We Have A Take: A Portland Trail Blazers Fan Podcast

This week we are joined by special guest US Senator Ron Wyden who recently met with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to discuss the possibility of a WNBA team in Portland. He will also be talking about Bill Schonely at the public memorial the Blazers are hosting on March 13, 2023.

Plus, Rose tells us what she learned about Ryan Arcidiacono including his nickname and his extremely important shot. We wonder if the Blazers are good at developing players, and we give out the highly coveted Social Media Player of the Week award.

1:00 Ice breaker: We are recording this on Jerami Grant’s Birthday. SHOUT OUT TO Anees (@brownblazerpdx) who’s Dad delivered Jerami!!! Keon’s birthday was just a couple of days ago. Do you have a celebrity birthday buddy?

4:00 All about Ryan Arcidiacono. Most known for his college career. From a big Villanova family. Had the assist that got the shot that won the game for the National Championship.

9:20 Nickname “Arch of Dimes”

12:50 Played for the G League and on a variety of short term contracts.

17:50 We miss cheesy player advertisements

18:30 Reflecting on players who don’t really get developed or can’t stick with a team.

20:30 Are the Blazers a good developmental team?

27:30 Pet speculation

29:00 Quick observations on a lineup getting closer to healthy.

32:30 Correction - Blazers actually ARE beating the bad teams

37:15 Senator Ron Wyden - his love of basketball and the Blazers

40:30 Meeting with WNBA Commissioner - goal was to make the support of the community very public to the folks with WNBA/NBA.

42:15 Adam Silver Portland political connections

44:45 Senator’s friendship with Bill Scholney

44:80 Schonely's presence is all over the state.

51:30 Reflections on the conversation with Senator Wyden

52:00 His Basketball Reference page

54:45 Social Media Player of the week

Congratulations Damian Lillard on winning Social Media Player of the Week!

1:06:00 Our takes: Second Quarter leads don’t mean anything. Other teams will probably be interested in Drew Eubanks next year.

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Tara gives a brief Florida geography lesson and tells us about Kevin Knox, but first we talk about how we’re going to keep things in perspective the rest of the season, is it the coaching? and catch up on assists, passing, dunks and rebounding numbers. Plus Social Media Player of the Week!

1:00 Ice Breaker: What is something that will keep things in perspective for the rest of the season?

7:30 Is it a coaching problem? Mediocre Terry Stotts teams didn’t lose to bad teams.  Is the team bad now or just unable to beat bad teams?

11:00 It often looks like players don’t know if they should shoot the ball.

13:00 Updating stats that we have been following all season

13:30 Passing and assists

21:30 What Neil Olshey left behind

22:45 Dunks

26:15 Where are the updates on the guys who are sitting?

33:00 Distance miles

36:15 Joel Embiid to Portland movement?

39:00 WHAT about Kevin Knox

45:00 High school

49:00 Drafted by Knicks

57:00 Donated $2 million to update the fieldhouse at his high school.

1:06:00 Social Media Player of the week:

1:14:00 Our takes

Kevin Knox links

Former UK player Kevin Knox giving back in a big way to his former high school

The No. 2 small forward in the 2017 class,

NBA or bust: Kevin Knox's lifelong push for the pros

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

We love learning about new players so this week is all about Matisse Thybulle. But first, a report from Tara about the Rip City United season ticket holder event and all the embarrassing things she said to the players she had the honor to meet!

1:00 Ice breaker - Most memorable thing about All Star Weekend? Starry Soda, SLC Advantages, a few days later, the Kings would have beaten LeBron’s team on the # of points they scored. Is the scoreboard built to accommodate 200 points?

7:00 How Tara may have helped the Kings achieve success this year. And they have a great coach.

8:45 Rip City United fan event report from Tara and how she almost didn’t go.

10:45 Damian Lillard

11:25 Damian on Evan Turner’s podcast. Who all is going to ride on Damian’s float for the parade?

13:00 Anfernee Simons

13:35 Jusuf Nurkic

14:10 Drew Eubanks local guy

14:30 Jerami Grant - thanks for making Portland looking cool.

15:15 Told Scottie Brooks he’s in the running for Assistant Coach of the Year Award

16:00 I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ASKING THEM ABOUT THEIR PETS

16:45 What I said to Justise.

18:45 Kevin Knox

21:30 What would you ask players or say to them if you met them?

23:00 Why Rose has spent so much time at Big Al’s.

