebuild and reload

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The Portland Trail Blazers were steamrolled by the woeful Oklahoma City Thunder this week despite the Thunder being without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Tough nights happen in the NBA, poor shooting nights do as well, but it was a rough performance.

On this week’s episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron Fentress and Craig Birnbach discuss the pre-trade deadline doldrums and what to make of Anfernee Simons’ (gasp) bad game.

They discussed:

·     Why covering this team right now is a challenge

·     Trade deadline rumors

·     Will Anfernee wear down carrying such heavy minutes?

·     Regular features: Fact or Fentress and Theen’s No Look Passes

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The injury bug has, at this point, burrowed itself into the Portland Trail Blazers roster.

Nassir Little is likely out for the season.

On this week’s episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron Fentress is joined by his new co-host, Craig Birnbach. You may recognize Craig from his many years as a sports broadcaster at KATU-TV. He now works part-time as a studio host for the Trail Blazers during road games Craig and Aaron discussed:

·     Little’s loss and his emergence this season

·     The return of Good Nurk

·     Why tanking ain’t easy

·     Introducing some new segments (Fact or Fentress and Theen's No-Look Pass)

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Portland’s iron man, Damian Lillard, is going under the knife Thursday.

While this news has seemingly been coming for days now, it's officially here. What does it all mean for Rip City?

On this week’s episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, beat reporter Aaron Fentress is joined by former Blazers radio play-by-play guy Brian Wheeler to discuss the Lillard news, the ownership question marks and much more.

They discussed:

·     Dame’s abdomen

·     What Joe Cronin might do before the trade deadline

·     The state of the franchise in general

·     Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little

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Portland’s season from hell continues, but the Trail Blazers have a prime opportunity amid the chaos.

On the latest episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, reporter Aaron Fentress and Joe Freeman agreed (gasp!) that this brutal season offers a chance the successful franchise hasn’t often had because of the brilliance of one Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr.: Make the draft lottery.

On this episode they discussed:

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It's not a ton of fun to watch Portland Trail Blazers basketball at the moment.

On the latest episode of the Blazer Focused podcast, Aaron Fentress and Aron Yohannes discuss the rough times in Rip City and what could happen to lead the team out of it.

They hit on:

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Portland Trail Blazers fans heard from Joe Cronin, the franchise's interim general manager, for the first time this week.

It felt like a new era, but the team is still riddled with question marks and is at the center of trade rumors across the NBA.

On the latest episode of Blazer Focused, Aaron Fentress and Andrew Theen discuss Cronin's debut, what it felt and sounded like and what it may mean for the franchise.

They discussed:

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