1999–2000 Portland Trail Blazers season

The 1999–2000 NBA season was the 30th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. During the offseason, the Blazers acquired All-Star forward Scottie Pippen from the Houston Rockets, Steve Smith from the Atlanta Hawks, and signed free agent Detlef Schrempf. Portland went 59–23, which tied them for the second-highest win percentage in franchise history. Finishing second in the Pacific Division, they earned the #3 seed in the Western Conference on the basis that the 55–27 Utah Jazz won the Midwest Division title. (However, the Blazers enjoyed homecourt advantage over Utah in their second-round playoff series). The Blazers made the playoffs for the 18th consecutive year. Rasheed Wallace was selected to play in the 2000 NBA All-Star Game.

In the playoffs, the Blazers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 3–1 in the first-round, and the Jazz 4–1 in the second round. In the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, they came back from a 3–1 series deficit to force Game 7.

Up by 15 points with ten minutes remaining in Game 7, the Blazers suffered a 15–0 run by Los Angeles that tied the score, and the Lakers pulled out an 89–84 victory to advance to the 2000 NBA Finals, where they would go on to defeat the Indiana Pacers in six games to win their 12th NBA championship. Following the season, Jermaine O'Neal was traded to the Indiana Pacers, and Brian Grant was dealt to the Miami Heat.

The Blazers did not win another playoff series until May 2, 2014, when Damian Lillard hit a 3-point shot with 0.9 seconds left to beat the Houston Rockets 99–98 in Game 6 of the first round of the 2014 playoffs.

The Blazers would not return to the Western Conference Finals until 2019.

Offseason

Although the Trail Blazers did not have any picks in the 1999 NBA draft, they were active during the offseason. On draft day, the Blazers purchased the draft rights to Roberto Bergersen from the Atlanta Hawks. Bergersen would not sign with the team; instead, he signed with the Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association. On August 2, the Blazers traded Jim Jackson and Isaiah Rider to the Hawks for Ed Gray and Steve Smith. The same day, the Blazers signed veteran forward Detlef Schrempf. Smith would be the starting shooting guard on the "Jail Blazers". Schrempf would finish his career with Portland, retiring in 2001.

On October 2, the Blazers were involved in a seven-player trade with the Houston Rockets. In the trade, the Blazers traded six players—Stacey Augmon, Kelvin Cato, Ed Gray, Carlos Rogers, Brian Shaw, and Walt Williams—for Scottie Pippen. Pippen would be the Blazers' starting small forward until 2003, when he signed with the Chicago Bulls, the team which he spent the majority of his career with. On October 5, the Blazers signed Antonio Harvey, and the following day, they signed Joe Kleine. On October 12, the Rockets waived Augmon, and the Blazers signed him on October 18.

Draft picks

The Blazers owned no picks in the 1999 NBA draft.

Roster

Roster listing

Portland Trail Blazers roster v t e
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From PG 50 Anthony, Greg 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 176 lb (80 kg) UNLV G/F 2 Augmon, Stacey 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) UNLV F/C 44 Grant, Brian 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 254 lb (115 kg) Xavier G 14 Grant, Gary 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Michigan F/C 34 Harvey, Antonio 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Pfeiffer C 35 Kleine, Joe 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Arkansas F/C 5 O'Neal, Jermaine 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 226 lb (103 kg) Eau Claire HS (SC) SF 33 Pippen, Scottie 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Central Arkansas C 11 Sabonis, Arvydas 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 279 lb (127 kg) Lithuania F 12 Schrempf, Detlef 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 214 lb (97 kg) Washington SG 8 Smith, Steve 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Michigan State PG 3 Stoudamire, Damon 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 171 lb (78 kg) Arizona F/C 30 Wallace, Rasheed 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) North Carolina G/F 6 Wells, Bonzi 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Ball State	Head coach Mike Dunleavy (South Carolina) Assistant coach(es) Tony Brown (Arkansas) Jim Eyen (UC Santa Barbara) Tim Grgurich (Pittsburgh) Eric Musselman (San Diego) Elston Turner (Mississippi) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Regular season

Season standings

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Playoffs

Western First Round

(3) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (6) Minnesota Timberwolves Last Playoff Meeting: Not available (first playoff series)

Western Conference Semifinals

(2) Utah Jazz vs. (3) Portland Trail Blazers Last Playoff Meeting: 1999 Western Conference Semifinals (Portland won 4-2)

Western Conference Finals

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Portland Trail Blazers Last Playoff Meeting: 1998 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-1)

Player statistics

Awards and honors

• Rasheed Wallace, NBA All-Star
• Scottie Pippen, NBA All-Defensive Second Team