28:00 WHAT about Matisse Thybulle?

30:00 Early years and Australia

31:00 More about his parents

32:25 University of Washington - scouted because the scout was originally there to watch Zach Levine.

36:00 Close knit family

37:30 Draft story how Danny Ainge got two draft picks for the price of one.

41:30 Dad was well known as a boisterous fan of University of Washington. Was a huge supporter. Learned the game of basketball so he could support Matisse.

45:00 Hobbies: reading, content creation like YouTube and TikTok

47:25 Matisse and his vaccine story.

58:00 Defensive accolades

1:13:00 Social Media Player of the week

1:18:00 What's our take? Rings are not more important than every other accomplishment; remake the All Star Weekend!

Greg Thybulle – father of Matisse – might be UW’s biggest fan. He’s definitely the loudest. | The Seattle Times

Greg Thybulle Mic'd up

The Making of Matisse Thybulle - The Ringer

Matisse Thybulle takes up new hobby while being self-quarantined - NBC Sports RSN

Sixers' Matisse Thybulle explains decision to not get fully vaccinated | NBC Sports Philadelphia

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

So much happened the last 72 hours we were not even sure where to begin. So we ranked all the top stories and how we felt about them.

🤩 Starry eyes, could not be more excited!

😀Happy face, happy days!

😴 Don’t really care either way

🙃Blah

😱We’re screaming!

Listen to how we ranked all these stories and then create a tier list of your own! Share on Twitter and tag @wehaveattake so we know how you ranked them! All of this, plus Social Media Player of the Week!

2:15 How do we as fans feel about these recent stories?

3:00 Back-up point guard Ryan Archidiacano added to the roster

6:00 Cam Reddish in, Josh Hart out

10:00 All-Star Dame not named as a replacement for Steph

15:30 Greg Brown waived

18:30 GP2 controversy

35:22 A Blazer is dating Kendal Jenner

40:30 Mastise Thybull added at the trade deadline

44:15 Jusuf Nurkic and Nassir Little are still on the team

47:15 Kevin Knox? Will he or won’t he?

48:45 Josh Hart Press conference

54:00 Being excited about going to a new team is not the same as being excited to leave.

55:30 Additional tiers we didn’t get to

Make your own tiers!

56:45 Social Media players of the week

Damian Lillard:

Justise Winslow:

Honorable Mention to everyone who wished Ben McLemore happy birthday: Kelvin Blevins,  Anfernee Simons

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Do you sometimes pray for a Blazer victory? Do you value the community that being a Blazer fan brings? Have you ever felt euphoric after a Blazer game? We brought on Lindsay Strannigan (@LStrannigan) from the Holy Ghosting podcast to talk about it. This isn’t a talk about all religions or the history of religion in sports, it's a look at how we feel as fans and what we get out of it and how sometimes it feels like church.

Plus . . . how are we managing the approaching trade deadline, who do we think is most likely to be traded and great play by Trendon Watford. All this plus our takes and Social Media Player of the Week!

1:00 Icebreaker: It's Sunday Morning, what did you do on Sunday Mornings when you grew up?

5:30 Getting to know Lindsay - grew up with the Kings, loved Patrick Ewing from the Dream Team, was an anti-Laker fans living in LA, comparing Miami Heat reproductive stories.

16:00 Ways that being a sports fan is like religion, community and sense of belonging

21:30 Sports towns and church towns.

22:30 Fear of missing out of Young Life and Campus Crusade for Christ

25:00 Euphoric sports moments - is this worship?

26:30 Praying for the team?

29:15 Community good works

35:00 Understanding other fans help us understand ourselves, including other sports

38:15 Rituals we go through together

43:00 Is your fan group recruiting and indoctrinating

44:55 Looming trade deadline

47:30 Chandler Parsons interlude

52:40 International players being traded

53:30 How we feel about the possibility of Jusuf Nurkic being traded

57:40 Social Media Player of the Week

1:03:00 Takes: Jusuf Nurkic will not be here after the trade deadline 🙁

1:06:45 Zach might be a good Bachelor

1:08:00 Nassir Little Highly likely to be traded

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops on Twitter.

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Someday the WHAT Awards are going to be the most talked about topic in the locker room. In the mean time they're the topic of this podcast! Tara and Rose check in about half way through the season to discuss their early season favorites for these coveted awards. Which assistant coaches are making an impression? Which budding friendships are appearing on and off the court? All this plus social media player of the week, our latest takes and so much more!

