In part one of this special episode of the Lockdown Nuggets podcast, we went back to East Baltimore to learn about Will Barton's upbringing.

We also learned about Will's rise to prominence as one of the nation's top high school basketball players and ultimately one of the nation's top collegiate basketball players at the University of Memphis.

In part two, we'll pick up the story at Will's next stop on his journey in basketball, Portland, where he was drafted 40th overall by the Trailblazers.

The 2012 Portland Trailblazers were a team in transition.

The Blazers of the late 2000s and early 2010s were a promising group anchored by Brandon Roy,

an explosive guard who grew up in the Pacific Northwest and was, for all intents and purposes,

a hometown hero and fan favorite.

But in 2011, Roy was forced to retire after just five seasons in the NBA due to a

series of knee injuries that resulted in a complete lack of cartilage in both of his knees.

The team struggled to just a 28 and 38 record the following season, and the Blazers started to

clean house. Head coach Nate McMillan, who had helped a salary cap-strapped, injury-plagued

Blazers roster make it to the

playoffs for three consecutive seasons, was fired shortly after the All-Star break. Rich Cho,

the team's general manager, had also been let go at the start of the season, and his understudy,

Chad Buchanan, was replaced by Neil Olshea. Greg Oden, the team's number one pick back in 2007, was also officially

released from the team, and although Odin had missed all 82 games in each of the previous

three seasons, his departure was still important symbolically. The Trailblazers were

officially beginning a new era. Terry Stotz was brought in as the head coach, and Marcus

Aldridge had solidified himself as the team's cornerstone star.

Wesley Matthews and Nicholas Batum were starting to come into their own and looking like excellent supporting pieces to build around Aldridge.

But outside of those three guys, spots in their rotation were pretty wide open.

So at least on paper, Will was walking into a good opportunity with the team that was looking for a fresh

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