Ten years ago, LaMarcus Aldridge said goodbye to Oregon, prompting a new era for the Portland Trail Blazers. A month after Aldridge signed with the San Antonio Spurs, this writer was accepted by Dave Deckard to join the Blazer’s Edge team.

As a 30-year-old Australian journalist, it was a thrill to write for the site that had refined my knowledge of the game I’d spent years following from afar. Up until that point my day job was writing news for metropolitan daily and weekly newspapers in my native Melbourne. I’d gone to university and completed a journalism cadetship before battling through a career in an industry that was, and still is, slowly dying — eventually prompting a move into media and communications.

While my journalistic skills would serve me at Blazer’s Edge, I knew I’d be st

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