Icebreaker: Raptors fans in the building, and give Portland an All Star Game!

8:00 Mid season awards update

9:15 Bench Celebrator Man of the Year, discussed: Drew Eubanks, horseplay, Zach Collins, bench rotations impact on celebrations

14:15 Assistant Coach of the Year, discussed: Rodney Billups, Roy Rogers, Blazers being 23rd in defense, Blazer’s size, guard-rich, forward-poor, encumbered by height and length deficit, Steve Hetzel, coach gets a technical! Trendon Watford,

26:30 Best Accessorizer, discussed: Jerami Grant, League Fit’s All Star Team, Jusuf Nurkic, Drew Eubanks, Shaedon Sharpe, Keon Johnson, trade season, sports fan fiction,

36:00 Best Friendsship, Uncle Nurk, Nassir Little and Anfernee Simons, Gary Payton and Shaedon Sharpe, Shaedon new hairstyl, mic’d up Nas

45:30 Most Valuable Mentor, discussed: Gary Payton, Nassir Little, Damian Lillard,

47:15 Return of MVP? Drew Eubanks, Keon Johnson, Josh Hart, Jerami Grant

Social Media Player of the Week

51:00 Social Media player of the week:

Keon Johnson, 2 TikTok posts (cutting his own hair, thrifting)

Damian Lillard (Dame Jr tapping his wrist)

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops on Twitter.

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Every player takes a different path the the NBA, even players who grow up with famous NBA player dads. Today we learn about Gary Payton 2's journey to the NBA, obstacles he overcame and the perseverance to keep going.  We also try to figure out which Harry Potter house he'd be in. Plus, Bill Schonely memories, and a dramatic Wikipedia reading.

We're throwing so much love to the Blazers organization, especially Blazer Broadcasting who lost both The Schonz and long time colleague, cameraman John Curry this week. Our hearts and thoughts are with their family and friends. 

Rip City, Baby!

1:00 Icebreaker: Schonely

9:30 His impact and legacy

12:00 Excerpt from Bill Schonely’s WIkipedia article 

14:00 Cameraman John Curry

16:30 Get 2 know GP2 not Jr

17:00 Parents Gary Payton and Monique James

20:45 There is a Gary Payton Jr who has a different mom

22:45 Sonics connections and hanging out with the mascot

24:30 Hometowns: Seattle, Las Vegas and Oakland

26:15 Took a while to throw himself into pursuing basketball, wound up in OSU. Gary Payton II creating legacy all his own with Oregon State Beavers

30:15 OSU days

31:30 Goes undrafted

33:30 Gary and Gary on Gary and Gary dream

34:15 Ready to apply for a job in the Warrior’s video department. How a lifelong struggle paved the way for Gary Payton II's success with the Golden State Warriors

37:30 So many differences between the careers of Gary Payton and Gary Payton 2.

40:00 Dyslexia and the NBA Cares award. A letter from mom: Gary Payton II wins NBA community service award

43:15 GPII Foundation Gary Payton II named winner of new Bob Lanier Community Assist Award | NBA.com

44:45 What Hogwarts house is Gary? We guess he’s a Hufflepuff.

48:15 Trash talking, what kind of trash talking does GP2 do?

51:00 Different paths of Gary Payton 2 and Shaedon Sharpe

55:00 Social Media player of the week:

1:09:00 This week’s takes

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops on Twitter.

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

It's time for a deep dive on Shaedon Sharpe - untangling his mysterious journey to the NBA. Plus: Trail Blazers recent play, a Dame vs Luka fight (we do not condone violence), trash talking and Social Media Player Of The Week!

1:00 PDX Carpet we can’t quit you.

3:30 Icebreaker: Love to win or Hate to lose?

6:00 How we’re feeling about the team right now. Hesitating, turnovers, offense leaving them, but the defense hasn’t been the problem. Will the return of the bench save them?

15:30 Luka and the refs

18:30 Nurkic is motivated by positive reinforcement.

20:30 About Shaedon Sharpe

24:30 How he got to Kentucky and what happened while he was there.

33:30 What must have it been like for Shaedon to be in the middle of the speculation at Kentucky?

37:30 The system has a hole that needs to be filled for getting players from high school to college. Players and families have to rely on uncredentialed people who are more familiar with the process.

