Episodes
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, discusses the franchise’s offseason following a 21-61 season. Plus, why the Blazers retained coach Chauncey Billups, why GM Joe Cronin plans to remain on the development path and what to expect this offseason and next season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 04/18/24
Published 04/18/24
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, discusses rookie Scoot Henderson’s growth during the team's recent road trip, as well as what we've learned about the young forwards and what we hope to learn during upcoming exit interviews following the end of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 04/10/24
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, takes a look at Chauncey Billups getting elected into the Hall of Fame, how the Blazers ended their 10-game losing streak with a "bad win" and if any signs of hope for the future have been on display. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 04/04/24
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, discusses rookie Scoot Henderson’s recent struggles, forward Kris Murray’s potential, and coach Chauncey Billlups’ future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 03/22/24
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, discuss Deandre Ayton’s dominant play and react to his comments to Fentress about his transformation into becoming a dominant force for the Blazers. Also, Ayton talked about that whole situation with the ice strom. Plus, Scoot Henderson and when is the tank coming? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 03/15/24
This episode of Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, reviews the team's 2-1 weekend with a focus on Anfernee Simons, the team's young forwards and if Dalano Blanton is a keeper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 03/06/24
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, reacts to the Blazers’ horrible loss Sunday night to the Charlotte Hornets and what it means big picture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 02/26/24
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, reviews the team's inactivity at the trade deadline, what GM Joe Cronin said regarding feeling good about where the team is headed and what teams in the NBA are worse off than the struggling Blazers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 02/13/24
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, returns to Wednesday night's epic atmosphere during the Portland Trail Blazers’ win over Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks. Also, trade talk, what to expect in the second half from these Blazers and the evolution of Anfernee Simons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 02/01/24
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, examines the Portland Trail Blazers’ first half of the season while naming MVP, most improved, best rookies, biggest disappointment, greatest surprise and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 01/22/24
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, discuss the improvement of Scoot Henderson, Jabari Walker, Duop Reath and Ibou Badji. Also, what do victories mean for this team, if anything? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 01/02/24
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress with Craig Birnbach, examines the Portland Trail Blazers breaking their seven-game losing streak against the Phoenix Suns, the play of Deandre Ayton and the continued development of Scoot Henderson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 12/21/23
The Blazer Focused podcast, hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress with Craig Birnbach, react to the Portland Trail Blazers getting blasted by a depleted Utah team and what the recent hot play from Scoot Henderson means in regards to the team's future in the backcourt. Also, Deandre Ayton has yet to dominate. Plus, what to make of the Draymond Green situation in Golden State and how it could impact the Blazers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 12/16/23
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, reacts to the return of Anfernee Simons and how the Blazers have defied the odds in games where they were listed as heavy underdogs. Could a healthy Blazers team become a postseason threat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 12/08/23
The Blazers have won two out of three thanks to improved shooting and a solid defense. Could they be on to something? Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, takes a look a the Blazers' sudden improvement. Get exclusive insights and bonus content from the sports staff at The Oregonian/OregonLive. Oregonian Sports Insider Texts are your ticket to entertaining and informative analysis and discussion of the Ducks,...
Published 11/29/23
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, react to the play of Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara, Duop Reath and Skylar Mays during the team's recent struggles. Plus, Deandre Ayton continues to search for consistent offense in a system not yet designed for him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 11/16/23
Blazer Focused, an Oregonian Sports podcast featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, dives into the Portland Trail Blazers' 3-4 start that revealed several positive signs including the rapid development of Shaedon Sharpe and the impact being made by rookie Toumani Camara. Then there is the bad news surrounding the injury to Robert Williams. How much will losing Williams hurt the Blazers now and into the future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Published 11/07/23
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, evaluates the Portland Trail Blazers 1-3 start to the season. While stacking losses should have been expected, is there reason for concern regarding rookie Scoot Henderson's poor start? Shaedon Sharpe is filling in nicely for Anfernee Simons, Deandre Ayton is a rebounding force, and what to make of James Harden landing with the LA Clippers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Published 11/01/23
The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach, evaluates the Portland Trail Blazers following a 1-3 preseason. The defense looked awful. The offense has the potential to be exciting. A season filled with losing could boil down to the development of Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 10/18/23
The Blazer Focused podcast, hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress with Craig Birnbach, react to the Portland Trail Blazers first two preseason games. Rookie Scoot Henderson looks solid. Shaedon Sharpe, not so much. Deandre Ayton up and down. Is this team simply too young and not put together well enough to compete? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 10/13/23
The Blazer Focused podcast, hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress with Craig Birnbach, reacts to the success of Sunday’s Fan Fest and discuss how Portland Trail Blazers training camp went with preseason games getting started Tuesday night against the New Zealand Breakers. They talk lineups, small forward, expectations for Scoot Henderson and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 10/09/23
The Blazer Focused Podcast, hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive's Aaron Fentress and Craig Birnbach, gets you ready for Tuesday's start of Training Camp with a recap of what went down during Media Day. Deandre Ayton expressed confidence. Anfernee Simons is ready to assume a leadership role. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe need time to grow. And GM Joe Cronin publicly discusses the messy summer that ended with trading away Damian Lillard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Published 10/03/23
Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/OregonLive and Craig Birnbach react to the blockbuster trade that included the Blazers acquiring polarizing center Deandre Ayton from the Phoenix Suns for a package that included Jusuf Nurkic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 09/28/23
Trail Blazers training camp starts Oct. 3 and Damian Lillard still remains on the roster. The Blazer Focused podcast, featuring The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress and Craig Birnbach, examines the latest trade rumors and what it could mean to have an unhappy Lillard actually report to camp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Published 09/20/23