40:00 A discussion about how younger players learn in those critical years right before the NBA especially like Shaedon and Anfernee

45:00 Shaedon seems to be thriving

46:30 Other fun facts, favorites, vertical leaps, wrap up

57:30 Social Media player of the week: Jusuf Nurkic (for getting off social media), Josh Hart (again), Keon Johnson

Shaedon Sharpe references:

Shaedon almost played football/background on high school moves: Canada’s Shaedon Sharpe Is the NBA Draft’s Biggest Enigma

Shaedon deciding to skip playing at Kentucky: Why didn't Shaedon Sharpe play for Kentucky? How decision to skip college impacts NBA Draft lottery | Sporting News

Who is Dwayne Washington: Dwayne Washington, A Tale of Two Stories - KY Insider

What happened with Shaedon going to Kentucky: A behind-the-scenes look at Shaedon Sharpe's decision to turn pro - On3

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops on Twitter.

Join us on Discord! Its a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Its kind of like Twitter but its not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Tara is joined by her former co-host from the Blazer’s Edge podcast, Danny Marang (@dannymarang) , now of @DannyandDusty on 1080 the Fan and Jacked Ramasys (@JackedRamsays) podcast. Much of the talk is about what we know and don’t know about the coach, and what we know and mostly don’t know about the team. Some good stories sprinkled in, a puppy appearance and a healthy dose of dunk talk.

1:00 Life updates, puppy introductions and a new job.

5:08 What can we tell about the coach right now? Willingness to adjust rotations from game to game. Not sure if it's good but at least he’s willing. Stotts stuck with what works, Billups doesn’t know yet what works. Matches up well with Joe Cronin and his vision for the most part.

10:30 Why did the Blazers give someone with so little experience the biggest job?

13:20 Blazers are just missing everything. They are getting good shots but they are not going in. They are playing different roles than they are used to. Equal opportunity offense isn’t everyone’s comfort zone, doesn’t quite match the personnel.

19:00 Gary Payton II is downgraded to out and other injuries.

23:45 How long do they miss shots before we start to worry about it?

26:00 The goals of the team are to figure out who they are.

28:20 Increase in dunks, where are they all coming from?

33:00 Jusuf Nurkic making 3s, what kinds of things does this open up?

36:30 Passing leading to more turnovers - when do we worry and when do they get cleaned up? A deeper look at Damian Lillard’s passing profile.

44:00 Blazers working on communication at practice.

50:00 After Time Outs they are 12th in the league in points per possession - that has fallen off quite a bit in recent weeks.

54:30 Shaedon Sharpe observations - he has it - what “it” is is yet to be determined but it come from his athleticism.

59:00 Shaedon’s growth, including with interviews.

1:02:00 Adding the younger players to the rotation . . . slowly.

1:06:00 The shortest trade talk you will hear on any podcast.

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops Twitter.

Join us on Discord! Its a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Its kind of like Twitter but its not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

On New Years day, Tara and Rose each share three things to remember and two things to forget about the Trail Blazers in 2022 and one thing to carry into 2023. WHAT a year it was!

1:00 Icebreaker with a side note of complaining about pop-ups on certain team apps.

7:00 Celebration of Damian Lillard taking over as top scorer in the franchise.

13:00 Tribute videos

18:30 Should we crowdfund a Cameo from Clyde for Damian?

19:00 Thoughts on the trophy presented to Damian for his accomplishments

22:00 We each chose three things to remember: Trading CJ, (24:15) CJ comes back, (27:30) the Barack Obama game, (29:20) Summer League Championship and Trendon Watford’s Finals MVP, (32:30) Small Ball Lineup to close out Sacramento Game, (33:15) Being in Sacramento for that game.

39:30 Two things to forget (39:45) Six game losing streak where they were outscored by 192 points. (40:30) Jusuf Nurkic throws a Pacer’s fan phone and is fined. (43:30) Blazers don’t get a second 1st round pick. (45:00) Everyone asking if Damian Lillard is going to stay in Portland.

47:30 What we want to take into the new year: Creativity and more dunks!

54:00 Making it to New Years above .500

55:00 Social Media Player of the Week: Congratulations Nassir Little! (Side note, congratulations to Keljin Blevins for his debut with his new team in Romania)

1:03:00 What is your take? It's good to not play on Christmas. And its time to keep driving, keep the car on the road and eventually the sun will come out.

Music by Erik Peterson! @ShoozumOops Twitter. 

Join us on Discord! Its a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Its kind of like Twitter but its not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Twitter: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding